[CQ-Contest] SO(Team) and SO(A)

[Pete Smith N4ZR]

Thanks for the nice words, Frank.  just two additions:

the real credit belongs to VE3NEA, who invented the CW Skimmer, CW 
Skimmer Server, and RTTY Skimmer Server software.  Another bravo goes to 
Phil Covington, N8VB, whose QS1R software defined receiver made it 
possible for Skimserv users to spot on 7 bands at once. As for my role, 
PY1NBco-invented the RBN, and continues providing a lot of the web 
server maintenance and development.  W3OA, KM3T, and F5VIH/SV3SJare all 
important technical contributors.  I just do propaganda.

73, Pete N4ZR
Download the new N1MM Logger+ at
<http://N1MM.hamdocs.com>. Check
out the Reverse Beacon Network at
<http://reversebeacon.net>, now
spotting RTTY activity worldwide.
For spots, please use your favorite
"retail" DX cluster.

On 12/22/2016 1:36 AM, donovanf at starpower.net wrote:
> Hi Jack,
>
>
> There were many more phases of spotting network development
> than you're aware of.
>
>
> It began with voice networks in the 1960s (maybe before). Soon
> adjacent clubs discovered that they could listen to each other's
> voice spotting networks, especially those voice spotting
> networks that started to use higher power and well sited repeaters
> during the 1970s and 1980s...
>
>
> The next revolutionary step was AK1A's Packet Cluster software
> in 1985, initially operated as individual packet nodes, then soon
> "clustered" together via relatively short distance RF packet
> backbones. Some of the RF links started to be operated at higher
> data rates.
>
>
> Those of us who had contacts in the telecommunications industry
> were able to "borrow" unused bandwidth to link more distant
> Packetcluster nodes.
>
>
> Soon those of us who had access to the internet primarily through
> universities started to use it to interconnect distant nodes, before
> long it started to interconnect to nodes in Europe and Asia. This
> much broader DX cluster interconnectivity placed severe loads
> on the typical 1200 packet RF backbones and user connections.
>
>
> When the public internet began to be widely available in the early
> to mid 1990s, end users started to connect to PacketCluster nodes
> via the internet. Direct user connections via the internet caused the
> bandwidth requirements to explode again and the RF backbones and
> user connections started to fade away. VE7CC and the DX Summit
> soon appeared providing direct internet access to hundreds of users.
> Very few RF user links are in use today and essentially all of the
> RF packet backbones are gone.
>
>
> The next revolution was VE3NEA's CW Skimmer. Before long
> N4ZR and his team developed the Reverse Beacon Network
> of interconnected CW and RTTY Skimmers. The bandwidth
> requirements exploded again (and again, and again) which lead to
> the development of much faster "DX Cluster" software such as
> AR-Cluster Version 5 and many major reliability and storage
> upgrades to the Reverse Beacon network servers.
>
>
> I'm sure we've not come to the end of this 30+ year development
> of DX spotting technology.
>
>
> 73
> Frank
> W3LPL
>
> ----- Original Message -----
>
> From: "Jack Haverty" <k3fiv at arrl.net>
> To: cq-contest at contesting.com
> Sent: Wednesday, December 21, 2016 11:02:06 PM
> Subject: [CQ-Contest] SO(Team) and SO(A)
>
> The recent NAQP conversations got me thinking...
>
> On 12/16/2016 10:03 AM, Steve London wrote:
>> the original rules, in the Jan/Feb 1986 NCJ:
>>
>> Entry Classification: Single-operator and multi-operator unlimited.
>> Multi-operator stations may be multi-transmitter but are limited to one
>> signal per amateur band. Use of helpers or spotting nets by single
>> operators is not permitted.
> Just an observation...on the way that the term "spotting nets" has
> evolved over 30 years, and some ideas:
>
> Thirty years ago, "spotting nets" involved amateur operators
> communicating over amateur radio to exchange spotting information.
> IIRC, these were mostly local voice networks using 2, 6, or maybe 10
> meters to exchange spots within a groundwave/line-of-sight region.
>
> Phase 2 was the advent of amateur packet on 2 meters, and similar
> "spotting nets" followed as computers appeared in ham stations.
>
> All of that involved communications by amateur radio, with computers
> getting involved as a new technology used both in spotting nets, logging
> programs, etc.
>
> Phase 3 was the advent of the Internet, and the movement of "spotting
> networks" to utilize other forms of communication and operate over a
> much larger region, even global.
>
> Perhaps a reasonable "next step" for contest organizers to consider
> would be to look back to Phase 2 - e.g., allowing an SO(A) category to
> use "spotting networks" if, and only if, they are implemented using only
> amateur radio communications.
>
> It might also be interesting to permit SO(Team) entrants, instead of
> being just a collection of uncoordinated SO operators, to use such
> "Phase 2" spotting networks, just amongst themselves, and explore how a
> Team can actually cooperate to better scores - e.g., finding mults,
> moving them, etc. This might also generate some of the "social
> networking" aspects and competitive environment of Team rivalries to
> attract younger hams?
>
> Parts of the Internet can be, and have been, implemented over amateur
> radio. The technology exists, but there's still quite a few challenges
> to using such an "Amateur Internet" for spotting during contests. Our
> communications just isn't as fast or widespread as the Internet's fiber
> infrastructure. But these challenges are all technical and don't
> require lots of money, land, or aluminum. Can today's advantages of
> spotting networks in contests be achieved using only amateur radio for
> communications?
>
> Just a thought...
> 73,
> /Jack de K3FIV
>
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