[CQ-Contest] Error free RBN

[Rick Kiessig]

I want a raw feed because I would like to do my own filtering, possibly with
different algorithms than the server uses. I think it's fine to have some
filtering done at the server, but there are also advantages to client-side
filtering in some cases, so being able to turn it off would be nice, too.

There are a number of places for potential optimization in filter design, as
well as potentially different optimization goals and scoring algorithms:
minimizing bad spots vs. minimizing latency vs. not missing short-duration
runs, and so on.

In addition, for stations like mine that run a local Skimmer, or where they
only have one Skimmer near them, the optimal filtering rules could be
completely different than for EU or the US East Coast where Skimmers are
plentiful. My Skimmer often hears stations only once that aren't heard by
any other Skimmers. Also, since I take data directly from my Local Skimmer
Server, I see several types of spots ("DE" and "just heard") that aren't
forwarded to the RBN, but that could be used to improve filtering.

I've recently written my own telnet spot server, in my ViewProp app. One
thing I noticed is that there doesn't seem to be a way for spot servers to
send a spot or message that will cause logging apps to delete now-known-bad
spots from their bandmaps. That would be a nice feature, since there are
times when it's not possible to tell that a spot is bad until a while after
it arrives.

73, Rick ZL2HAM (ZL1G/ZM1G)


-----Original Message-----
From: CQ-Contest [mailto:cq-contest-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of
Barry
Sent: Friday, July 19, 2013 9:45 AM
To: cq-contest at contesting.com
Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] Error free RBN

Why would you want a raw feed?  What kind of additional info do bad calls
give you?
Barry W2UP