[CQ-Contest] Error free RBN

[w5ov at w5ov.com]

Jack,

That would be OK if the busted spots would stop coming in.  Think of the
wasted bandwidth around the globe that results from this problem.  Adding
to the processing burden of my local logging program is not the answer
when it can be done in the RBN system itself and totally eliminate the
problem.

You have to remember a couple of things:

1) is that these are busted callsigns.  They are copied wrong by the
skimmer systems.  Just because they happen to be wrong, does not mean that
they might not also be a real callsign so a "blacklist" will not work.

2) is that the RBN is not like the human packet network where you could
send a "TALK" message to someone sending out busted spots and tell them to
stop.  The RBN cannot be told to stop making mistakes - and it
continuously repeats the same errors over and over and over and over and
over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and
over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over.

Get the point?

Error correction in the RBN is the correct solution.

73,

Bob W5OV

> Me too - another casual contester.
>
> A simple enhancement of the logging program(s) you use might help a lot
> with those serious operators' problem.  Suppose you could have a command
> to
> tell your logger "treat this call as if I worked it", so it would never
> appear again as a spot on your screen.
>
> In N1MM, for example, there is a "remove selected spot" menu item now to
> get rid of a spot on the bandmap.  A similar item "Remove selected spot
> and
> never consider that callsign again" would stop the "over and over and over
> again" problem.
>
> The loggers could even have a file, similar to the ones we use today as a
> "whitelist" of known contest calls, but containing a "blacklist" of known
> bad calls.  The loggers would simply read such a file and then ignore any
> spots for those calls.
>
> It's good to always improve the accuracy of the data feed, but there are
> other techniques that might be very helpful too...
>
> 73,
> /Jack de K3FIV
>
>
>
> On Wed, Jul 17, 2013 at 5:10 AM, Bob Naumann <W5OV at w5ov.com> wrote:
>
>>
>> For the more "casual" contest operator (of which I'm one - most of the
>> time), and for the day-to-day DXer, the errors admittedly don't present
>> much
>> of a problem.
>>
>> The problem comes in a major DX contest, when you're a serious operator,
>> and
>> during the last 24 to 36 hours of the contest you've already worked most
>> everything that is unique (multiplier-wise) on the band(s).  As a
>> result,
>> your logging program is no longer alerting you to the stuff you've
>> already
>> worked (the real callsigns).  Guess what you do see?  A preponderance of
>> RBN
>> errors! It has been at a level that is simply unacceptable. Most of
>> these
>> are not "off by one" errors either.  The real problem is that they never
>> stop. The same errors are propagated over and over and over and over
>> again.
>> It becomes quite unsettling after a while. "When will this stop?"
>>
>