[CQ-Contest] Cheating with Technology

[Zack Widup]

Yes, I've always understood "assisted" to mean "got help in making a 
specific QSO from another source external to the shack that was ACTIVE 
DURING THE CONTEST." In other words, skeds made before the contest don't 
make you assisted.  Super check partials don't make you assisted. 
Spectrum monitors on your rig don't make you assisted.  Computer logging 
doesn't make you assisted. Memory keyers don't make you assisted. Having 
someone bring you dinner doesn't make you assisted (it's quite a stretch 
to say that helped you make a QSO.) Same with having someone help you 
repair your downed antenna wire. Only in a very broad sense would that 
even approach being "assisted."

Packetcluster makes you assisted.  Haveing a friend tell you on your 
frequency "VY1JA is on 14038" makes you assisted.  Having someone send you 
a packet note, e-mail or giving you a phone call telling you someone is on 
a given frequency is assisted.  Webcams that enable you to see the 
operating frequency of the station on the cam and hear who he's working 
makes you assisted.

Just my tuppence. "One small voice ..."

73, Zack W9SZ


On Wed, 12 Mar 2008, Ron Notarius W3WN wrote:

> The "assisted" category always referred to operators receiving information
> indirectly from other operators via the packet cluster or similar networks.
>
> There are many forms of "assistance" to an operator that do not neccesarily
> place said operation into the "assisted" category.  There is a difference,
> which sometimes gets overlooked, especially by those with either an ax to
> grind, or mischief to stir up.
>
> Or to put it another way, I really wish someone would find a better name for
> the category before someone else starts mucking up the use of the terms
> again!
>