[CQ-Contest] Spotting

[Bill Coleman]

On 3/9/02 9:30 AM, Chuck K3FT at k3ft at erols.com wrote:

>For example - W3LPL spots a station at 1524Z. I'm running stations and not 
>paying close 
>attention to the spots. The screen scrolls quickly (as it often does) and 
>LPL's spot 
>disappears off the screen. Then I do S&P and at 1538 I tune across the 
>same station as 
>previously spotted by LPL, I don't need 'em so it wasn't on my list of 
>avaiable 
>mults/calls so I don't know it's already been spotted, but someone else 
>might so I spot 
>'em. If you have already worked 'em he won't show.. if not. he will.

I wonder if we need smarter spotting software.

Why couldn't the software keep track of the last 30 minutes or so of 
spots, and then inhibit spotting of a station if it was spotted already?

That way, you could spot every station you worked while S & P. The 
software would filter out the duplicate spots. That way, there'd be much 
less conjestion in the spotting networks, since there would be a lot 
fewer duplicate spots and a lot more unique ones.

--

My experience with spotting comes from NQ4I's M/M station. To keep the 
packet window clear, I'll often delete spots that aren't applicable. Like 
a spot for K3LR or W3LPL. I can't work them anyway. It's somewhat 
annoying to see spots like this pop back up. If duplicates were filtered 
out at origination, then we'd likely only see a spot every 30 minutes or 
so.

Of course, this wouldn't help fix the spots with busted calls for 
stations I've already worked. For that I need a button that says, "Ignore 
spots for this station". (This would fix the K3LR or W3LPL situation)

Bill Coleman, AA4LR, PP-ASEL        Mail: aa4lr at arrl.net
Quote: "Not within a thousand years will man ever fly!"
            -- Wilbur Wright, 1901