[CQ-Contest] The Meaning of Assisted

[Joe Subich, W4TV]

All of this means absolutely squat ... I can easily come up with a
similar litany of all the things that technology has made possible
in the last 30 years - including the ability of those who don't know
the difference between e and t to participate in CW contests.

However, this anti-technology attitude (or selective approach to
technology) is the very reason I have been in no hurry to build a
competitive station again (and don't appear in many logs) even
though I'm no longer chasing a career half-way across the country
or raising a family.

73,

    ... Joe, W4TV

On 9/18/2010 7:27 AM, Richard F DiDonna NN3W wrote:
> Oh God.  Here we go again with the same rationale as a couple years ago.
>
> As one who has operated from a top flight contest station in MANY contests
> over the past few years and who has won several contests, I can tell you
> from personal experience that Skimmer is a quantum level of difference from
> computers, band maps, split VFOs, memory keyers, etc.  It is a fundamental
> game changer.
>
> Skimmer fills in an entire band map for you without your having to tune the
> VFO.
>
> Skimmer will tell you where your competitors are at all times.  It will also
> tell you when they have gone on breaks....
>
> Skimmer will tell you when a band is first showing signs of life and when a
> marginal band has become wide open.
>
> Skimmer will tell you how fast a station is sending CQ and which station is
> sending CQ.
>
> Skimmer will tell you where unusual openings have taken place - unexpected
> openings.
>
> Skimmer will tell you where holes in the band are so that you can exploit
> them to start a new run frequency or to move a mult.
>
> Etc., etc., etc.
>
> This is a level of information that is so far above and beyond what
> traditional operating is expected to be.  One person listens and decides,
> using their own judgment, what a callsign is, when a bandchange should be
> executed, if  a particular path is open, etc.
>
> When you log a QSO in your computer, you're doing it with your brain and
> your fingers.  When you make a QSO, you're using your ears and your mind.
> When you tune the band you're doing so with your ears and your mind and your
> fingers.
>
> When you're using Skimmer, you do not have to listen for QSOs or callsigns
> because Skimmer has already pre-filled the entire band map for you.  You
> don't have to listen for a call to figure out if you've worked it before -
> Skimmer has already basically done that.  You don't need to put a second
> receiver on 10 meters and check it periodically because Skimmer will alert
> you that others have begun CQing on that band.
>
> You don't have to wonder if K5ZD has decided to move to 15 meters because
> Skimmer will tell you that he has.
>
> To consider this a simple extension of technology of your own shack simply
> ignores the principles of single operator contesting that we have known for
> over 75 years.
>
> 73 Rich NN3W
>
>
> On Sep 17, 2010, Joe Subich, W4TV<lists at subich.com>  wrote:
>
>> I cannot, for the life of me, imagine how ANYONE could consider
>> Skimmer to NOT be an assistance aid. You have the entire bandmap
>> laid out for you without your mind doing anything. It is a complete
>> game changer and should NOT be ever placed into the same category as
>> an unassisted operator doing all the operating and listening by
>> himself.
>
> As one who remembers contesting before computers and before bandmaps,
> *ALL* of the things done by computer were game changers. How anyone
> can not consider computer logging, bandmaps, SCP, etc. anything other
> than *assistance* is beyond me.
>
> The whole point is that the assistance does not come from any other
> *person* either directly or via telephone, packet, internet, etc.
>
> 73,
>
> ... Joe, W4TV
>
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