[CQ-Contest] What the Skimmer said

[Tim Duffy]

Interesting that because the callsign EE5E was getting put on the known "bad
list" by many contest stations - as a frequent busted Skimmer post - EE5E is
no longer using that call.

It is also interesting how many guys work EK3LR and then log zone 21 (did
they really listen to the callsign or the exchange on the air?) - in the
CQWW CW contest. The K3LR CQWW log checking report shows all of the
"renditions" of K3LR that were in other logs. Some are far out and
fascinating. 

At least the K3LR Skimmers do not send out EK3LR to the RBN (we trap about
200 bad callsigns that the K3LR Skimmer thinks it heard, but we know are bad
- including EE5E). We add more "renditions" as we discover them, but we have
to be careful, because EE5E "was" good for many years.
 
One more interesting thing is the number of different K3LR "like" busted RBN
spots (such as EK3LR) that show up in the logs of single operator unassisted
entrants. How does that happen?

73,
Tim K3LR

-----Original Message-----
From: CQ-Contest [mailto:cq-contest-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of
Stan Stockton
Sent: Monday, February 18, 2013 6:08 PM
To: n2ic at arrl.net
Cc: cq-contest at contesting.com
Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] ARRL Cheating in ARRL using the cluster

Seems to me that a published black list should be made and used to filter
out bad spots before they ever get to everyone's computer.  EK3LR, for
example, should not show up on anyone's screen.  

On a secondary note, what causes there to be a huge number of EK3LR spots
from all over the world and not a single EK5GO?  I sure would hate to be in
Armenia and have been assigned EK3LR.  Yikes.

Stan, K5GO

Sent from my iPad

On Feb 18, 2013, at 3:21 PM, Steve London <n2icarrl at gmail.com> wrote:

> I don't know what software you were using, but speaking for N1MM Logger,
there are a number of ways to deal with this problem. In the bandmap or
available window, you can right-click and select "Blacklist Callsign". Not
only will this remove the callsign from your computer, but also every
computer in the network. You can also set up and import a blacklisted calls
file before the contest containing the most common busts, like EK3LR.
> 
> 73,
> Steve, N2IC
> 
> On 02/18/2013 02:04 PM, Jim Jordan wrote:
>> Wow! I wish NY4A could have found wherever it was you were getting your
>> spots. We filtered out dozens of busted calls and skimmer perversions
>> like "EK3LR", dropped leading letters, "O" for "Q" and the phenomenon
>> reported where the spot was for, or on top of the mult, picking up the
>> calling station as the runner, etc. And like "Whack-A-Mole" we'd delete
>> them from the band map and a little while later the same busts were back
>> again. All pretty annoying as M/2 trying to work them quickly and get
>> back to the run frequency without losing it.
>> 
>> Having said that, seeing the "instant spots" from all over coming up
>> instead of having to wait for someone to manually post the spot made a
>> big positive difference. I noticed it when we went to a new band or had
>> to change frequency.
>> 
>> 73,
>> 
>> Jim, K4QPL @NY4A
>> 
>> 
>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Pete Smith N4ZR"
<n4zr at contesting.com>
>> To: "CQ Contest" <cq-contest at contesting.com>
>> Sent: Monday, February 18, 2013 3:04 PM
>> Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] ARRL Cheating in ARRL using the cluster
>> 
>> 
>>> Are we talking about the same contest, Bob? No reason that the
>>> Russians would be working 9H1s.
>>> 
>>> Actually, I'm more interested in the busted calls you reported. It's
>>> not that busts don't happen, because they do, but because
>>> readily-available filtering can catch almost all of them. I was only
>>> on for 10 hours and 1000 contacts, but they were almost all S&P. I
>>> worked out 3 or 4 bands at a time - 0 spots waiting to be worked - and
>>> in that time I saw exactly 1 bust that made it through to me.
>>> 
>>> 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 2/18/2013 12:27 PM, w5ov at w5ov.com wrote:
>>>> A lot of this seems to be the Skimmer/RBN network reporting the station
>>>> the runners are working.
>>>> 
>>>> Probably not anyone cheating in the manner you describe.
>>>> 
>>>> I found this a LOT. (Among all the other busted calls).
>>>> 
>>>> W5OV
>>>> (80m @ K3LR)
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>>> It seems like a couple of Russian station are cheating using the
>>>>> cluster.
>>>>> 
>>>>> I operated AB unlimited over the weekend and was checking spots the
>>>>> whole
>>>>> weekend.
>>>>> 
>>>>> As the contest progressed over the weekend semi rare mults were worth
>>>>> QSYing to. Over a dozen times as soon as the call appeared on my
>>>>> band map
>>>>> I
>>>>> QSYed to it only to UT0U merrily CQing away. (There I named a call!)
>>>>> Another U station did the same thing but I forgot to get his call. The
>>>>> calls
>>>>> spotted were semi-rare mults like (9H1 etc), but rare enough to
>>>>> attract a
>>>>> crowd. Once would be a coincidence, but it happened many times. Every
>>>>> time
>>>>> there was no hint of the station spotted. Pure out and out cheating!
>>>>> 
>>>>> Did anyone else see that behavior? The only way to stop this crap is
to
>>>>> put pressure on them.
>>>>> 
>>>>> Bill K4XS
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>>> CQ-Contest at contesting.com
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>>>>> 
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