I will try to do better next time. I was busy working
this past weekend, so I couldn't spend as much time
spotting PJ2T as I would have liked. One PJ2T spot
an hour seems like a pretty half-hearted effort
when they had two transmitters on all weekend.
Sorry if my 49 spots in 48 hours overloaded your
local Cluster.
Depending on what week one follows the discussion of
packet spotting networks, either:
1) It makes for instantaneous pileups that overwhelm
the dim-witted operator, slowing down his rate
and making the station/multiplier available to
fewer callers; or
2) Provides a competitive advantage to the station
spotted.
Can't have it both ways.
"Omigod, 20% of the people are outnumbered 4 to 1!
We *MUST* do something about this!"
Rah Rah,
Jeff Maass K8ND
> -----Original Message-----
> From: cq-contest-bounces@contesting.com
> [mailto:cq-contest-bounces@contesting.com]On Behalf Of David Robbins
> K1TTT
> Sent: Tuesday, February 24, 2004 11:51 AM
> To: eric@k3na.org; 'Kenneth E. Harker'; 'CQ Contest'
> Subject: RE: [CQ-Contest] 67 spots
>
>
> The comment was not directed at w3lpl spotting...
>
> W3lpl made 2064 spots (that made it to my node anyway) over the weekend,
> a truly heroic spotting effort to be sure. But their most frequently
> spotted station was j6dx who they spotted 24 times. Probably not bad
> for 6 bands spotting as often as they scan across them, minus dupes that
> the nodes remove automatically in most cases.
>
> The comment was most likely aimed at w3df who spotted fs5uq 67 times
> over the weekend... and only made 142 spots total. He ranked tops on my
> 'cheerleader' category.
>
> The second place station in that category was k8nd who spotted pj2t 49
> times, out of a total input of 58 spots. (actually a higher percentage
> if I had ranked them that way).
>
> Third place went to es1a who spotted himself 29 times out of 35 total
> spots sent.
>
> Fourth was wx3b who tied with w3lpl's 24 spot peak by spotting fs5uq 24
> times out of his 111 spots.
>
>
>
> David Robbins K1TTT
> e-mail: mailto:k1ttt@arrl.net
> web: http://www.k1ttt.net
> AR-Cluster node: 145.69MHz or telnet://dxc.k1ttt.net
>
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: cq-contest-bounces@contesting.com [mailto:cq-contest-
> > bounces@contesting.com] On Behalf Of Eric Scace K3NA
> > Sent: Tuesday, February 24, 2004 14:13
> > To: Kenneth E. Harker; CQ Contest
> > Subject: RE: [CQ-Contest] 67 spots
> >
> > Having been an operator at W3LPL for many, many years, I'll take a
> > crack at answering Ken's question.
> >
> > First, a little background. W3LPL has 12 operating positions: two
> per
> > band. Each pair of radios is connected to a single amp
> > (i.e., six amplifiers total) through an interlock that allows just one
> of
> > the two radios to transmit at any given time.
> >
> > When the band is open (or might be open!), two operators staff the
> > band. One is a running operator, calling CQ and working all
> > responders. The other operator is constantly tuning across the band,
> > looking for unworked stations (multipliers or not). Antennas
> > are available that allow that searching operator to be listening, even
> > while the running operator is transmitting. Often the
> > operators switch roles periodically to stay fresh and alert.
> >
> > Now, imagine that you are searching the band for unworked stations.
> > You tune the receiver, hear a call, and type it in to the
> > computer. 99% of the time it will be a dupe. Many times that
> station's
> > call appears on your bandmap, indicating that it has been
> > spotted on the cluster network in the last half hour or so. So you
> keep
> > tuning.
> >
> > Occasionally you'll hear a station that is not in the bandmap. It
> just
> > takes two keypresses to transmit a spot. In general,
> > W3LPL operators will do this EVERY time a station is discovered which
> is
> > not currently showing in the bandmap -- even if that
> > station has been spotted many times before during the weekend. Why?
