>
> For my first posting to CQ Contest, I'll float a question that
> intrigues
> me:
>
> Every cluster I've signed into has come back to me with a "Welcome,
> George" the first time I signed on. If the packet sysops maintain a
> current FCC database, why would a non-entity even be connected when
> signing on with a "ghost" callsign?
>
> George W1EBI
>
several reasons...
1. not all nodes have an fcc database
2. not all databases are created equal
3. not all databases are updated daily
4. not all node software checks the database and none that I know of are
set up to automatically reject you if you aren't in it. 5. not all hams
are from the U.S. 6. not all databases have dx entries and those are
updated even less frequently than the fcc parts. 7. putting spots in
from a web interface like dxsummit.com does not require logging in,
though they could do the same validation of the 'from' call on sent
spots... but its just as easy to pick a valid call to make fake spots as
an invalid one, that is how some of this got started a year or so ago
when someone saw a spot from their call that they didn't make.
David Robbins K1TTT
e-mail: mailto:k1ttt@arrl.net
web: http://www.k1ttt.net
AR-Cluster node: 145.69MHz or telnet://dxc.k1ttt.net
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