[CQ-Contest] The Skimmer Petition

[Stan Stockton]

I am out on a business trip and don't have too much time on the computer.  However after hearing there were a few e-mails regarding the petition, I thought I would check in long enough to answer a few questions that I heard were raised.  I have not read all the posts but "skimmed" a few of them.  Please forgive any typos in this.  I don't have the technological advantage of spell check where I am located.

The discussion on CQ-Contest regarding the use of this technology which I  found myself in the middle of seemd to be focused on whether Skimmer should be allowed in the single operator unassisted class or not.  Arguments as to the meaning of assistance focused on whether that assistance had to come from another operator, whether there was clear meaning to a rule that was in place for the CQ contests that indicated the operator was to perform all the spotting functions and assistance of "Any Kind" was not to be used.  It went on and on with some saying that we needed to ban electronic keyers if Skimmer were not to be allowed.

The discussions seemed to take place among a relatively small number of individuals.  Arguments were takng place between some who were active and those who were not, questions as to what other sporting activities allowed ANY AND ALL technologies to be used were answered with examples listing some  technologies that were allowed iin certain sports. Please read the last sentence again if you do not see a difference.  It had digressed into arguments that in some cases did not even make sense.

By the way, to date no one has ever given a single example of any organized sporting activity where they have allowed any and all technologies to be used to the advantage of the competitors.  I think the answer is that they all do it when it is time to preserve the basic nature of the sport.

I wondered what the opinions were of a few CW Contesters who had not been heard from - ones who had not "weighed in" on the subject, either because they did not want to get sucked into such arguments like whether any and all technology should be allowed because, as an example, approximately 35 years ago WB4VVF designed the accu-memory keyer and it was not banned, ones who do not subscribe to CQ-Contest, etc.  I knew that it was only a few months ago that I subscrived to this list. 

A quick, informal survey of a few who had not voiced a public opinion told me that there were a lot of people who operate CW Contests who believe the line should be drawn here and that CW Skimmer will have a negative impact on the activity they love most in Amateur Radio.  

I am not going to list the callsigns of those who have agreed and make note of the highly respected contesters who have signed.  You can look at the signature list at the top of the petition and see them.  The last time I looked there were over 250 who had signed.  

If you read the petition you will see that there is not a call to ban the technology, make it against the law or any such thing.  The petition recommends that Skimmer type technology be advanced, and allowed in an appropriate category for RTTY Contesting.  

I actually like the comment, although unfounded and incorrect, that there must be unprecedented cheating going on having to do with the petition.  It sounds like there are some who are surprised that, with a limited effort in a week, there are at least 250 people so far, many of them highly respected CW Contesters, from perhaps as many as 40 countries who believe that Skimmer will diminish the skills that have always been integral to the sport  Perhaps most CW Contesters believe that the line should be drawn and CW Contesting should not be turned into an activitiy that is based even more on how well equipped your station is and how many rigs you can sequence to pick off every signal that can be copied by a computer. 

The petition is located at http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/skimmer 

Read it carefully and only sign it if you agree.  Hopefully, in this activity, it is not cheating to announce the location and have it print the content out on the screen - :-)

Thanks for your time.  Hopefully this answers some of the questons that have been asked.

Thanks and 73...Stan, K5GO