Jose,
If you are a member of the SDR generation, why not enter the category that
allows you to do what you want and compete against other SDR generation people?
Lead the way, use RBN, maybe every other SDR guy will follow. When the number
who follow make it clear that SO2R generation is a thing of the past, same as
the paper logging one radio guys now, eliminate the category. As you know the
category is already there allowing you to operate the way you choose. No one
is asking for that category to be eliminated.
Maybe the Single Operator will make a come back some day when the winners will
be the ones who have the most rigs on the bands with best automated software to
do what is needed.
Until then, give just one reason to even consider killing the category that,
given a choice, most choose to enter - including you! I can only think of one
reason you could possibly have, and it is a poor one.
A good survey question would be to find out how many of the overall winners in
every single operator category for every country with entrants over the last
few years (all combinations of QRP, Low Power, High Power x single band and all
band) have Internet available at their station. I guess the ones who don't
have it at all are SOL because we aren't going to write them a letter to ask
them what they might think :-)
73...Stan, K5GO
Sent from my iPad
On Mar 22, 2013, at 7:55 PM, José Nunes CT1BOH <ct1boh@gmail.com> wrote:
> The Paper log one radio, the SO2R and the SDR generations
>
> The discussion about merging Assisted and Non Assisted categories, very
> passionate as one would expect, is interesting because in my view it has to
> do with different ways to look at the value of information (callsign and
> frequency data). This information (call sign and frequency data) has
> different value depending on what generation you are coming from because
> contesting is done in different ways. I see three dividing generations:
>
> The paper log one radio generation
> The SO2R generation
> The SDR generation
>
> In the paper log one radio generation we have people who started their
> contesting careers when there was no PCs or packet systems. Back then the
> most important skill was to decide when to stop the RUN and go on S&P mode.
> Stopping the RUN to go on the hunt in S&P mode was fundamental, because it
> was the only way to increase in dramatic terms the multiplier numbers.
> Deciding those moments and finding rare mults was fundamental, therefore
> the value of this activity is very very high for this generation.
>
> The SO2R generation came to full throttle with PC, advanced loggers and
> station automation.
> The big thing about SO2R generation is they managed to extend the
> contesting time from 48 hours to ~77 hours because they can listen to a
> second radio while the first radio is transmitting (~60% of the time of the
> contest). Also the contest was accelerated in a way that demands both
> physical and concentration abilities not necessary with a SO1R scenario
> (paper log generation). To the SO2R generation operators the value of
> callsign and frequency data is much less than the value attributed to the
> same data by Paper log one radio generation operators. SO2R operators have
> much more time to work the multipliers. They do it with the second radio
> and there is no need to stop the run. They S&P while running. Therefore the
> value of callsign and frequency data is much less than the value to the
> paper log one radio generation. The game has a very different nature.
>
> In the recent SDR generation a dramatic event has occurred that is changing
> and shaping contesting. The contest went from audio only to audio/visual
> event. Not only the operator is listening to the audio of his channel but
> at the same time he is seeing the full band and the individual traces of
> signals of the stations in the panadapter with different resolutions to
> choose. The SDR generation went from a 500hz dimension event to a full band
> dimension event and for real hard core SDR operator to a full six band
> dimension in six different panadapters. The value of call sign and
> frequency data to SDR generation operators is less than the value
> attributed by SO2R generation operators because it is quicker and easier
> for them to get to stations and of course it is much less than the value
> attributed to paper log one radio generation operators that can only work
> rare multipliers by stopping their RUN.
>
> But a question remains - is the value of callsign and frequency data zero
> or close to zero so that we can say merging the Assisted and Non Assisted
> categories has no consequences? It's closer to zero for SDR generation.
> It's very far from zero to paper log one radio generation.
> But there is still value in callsign and frequency data. Looking at Top
> SOAB (SDR generator operator) versus top SOAB Assisted station and MS
> stations, I estimate the value of callsign and frequency data to be around
> 8-10% percent. A top SOAB SDR generation that decides to jump into SOAB
> Assisted category and do things right (i.e. follow only the really valuable
> “spots” and don't mess with RUN) will be able to increase his multiplier
> totals by around 8-10%. It's different but not that different to have a
> striking opposition to merging the Assisted and Non Assisted categories
>
> A laughable point to me in this discussion is the notion transmitted by
> paper log one radio generation that they are the ones who know how to do
> things and they do it the noble way. I say laughable, even though I have
> great admiration by some of those paper log one radio generation icon
> operators, because they have no idea of what they are talking about. They
> are stuck in a time and in a contest that is very different form the
> contest that is played by the new generation.They try to preach to a
> generation that doesn’t want to go back because things are more dynamic,
> more interesting, more intense and for sure more fun.
> The paper log one radio generation unique skill of knowing when to stop the
> run and go S&P is no longer necessary when using SO2R and SDR/Panadapters
> and topped with assistance it’s even more heartbreaking to them. But that’s
> the way things are. There’s no time machine and the clock keeps ticking
> forward. In an image, the paper log one radio generation operate as if they
> are stuck inside a cave listening to a signal coming from the end of the
> cave, while the SDR generation are out at night, looking at every signal in
> the universe represented by the stars - the contest the later are playing
> is that different!
>
> I consider myself in the SDR generation because that is the way I operate
> from CR3E. I have no problems combining the Assisted and the Non Assisted
> category. It is an inexorable trend and I have no doubt it will be just a
> matter of time, sooner than later. It is what the SDR generation want, I
> dare to say, because contesting will become more interactive, more
> “social”, more integrated, more real time and for sure a lot more
> attractive to the younger generation of contesters.
>
> Also have not doubts that the winners in the SDR generation need to have
> more skills than the ones that were needed in the paper log one radio
> generation or in the SO2R generation.
>
> José Nunes - CONTEST CT1BOH - http://www.qsl.net/ct1boh
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