[CQ-Contest] HA: Assisted or not assisted question

[Vladimir Sidarau]

Ron,

1. CW, or A1A, is a mean of communication based on a human ability to decode
Morse code by ear. Some operators do it better than others. It is one of
reasons (among other skills, station details, etc) why they win contests.
Skimmer (regardless number of channels) and single-channel decoders (like
your K3) turn competition among operators into competition among humans and
machines. Have you ever seen any competition of runners and Indy cars in the
same time with a prize handed over to any subject arrived at the finish line
first?

2. CW with decoding by ear is A1A. CW with machine decoding is A1B. Two
different means of communication cannot compete to each other simply because
they are different means of communication.

3. Newbies/casual operators are most welcomed. They can use decoders if they
wish, but... Let me quote yourself, "...less skilled CW operators ... use CW
decoder to help them..."  See, you refer to "help" yourself. As long as they
use help, they just have to declare it, that's it... What is a big deal just
to confirm the fact that they use help and therefore call their entry,
Assisted?

73,

Vladimir VE3IAE

---



 

-----Исходное сообщение-----
От: cq-contest-bounces at contesting.com
[mailto:cq-contest-bounces at contesting.com] От имени KU7Y
Отправлено: June-05-12 1:40 PM
Кому: cq-contest at contesting.com
Тема: Re: [CQ-Contest] Assisted or not assisted question

Something else to think about is how important all the "casual" operators
are to the big scores the "contest" stations make.

One of the things that many less skilled CW operators do is use a CW decoder
to help them identify a run station and get their exchange before calling. 
This lets them participate in the contest and have fun while learning.  The
more time these new folks spend in the contest, the better they get.  And
many of them wind up becoming good CW ops.

I would think that we need to encourage people to not only use such help as
a decoder but to also make the whole process of sending in their log as
simple as possible.  After all, these are the true contest operators of
tomorrow.

I agree that multi channel decoders have no place in CW SO but I do wonder
if anyone could really post a competitive score using something like the
decode feature of a K3?

Let's not be too quick to throw out the baby with the wash water!

OK, back in my hole,

Ron, KU7Y
SOWP 5545M
Arizona Outlaws Contest Club
Brenda, AZ (Winter)
Caldwell, ID (Summer)
ku7y at qsl.net
http://www.hatpinsandmore.com
KX3 #0062 

_______________________________________________
CQ-Contest mailing list
CQ-Contest at contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/cq-contest