[CQ-Contest] Reverse Beacon Network Reaches Milestones

[Pete Smith]

I thought contesters would be interested in recent developments at the 
Reverse Beacon Network (http://www.reversebeacon.net)

*  We now at least 20 reverse beacons (active Skimmers) on four 
continents running at any one time, listening for YOUR signals.  Many of 
them are listening on multiple bands.  To find out if your signal has 
been heard recently, go to the main page, click on "search spot by 
callsign" on the left side below the map and enter your callsign - 
that's all it takes.

*  People have now logged on from over 100 DXCC entities, and we're now 
getting nearly 400 visits a day.

One of the most interesting features of the Reverse Beacon Network is 
the ability to compare your signal with others.  Under DX Spots on the 
top menu of the home page, click on Compare Spots and follow the 
instructions to specify a day, a band, the reverse beacon, and the 
stations you want to compare with.  The RBN delves into its database, 
looks for the times when your signal and those of your competitors were 
received at close to the same time, and reports your comparative signal 
to noise ratios.  This works particularly well on major CW contest 
weekends, of course.  CQWW CW was 11-28 and 11-29-2009 -- if you were 
active give it a try.  Compare your signal with W3LPL, or K3LR, or 
KC1XX.  It may not be extra pleasant to do that (hi), but it *is* 
educational.

-- 
73, Pete N4ZR
Visit the Contesting Compendium at http://wiki.contesting.com
The World Contest Station Database, updated daily at www.conteststations.com
The Reverse Beacon Network at http://reversebeacon.net