[CQ-Contest] What the Skimmer said

Jim Jordan, K4QPL k4qpl at nc.rr.com
Tue Feb 19 14:31:57 EST 2013 

> 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?
>
It's the fault of skimmers. According to the "Cupel" theory, the busted call 
transmutates in the skimmer and creates interferons which synchronize with 
the CQ speed of the run station and are retransmitted, unaffected by normal 
filters, causing pseudo-standing waves (on rare occasions reclining waves 
have also been reported) in the audio output of the receiving radio. The 
result is for example a "dit" in front of a call sign with a "3" following 
the "K" and a "dah" in front of a call sign with a "5" following the "K" as 
in EK3LR and TK5GO. Unfortunately, the interferons are crafty little buggers 
and only sneak in to the radios of unassisted contesters who swear-to-god 
have their packet window closed and then quickly disappear. This seldom 
occurs with call signs having a two-letter prefix and apparently has not 
shown up in logs of stations working, for example, NY4A. However it is 
possible the 2x1 call signs are retransmitted intact and therefore the Cupel 
effect cannot be easily recognized or measured.

Investigating this phenomenon would be a worthy application for a multi-year 
Ph.D. research grant from one of the major universities and funded with 
taxpayer dollars.

Hope this answers the question.

73,

Jim, K4QPL


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Tim Duffy" <k3lr at k3lr.com>
To: "'Stan Stockton'" <wa5rtg at gmail.com>; <n2ic at arrl.net>
Cc: <cq-contest at contesting.com>
Sent: Tuesday, February 19, 2013 1:27 PM
Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] What the Skimmer said


> 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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