[CQ-Contest] Use of CW decoders in contests - a contrarian opinion

[Steve Hanlon]

On 5/29/2010 17:20, Ed Muns wrote:
> Again, the key issue is about the operator skill to tune around and find
> stations to work in the Single-Op Unassisted category.  That's why CW
> decoders of a single frequency that the operator has tuned, is OK.  By
> comparison, it is not OK to use spotting capability or Skimmers that decode
> all frequencies on the band to effectively do the tuning for the operator.
>
>    
as a contester who relies on the CW decoder for my score, i feel it is 
assisting me in a more meaningful way than the CAT or computer generated 
code.  i know how to tune the VFO, i know how to send CW, what i can't 
do is copy contest CW.  without the decoder i could not make a contact.  
without the decoder my station stays off the air.

that is a critical difference and why i enter as assisted in CW contests 
- the decoder is helping me do something i simply am not capable of 
doing right now.  i want to get to the point the decoder is no longer 
required for me to work CW contests.

-Steve, WM3O