[CQ-Contest] Topband: Rule Six in the Stew Perry

[K1TTT]

Go back to the first paragraph of rule 6:

6. Prohibited activities: Use of Internet-based and/or radio-based spotting 
   systems and/or chat rooms is not permitted for the purposes of improving 
   your score, regardless of category.

This outlaws any use of the internet so the RBN and any other skimmers that
you connect to via the internet are off limits.  That would kind of require
a direct copper line to the remote skimmer or receivers wouldn't it?  would
this also not prohibit internet accessed remote operation, even within the
100km range?


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: Pete Smith [mailto:n4zr at contesting.com]
> Sent: Friday, December 17, 2010 19:54
> To: Tree
> Cc: topband at contesting.com; cq-contest at contesting.com
> Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] Topband: Rule Six in the Stew Perry
> 
> The rule now says, in part, "Remote receiving sites within the 100 kM
> are okay. If a networked connected skimmer is within 100 kM of you, go
> ahead and use it (perhaps that is what is known as a Reverse Beacon
> Network, but we get very concerned when we see "Network").
> 
> I am having a hard time understanding why anyone is confused. The
> Reverse Beacon Network (please note the capital letters) is a network of
> over 40 receivers (Reverse Beacons) currently, which, using CW Skimmer,
> are forwarding information on what they they hear to
> <http://reversebeacon.net>.  This information includes call-sign,
> frequency, a time-stamp, signal-to-noise ratio at the time of reporting,
> and CW speed.   All of this information, from all of these stations. is
> archived and available for analysis on the web site, as well as being
> displayed in near real time.
> 
> The RBN also operates a Telnet node at <telnet.reversebeacon.net port
> 7000> which provides the full spot feed from all currently active
> Reverse Beacons, through a DXSpider node, to any individual or node who
> wants to connect.  We have left the duplicate spots in - many stations
> will be spotted near-simultaneously - but fortunately VE7CC's CC User
> and K1TTT's WintelnetX are already available and do an excellent job of
> filtering duplicate spots if placed between the RBN Telnet node and the
> logging program.  This helps to reduce the fire-hose of spots to
> something reasonable, particularly if combined with other spot filtering
> by origin.
> 
> The point is, if the Stew Perry sponsors are concerned about traditional
> DX spotting, they should be roughly ten times as concerned about the use
> of the RBN in their contest, because the RBN spots conservatively 10
> times as many stations as the conventional, human-intermediated spotting
> process. The simplest thing, then is simply to lump the RBN with
> traditional spotting as prohibited, and move on.  There's a lot more
> information on the RBN at our blog, <http://
> reversebeacon.blogspot.com>, and on the website.
> 
> When you're done with the contest, go to the RBN web site. The signal
> analysis tool offers graphical display of comparative signal strengths
> over time, and you'll be able to see how your signal on 160 compared
> with others on the band at RBN receivers across the United States,
> Europe, and other continents.
> 
> 73, Pete N4ZR
> 
> The World Contest Station Database, updated daily at
> www.conteststations.com
> The Reverse Beacon Network at http://reversebeacon.net, blog at
> reversebeacon.blogspot.com,
> spots at telnet.reversebeacon.net, port 7000
> 
> 
> 
> On 12/17/2010 1:40 PM, Tree wrote:
> > The Boring Amateur Radio Club has noted the chatter on the interweb
> about
> > Rule Six.  We are sorry that the recent rule changes has created
> confusion.
> >
> > We have attempted to update the rule to take new technology into
> account,
> > and also provide some information about the "intent" of the rules which
> > might help.
> >
> > Hopefully, this will clear up the current confusion.  You can read it
> here:
> >
> > http://jzap.com/k7rat/stew.rules.txt
> >
> > Hope to work you in the contest this weekend.
> >
> > 73 Tree N6TR
> > _______________________________________________
> > UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
> >
> >
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