In regards to being backwards-compatible... I don't see that as being a
major plus. I think that the traditional cluster will remain in use for
some time, until a new system shows it is better for the user. I'd rather
see this start as a system that a club or local group could set up for the
local users... either live or skimmers... so the recipients of the spots
KNOW the spotted station is likely workable since it was heard/decoded
locally.
Additional connections to become a network of clusters should be allowed to
grow naturally, as the traditional cluster did. If we had even a version of
the current cluster that allowed a sysop to lock down users (likely
available now, I'm guessing) AND the ability to limit what other clusters it
connected to, we would be partway there.
If every sysop verified their local users then the bad users would become
more obvious in some fashion... verified users could be hash-tagged in some
way, perhaps. Then a cluster with a large percentage of unverified users
could be prevented from connecting to the 'verified network of clusters.'
I don't know if the answer is a tweak of the current cluster software with a
new method of interconnecting, or if the answer is a whole new suite of
software, from hosts to clients. Either way, the desire for something
better is plain to see from this thread.
73 de Chuck, WS1L
_______________________________________________
CQ-Contest mailing list
CQ-Contest@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/cq-contest
|