[CQ-Contest] Skimmer for Propagation Analysis

[David Robbins K1TTT]

For pure propagation analysis you shouldn't care if the station is cqing or
not.  Lots of information can be gleaned from listening to pileups for dx
that you can't hear, but you can hear who is calling them.


David Robbins K1TTT
e-mail: mailto:k1ttt at arrl.net
web: http://www.k1ttt.net
AR-Cluster node: 145.69MHz or telnet://dxc.k1ttt.net
 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: cq-contest-bounces at contesting.com [mailto:cq-contest-
> bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of David Gilbert
> Sent: Saturday, March 08, 2008 16:23
> To: CQ-Contest at contesting. com; CADXA
> Subject: [CQ-Contest] Skimmer for Propagation Analysis
> 
> 
> It occurred to me that a possible use of  a Skimmer-type application
> might be for propagation analysis.
> 
> Given that:
> 
> a.  Skimmer and a wideband IF to feed it (either from an outboard
> Softrock or the rig itself) can monitor an entire ham band and,
> apparently with a fair amount of intelligence, decode and analyze the
> signals it finds there.  Skimmer is able to grasp simple phrases like
> "CQ" and "QRZ" to figure out whether a station is running or not.
> 
> b.  Skimmer can display its results on a bandmap for the user, but it
> can (or will be able to) also telnet the components of that bandmap to a
> server where presumably they could be aggregated, crunched to filter
> dupes and busted calls, and displayed as a master global bandmap.
> 
> So ... what if a contest used grid squares for the exchange, and Skimmer
> not only captured the callsign but also its report?  Callsigns are not a
> reliable indicator of location, but grid squares are.  That information
> could be used to generate a global propagation map for either real time
> use or analysis later.  Ideally Skimmer would capture signal strength
> information as well (it certainly would be technically possible to pull
> that off the A/D feeding the computer) but such readings would be
> unreliable due to many reasons (i.e., directional antennas).  However,
> Skimmer might be able to derive some intensity information from the
> number of reports over essentially the same path and create, for
> example, a color overlay on the propagation map to identify stronger
> openings.
> 
> Basically, once you have a program like Skimmer that is capable of
> analyzing and decoding an entire band, the uses are limited only by the
> data you feed it ... the rest is simply database crunching.  So why not
> feed it with something useful like location or (heaven forbid) actual
> signal reports?
> 
> Just some thoughts ...
> 
> 73,
> Dave   AB7E
> 
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