Scoreboards provide one very real value to operators - the opportunity to know
how their competition is doing for score. Contesting used to be 'man isolated
in basement' vs his own mental fortitude to persevere. You had to be self
motivated because you had no idea how others were doing. The scoreboards now
give you a view of how the other racers are doing and can provide motivation to
keep pushing whether you are ahead or behind. They are even more valuable
during part time efforts, where you sit down for awhile and can compete against
the other scores around yours.
Scoreboards are not even close to the value of looking at the DX cluster in
terms of knowing what bands are open, to where, and who is on. If you have
time to look at the detailed breakdowns in real-time from a scoreboard, you
wouldn't know very much and probably aren't winning anyway.
As for the contest committee rule making... yes. The focus was all about the
new Packet thing on VHF and the value of getting real-time spots. The assisted
rules were written around the concept of station finding consisting of a
callsign and frequency. As the Internet quickly took over, we suddenly found
there were many other information sources that should have been included.
Watching the solar weather forecast (something I know you do as a SO) is an
example. If we were writing the rule today we would probably draw a box around
the station and allow Internet and skimmer tools, or we would allow nothing.
Too late.
Things do keep changing. Self-spotting is a whole new can of worms, but also
looks like it will be with us going forward thanks to ARRL.
Randy K5ZD
-----Original Message-----
From: CQ-Contest <cq-contest-bounces+k5zd=outlook.com@contesting.com> On Behalf
Of kq2m@kq2m.com
Sent: Saturday, July 1, 2023 11:30 AM
To: Mike Fatchett W0MU <w0mu@w0mu.com>
Cc: cq-contest@contesting.com
Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] WRTC Spotting
Scoreboards are informative and fun to watch, and this usefulness brings about
my main objection to their use being allowed by the NON-Assisted ops; that
watching a scoreboard provides valuable information about band openings, rate
and what is likely being worked on the band(s), by whom and when. In some ways
scoreboard info can be even more useful than actually viewing DX cluster spots
which only tell you what is being spotted and by whom, not who/what is actually
being worked in real-time.
I believe that use of the Scoreboard constitutes Assisted operating since
this real-time information is provided by others DURING the contest.
For these reasons I personally do not look at scoreboards when I am operating
NON-Assisted, regardless of whether or not the SOABHP category allows it. I
believe that the contest committees seriously erred many years ago when they
gave their blessing to scoreboard use by the _NON-Assisted_ ops along with
several other forms of real-time technology including skimmer.
Why Mike and others feel the need to "get everyone to use scoreboards"
is baffling to me. Why not get others to develop and improve their OPERATING
SKILLS instead?
And, NO, there are many among us who DON'T "accept automatic spotting on every
mode"; rather, we have learned to live with it because we have no control over
it and have not been left with a viable alternative except not to operate.
Regarding SSB spotting in WRTC, I can see both the pros and cons of doing this
and the strong opinions already expressed. Each WRTC committee is charged with
making their own rules and each WRTC event has introduced new ideas and
competition "tweaks" to experiment with them.
Some have been great and others not, but it is part of the ongoing evolution of
WRTC (just as in the Olympics) and it will be interesting to see how this
hybrid form of SSB spotting turns out.
Both WRTC and technology sure have changed a lot since the groundbreaking event
took place in Seattle, WA, some 33 years ago. It is still one of the
highlights of my life!
I wish the 2022 WRTC Committee and all judges, support people, participants and
competitors, a most awesome and wonderful event!
CU in IARUHF!
73
Bob, KQ2M
In 2023-06-30 18:13, Mike Fatchett W0MU wrote:
> I don't see much of an issue. CW spots are automatic with RBN and
> skimmer. Why not SSB spots? IARU could change their rules. Same for
> any other contest. Maybe this is how we get everyone to use
> scoreboards. If you use the scoreboards you get spotted on SSB.
>
> We accept automatic spotting on every mode but SSB simple because we
> don't have a good way to do it. Maybe this changes that......
>
> W0MU
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