[CQ-Contest] Rule Change Debate on Skimmer

[Joe Subich, W4TV]

> A memory keyer does not locate & identify for the
> operator what is on the band.
> 
> Nor do the other things that W4TV mentions: logging
> programs do not locate & identify for the operator
> what is on the band.  Neither does SCP.

No, they don't do the same thing but ALL TECHNOLOGY is assistance 
in one form or another.  Technology assists he operator to be more 
efficient - whether it is to listen on more than one place (SOnR), 
send an exchange while listening for a multiplier (memory keyer), 
automatically correct an exchange (history file), automatically 
identify suspect calls (SCP), etc.  

> Unlike anything else that has happened to contesting,
> skimming is the first to replace the operator in the
> process of locating & identifying stations to work.

Skimmer DOES NOT replace the operator - it merely provides a set 
of "possible" new QSOs.  The operator must still verify the call 
and make the QSO.  A local Skimmer simply improves productivity 
in one more area of the contest station.  

Skimmer is nothing more than technology already in use (CW decoder, 
broadband receiver, panadapter, SOnR, etc.) repackaged into a new 
and more effective format.  
 
 


> -----Original Message-----
> From: cq-contest-bounces at contesting.com 
> [mailto:cq-contest-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of VR2BrettGraham
> Sent: Wednesday, April 23, 2008 11:04 PM
> To: cq-contest at contesting.com
> Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] Rule Change Debate on Skimmer
> 
> 
> W4TV told us:
> 
> >The use of a locally run, non-networked
> >Skimmer is no different than a memory keyer or computer logging with 
> >history file and super check partial.
> 
> A memory keyer does not locate & identify for the
> operator what is on the band.
> 
> Nor do the other things that W4TV mentions: logging
> programs do not locate & identify for the operator
> what is on the band.  Neither does SCP.
> 
> Unlike anything else that has happened to contesting,
> skimming is the first to replace the operator in the
> process of locating & identifying stations to work.  It
> has long been established that there is something
> about one operator or more than one operator that is 
> fundamentally different; in recent years that has been 
> refined somewhat (single-op with spotting assistance for many 
> contests is no longer considered to be equivalent to multi-op).
> 
> This is so basic, so fundamental & so obvious that I
> am at a loss to understand what W4TV is on about.
> 
> 73, VR2/KBrett7Graham/p.
> 
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