> > a) It keeps the bandmap current; the next time you tune across
> that
> > frequency (15 minutes later), you'll have that call already
> > in your bandmap and can move on to the next station more quickly.
> > b) Spots on the cluster help all the other club members. Sure,
> you've
> > tuned across P40V twenty times on 15 meters during the
> > contest already. But another club member is operating single-op
> > assisted... possibly a part-time effort... and he just hasn't found
> > or taken the time to work P40V yet. Your seemly-redundant spot gives
> that
> > club member a current spot for P40V, so that he can go
> > off and work him and increase his score. As the contest goes on, it's
> > important to the club effort to keep the spots flowing.
> > Almost any contest club officer will tell you that the club's standing
> in
> > the club competition depends not just on the dedicated,
> > full-time-effort stations... but even more on the many smaller
> stations
> > and operators who, for one reason or another, can only put
> > in a part-time effort this particular weekend. Feeding a constant
> stream
> > of spots to these smaller and part-time stations
> > (operating as small multi-ops or as assisted single op) means those
> > stations can make the most of their limited antenna resources or
> > time. The small station with simple wire antennas can work P40V on
> Sunday
> > afternoon where his weak signal will be unchallenged.
> > c) Sending those spots keeps the searching operator alert and
> > disciplined. A good searching operator tunes constantly with one
> > hand on the radio dial, one hand over the keyboard ... constantly
> typing
> > calls, checking the bandmap for missed and inaccurate
> > entries, and punching the Alt-F3/Enter commands to send out those
> spots...
> > and may spot as many as 100 stations an hour. This is
> > not an idle search around the band while waiting your turn on the
> running
> > radio -- it's a discipline as demanding as that practiced
> > by the running operator in the chair next to you. Never stop
> tuning...
> > never stop keeping the club informed... and, every few
> > minutes, you will discover a NEW station who wasn't there ten minutes
> ago.
> > Of course, you work him first, and then spot!
> >
> > That dedication to supporting the club is one of the practices that
> > makes the W3LPL a great team. And yes, it also generates
> > 6000+ spots to the spotting network, a benefit not just for PVRC
> members
> > but all other multi-op and assisted operators.
> >
> > Why would PVRC let all those juicy spots flow out over the network
> to
> > every other competing club? In part because it's good for
> > contesting: anything to encourage activity in the contest by others is
> > beneficial to our hobby in the long run. Also in part
> > because PVRC benefits from spots made by all the other contesters and
> > members of other contesting clubs -- tens of thousands -- an
> > example of receiving back from the collective community more than one
> can
> > possibly offer. And in part because we believe that it's
> > not information that determines the winners of a contest -- it's what
> the
> > operator does with the information.
> >
> > -- Eric K3NA
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: cq-contest-bounces@contesting.com
> > [mailto:cq-contest-bounces@contesting.com]On Behalf Of Kenneth E.
> Harker
> > Sent: 2004 February 23 17:50
> > To: CQ Contest
> > Subject: [CQ-Contest] 67 spots
> >
> >
> > What, exactly, compels a station to spot a contest DXpedition 67
> > times in 48 hours? What should I conclude about the fact that six out
> > of seven of the contest DXpedition operators are members of the same
> > contest club as the spotter? A club that was named in some of the
> > spotter's comments?
> >
> > Doesn't this cross some line in terms of assistance? At what
> point
> > do we begin to look at the club spotting team back in the states as an
> > integral part of the contest operation? Doesn't this look a little
> > like the club spotting team back home was calling CQ (over the
> spotting
> > network) on behalf of the contest DXpedition?
> >
> >
> > ---------------------------------------------------------------
> > The world's top contesters battle it out in Finland!
> > THE OFFICIAL FILM of WRTC 2002 now on professional DVD and VHS!
> > http://home1.pacific.net.sg/~jamesb/
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> >
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> > CQ-Contest@contesting.com
> > http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/cq-contest
>
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> The world's top contesters battle it out in Finland!
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