[CQ-Contest] Determining ASSISTED vs NON-ASSISTED -- was: =>RE:Cheating and bad journalism

[Radio K0HB]

A panadapter or bandscope gathers no callsigns or other station information, 
just a general view of band conditions.



-----Original Message----- 
From: JVarney
Sent: Saturday, September 24, 2011 3:15 PM
To: cq-contest at contesting.com
Subject: [CQ-Contest] Determining ASSISTED vs NON-ASSISTED -- was: 
=>RE:Cheating and bad journalism

Collins, Graham <CollinG at navcanada.ca> wrote:

"Seems to me that ASSISTED or NOT-ASSISTED is splitting hairs - some choose 
to use a tool and others not, much the same as some choose to log on a 
computer and others on paper. Perhaps there needs to be categories for 
"COMPUTER LOGGED" and another for "PAPER LOGGED"; after all, those that 
choose to log on a computer have an unfair advantage over those that choose 
to log on paper."


I agree. An example of hair splitting centers around the use of panadapters 
and bandscopes. If you have a panadapter showing 180 kHz of spectrum in real 
time without Skimmer, it's deemed Unassisted. If Skimmer is turned on, it's 
Assisted. Regardless of what the rules say, I personally think a panadapter 
(with or without Skimmer) is a technological assist to the operator and 
provides quite an advantage over manual tuning. Seeing a new signal and 
clicking on it is a lot faster and easier than turning a VFO dial blind.

Maybe what could be done is to have two categories: Single Operator, where 
all tools such as Skimmer, clusters, panadapters, etc. are permitted; and 
Single Operator Traditional Radio, where manual VFO tuning is required and 
human, visual band display, internet, and packet assistance are all 
prohibited.

73 Jim K6OK
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