[CQ-Contest] The History of automated voice for SSB Contesting

Fri Apr 5 12:20:17 EDT 2013

Funny subject,  Davy Jones KM4D and I were just reminiscing about early contest innovations as compared to the vast information and automation available today.   One was @ Jerry Mathis W3BES/ W3GM's  Record player  CW CQ'ing contraption ! I have seen it but never in operation, was a disk with cut out's spaced CQ CONTEST W3GM..   the arm being  one half of the contact the the platter/ turntable  completing the circuit when  the styles/contactor hit the cut out! Was this considered Assisted in the 70's ????? Wayne W3EA > Date: Fri, 5 Apr 2013 10:22:02 -0400
> From: n4zr at contesting.com
> To: cq-contest at contesting.com
> Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] The History of automated voice for SSB Contesting
> 
> Back in the 80s sometime, I had a30-second answering machine cassette 
> recorder, followed by a circuit that rectified the audio and amplified 
> it to switch a relay for CW CQing.  Worked fine, but pretty inflexible.  
> I'm glad those days are behind us.
> 
> 73, Pete N4ZR
> Check out the Reverse Beacon Network at
> http://reversebeacon.net,
> blog at reversebeacon.blogspot.com.
> For spots, please go to your favorite
> ARC V6 or VE7CC DX cluster node.
> 
> On 4/5/2013 5:36 AM, Jim Smith wrote:
> > Back in 1960 I rigged up an endless tape loop which I ran through a 
> > Wollensak tape recorder (which, in true ham fashion, I still have).  
> > To maintain tape tension I draped the tape loop over the back of a 
> > chair and wrapped a few turns of #14 bare wire around it to act as a 
> > weight.
> >
> > Fed the output of the recorder into my 100V and let the VOX take care 
> > of turning the TX on and off.
> >
> > Worked FB for calling CQ.  One day after I'd been CQing into a pretty 
> > much dead band for a couple of hours I got a visit from a Radio 
> > Inspector who was wondering what was going on.  I proudly showed off 
> > my Rube Goldberg contraption.  He clearly didn't like it and told me 
> > to stop doing it.  When asked what part of the Radio Act I was 
> > contravening he simply told me again to stop doing it.  Well, I was 
> > pretty young then and lived in terror of the licensing authority so I 
> > guess I stopped doing it.
> >
> > 73, Jim    VE7FO
> >
> > On 3/8/2013 1:23 PM, David Thompson wrote:
> >> The discussion on improving voice recordings for phone got me to
> >> thinking about where we have come and where we might go.
> >>
> >> Long before digital voice recorders (DVK's) the astute SSB contester
> >> discovered the voice loop tape for diskette players.  These loops ran
> >> from a few seconds to as long as 16 seconds and were designed as
> >> telephone answering devices.  I used one for years to call CQ and the
> >> last time I used one extensively was in the CQ WW SSB in 1979 to win the
> >> USA 40 meter Single Band.  I tried to use it in the 1984 ARRL DX SSB on
> >> QRP but found that only on 10 meters could I get answers to be worth the
> >> effort.
> >>
> >> In 1985 I found Nel-Tech designed by the fellows who designed the 
> >> Wang DVX
> >> and I laid out good dollars and brought the Nel-Tech 100 home. I used
> >> it in a few contests and N5KO was living in Atlanta at the time took it
> >> to N4RJ to use for Single Operator in the ARRL SSB SS.
> >> It did appear in a voice monitor that there was some hum so he stopped
> >> using it and lost his voice on the second day.
> >>
> >> Next I bought a MFJ 432 and found that you could cascade a pair for more
> >> options.  This worked well for me in the CQ 160 SSB in 1994 as I won the
> >> Zone 5 Plaque.  You had to watch as it you pressed a button wrong you
> >> wound up sending an extra first letter.  I wonder how many logged
> >> KK4JRB.  When they were first introduced they worked fine on what you
> >> had recorded but would not let you send straight through.  Tom, W8JI
> >> came up with a fix to correct and those of us with early MFJ 432's got
> >> Rev 1 which corrected the problem.
> >>
> >> A number of hams experimented with the text to speech programs but as
> >> several pointed out using a different voice to send the report caused
> >> all sorts of problems.
> >>
> >> Jamie Dupree NS3T, who uses his voice as the Washington reporter for WSB
> >> radio decided that he would take the DVK to the next step and program
> >> .wav files so he could run an entire contest without speaking except for
> >> a few corrections.  He published an article in CQ on the subject.
> >>
> >> Digital voice could be the future.  But so far the steps have been
> >> stumbles. Henry Radio sold the 300 but you had have one at the other end
> >> to work correctly.  AOR tried two models several years ago but again you
> >> had to have a unit at both ends.  D-Star from ICOM so far is just a VHF
> >> device.  The problem is that there needs to be a standard decoding so
> >> the various interfaces can make digital voice be just another digital
> >> mode.  This can help with the QRM on the amateur bands but you still
> >> need a way to have a set of exchanges to send.
> >>
> >> We have come along way from flipping a toggle switch or using PTT for
> >> phone contests.  I went straight to VOX when I went on SSB on Jan 1,
> >> 1960 and have not looked back.
> >>
> >> 73 Dave K4JRB
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> CQ-Contest mailing list
> >> CQ-Contest at contesting.com
> >> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/cq-contest
> >>
> > _______________________________________________
> > CQ-Contest mailing list
> > CQ-Contest at contesting.com
> > http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/cq-contest
> >
> 
> _______________________________________________
> CQ-Contest mailing list
> CQ-Contest at contesting.com
> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/cq-contest