[CQ-Contest] What's the station?

[Paul J. Piercey]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: cq-contest-bounces at contesting.com 
> [mailto:cq-contest-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of Kevin Normoyle
> Sent: March 22, 2007 04:41
> To: cq-contest at contesting.com
> Subject: [CQ-Contest] What's the station?
> 
> In thinking about how to design an optimal remote station, 
> one things about the minimal amount of information bandwidth 
> that needs to be moved back and forth, in order to minimize latency.
> 
> So then you start thinking about what exactly you're 
> transferring, and why.
> 
> With new digital modes, or even current rtty, a bunch of 
> processing is done on computers. One could argue that the 
> computer is part of the transmitter and the receiver.
> 
> Same thing with new digital voice, with software being done 
> on the computer.
> 
> At one extreme, one could imagine designing a receiver that 
> outputs VOIP directly, instead of audio, for a higher quality 
> network delivery, with additional computer post-processing at 
> the remote control point. Like digital modes, you could 
> imagine rapid innovation with people trying different 
> software approaches.
> 
> 
> I think that's one thing that's missing in the rules.
> 
> It's never really been clarified just how much the computer 
> is part of the station. The idea of what's a transmitter and 
> what's a  receiver is changing rapidly. To get a better 
> mental image: imagine you have a transmitter or receiver 
> that's split into two parts with a very long cable between the parts.
> Now imagine that one part actually is just software executing 
> on a commodity pc.
> 
> So it's not just about saying where the human is.
> 
> There's this notion of "station equipment" that's clearly 
> beyond the 500m circle rule. There has to be an agreement on 
> what's "station equipment". It gets harder as more and more 
> of "stuff" becomes software. Software that can be executed 
> locally or remotely, depending on how you slice up the data.
> 
> -kevin
> ke6rad

Well, Kevin,

There... you've said it haven't you? If you consider the computer, the
microphone, the key, the cable that you are using to interface to your
remote station as part of the station equipment (transmitter, receiver,
antennae), then it most certainly falls outside the 500m circle and is
therefore not permitted by the current rules. So why is it permitted?

This is at the crux of my position. Why is the operator NOT considered to be
a part of the "station"? One is useless without the other.

Interesting.

73 -- Paul VO1HE