[CQ-Contest] The Skimmer Rule Challenge

[Michael Keane K1MK]

At 02:18 PM 6/17/2008, Stan Stockton wrote:
>However, Skimmer does introduce something new and that is the 
>ability for someone
>have that "good heart" and spot all the stations calling in the 
>pile-up without having to do much of
>anything.  There is a big difference between someone entering 
>callsigns all night long
>and putting a receiver with Skimmer on 3502 for the entire contest -probably
>why the problem has not been rampant..

If the remote spotting of their pile-ups was perceived to provide a 
real competitive advantage, why haven't the bigger M/M stations made 
cooperative arrangements to create private spotting networks with 
their non-competing peers on the other sides of the oceans (I'll spot 
your pile-up, you spot mine)?

The extraneous issues of manpower and boredom in manual vs. automated 
spotting, I think would be moot in the case of cooperating multi-ops.

AFAIK, this has never happened. If such spotting was of value and 
legal then why has it not happened? I can think of several possible 
explanations:

(1) Competitive stations don't view networks of remote stations 
spotting their pileup as conferring any significant advantage.

(2) Competitors accept that generating and/or using spots of their 
pile-up made by remote stations is contrary to the existing rules.

(3) No has thought of this before now.

I don't see that CW Skimmer makes any qualitative changes to (1) & 
(2). And I'm extremely incredulous that this possibility has never 
been contemplated before now.

73,
Mike K1MK

Michael Keane K1MK
k1mk at alum.mit.edu