[CQ-Contest] Self-spotting explanation from CQWW blog

[Steve London]

I agree 100% with Rich's assessment, comments and suggestions.

I, too, have suggested that self-spotting be allowed, subject to 
conditions on how often, and under what circumstances. The resistance I 
have received has come from a few of the world top-10 SOAB competitors. 
They are concerned that they will be at a competitive disadvantage due 
to their perceived internet connectivity issues. With just a little 
creative thinking, there are solutions to that problem, too. For 
example, how hard would it be to set up a packet RF-to-internet gateway 
for self spotting on VHF or HF ? Such things were very common in the 
early days of the internet, 20 years ago. Before the internet, there was 
even a 30 meter band network for interconnecting VHF packet clusters.

73,
Steve, N2IC


On 04/17/2017 04:55 AM, Rich Assarabowski wrote:
> This just appeared on CQ WW
> http://cqww.com/blog/cqww-2016-ssb-self-spotting-and-entrant-audio-recording
> s/ .    I know the intimate details of two situations from the last CQWW
> where genuine friends, unrelated to the contest effort and with NO
> communication with the contest operation were trying to help out and spot
> their buddies, resulting in DQ letters to the contest operation.   The
> explanation below by KR2Q clarifies the definition of self-spotting.
>
> To me the logic of self-spotting as defined by KR2Q is completely flawed.
> It basically says that it's OK to spot a friend but not too fast, not too
> often, and never when you hear his rate dropping.    The assumption made
> that frequent and fast spotting "indicate linkage to the mother station" is
> absurd.   These rules now open up the opportunity that if you don't like
> someone, just spot him a few times (and no one else) and they will
> automatically get DQ'ed.
>
>
>
> It's finally time for a rules change - allow self-spotting.   One way is to
> have logging software send out automatic spots of yourself based on a
> commonly agreed upon algorithm, e.g. every X minutes, every new QSY, etc.
> The issue here is what to do about single-ops who are not connected to the
> internet and those in locations without internet service.     This could be
> the "nail in the coffin" for the single-op category with no Internet
> connection and penalizes those operations who do not have Internet service.
> Incidentally, the T48K operation got DQ'ed for self-spotting and they did
> NOT have Internet service in Cuba.    Ask K1XX, K1EP and K1MM about that one
> ;)
>
>
>
> --- Rich K1CC
>
>
>
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