In my recent VHF experience (two man limited multi-ops with two rigs per
op) the problem is not finding people to work, the problem is that there
isn't enough people to work. I suppose this is obvious, but my point is
that for us, having a computerized robot to find stations to work would buy
us little, if anything. We've have pretty good luck using transverter IFs
like the IC-756 with band scopes that, while not perfect, are very useful.
I'd also make the observation that these robots can't find anything on a
band while you're transmitting. Maybe it's different when you're rovering,
or perhaps while QRP-Portable, but for us, a legal limit transmitter will
attract more signals than the robot is likely to find. This is not meant
to minimize the need to tune for weak signals.
Finally, if the robots are tuning for new stations, and the CQ loop is
calling CQ with repeat delay, what is the operator supposed to do? There
are so few people to work that the thrill of discovery is a big part of the
contest.
If someone wants to spend their time developing DSP algorithms to pull out
weak signals and decode them, so be it. I'll be having fun looking for,
and working stations.
Dave/K8CC
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