[CQ-Contest] Rule Change Debate on Skimmer

[Ken Claerbout]

  A couple of points I'd like to add and then I'm going to QSY and enjoy the great weekend we're going to have.

>CW is inherently a mode to be copied by ear. >Nonsense. Visit any museum of telegraphy and you will >see that it was originally envisaged as a machine >application. Yes, those of us who have the skill value it >and like to match our skill against that of others. But >there is nothing sacrosanct in "human" copying. If we >want to insist on that route, fine, but let's not pretend that >there is no alternative."

  I certainly appreciate your prospective Don and I don't think most of us would disagree with your point.  But I think we need to keep in mind that the machine was likely in a commercial application and not a competitive environment, which is where our discussions are taking place.


>Amateur contesting is not a competition to see who >copies CW better than anyone else.  It is a competition >to see who can make the most contacts and work the <most multipliers in a specific time frame given the >resources of the individual's station. 

Oh?  Most contests I participate in have a provision for score reduction in the case of  busted calls.  I have on more than one occasion improved my place in the final standings because I did a better job of copying than a competitor.  


>With Skimmer the operator must still tune the radio, >listen/verify the call, send the exchange and log the QSO >just as any other single operator. 

Yes in theory and the same could be said about packet.  Yet, not a contest goes by that isn't replete with examples of people operating with their eyes and not their ears.


>Any attempt to marginalize skimmer by forcing its users >into as "assisted" category is nothing more than a petty >attempt by the elite and those who benefit from favored >locations to maintain the status quo and deny otherwise >top operators a tool that might give them a compensating >advantage. 

   I gotta hand it to you, you come up with some winners but his one might just take the grand prize.  There are operators in the contest community who accept packet, and likely skimmer too, as part of the sport and realize it has an upside.  But they have also seen what packet has done to operator skill.  The same is happening in the DX community but that's for another reflector.  I don't see anything wrong with asking for just one category that is void of some system feeding points to the operator.  A category that compels the operator to go and find stations on their own, where one's score is more representative of their own work.  If you want to consider that an elitist position, knock yourself out.             

Ken - K4ZW