[CQ-Contest] Spot Filters was: Self-spotting explanation from CQWW blog

[Pete Smith N4ZR]

I agree.  However, the band-by-band bar charts are an extraordinarily 
good teaching tool.  I'm no newbie, but the first time I saw 6 bar 
charts, reporting when bands opened and closed to my locale, aligned one 
on top of the other, I was really impressed by the information density 
presented.

Oh and BTW, ViewProp also lets you set the center of the near end circle 
anywhere in the world.  Though many DXpeditions now provide "when to 
expect to hear us on band X" information, for stations that don't, it 
would be easy to set it up to "see what he would hear."

73, Pete N4ZR
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 4/25/2017 4:11 PM, Matt NQ6N wrote:
> Very interesting, Pete. I'll definitely check it out and likely use it.
>
> But just for the record, I don't necessarily think that seeing too many
> spots is bad for a new ham, it helps to illustrate how propagation works
> (and doesn't work). In a sense seeing only workable spots is a pragmatic
> thing to do, but it hides the reality that the bands may be hopping
> elsewhere in the world.
>
> 73,
> Matt NQ6N
>
> On Tue, Apr 25, 2017 at 2:18 PM, Pete Smith N4ZR <n4zr at comcast.net> wrote:
>
>> One very clever approach to this problem is incorporated in the freeware
>> Viewprop by ZL2HAM. It lets you set the radius of a circle around your QTH
>> so that only spots TO or FROM inside that circle are let through. The idea,
>> of course, is to define the circle so that stations inside it have
>> propagation similar to yours.  It can he used as "middleware" to filter
>> spots going to your logging program, and has a number of useful features
>> such as by-band bar charts that let you see at a glance when a given region
>> had propagation to your area over the last 24 hours and more.
>>
>> See ViewProp at yahoogroups.com for info; the installer is in the Yahoo
>> group's files section.
>>
>> 73, Pete N4ZR
>> 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 4/24/2017 5:11 PM, Jukka Klemola wrote:
>>
>>> Setting spot filters right will help guessing what is the best spot to
>>> click.
>>>
>>> Finding new variables for optimizing the operating efficiency is one of
>>> the
>>> near-future developments.
>>>
>>>
>>> To see the spot development future, go to slide 25:
>>> https://asiakas.kotisivukone.com/files/ohdxf.kotisivukone.co
>>> m/contest_station_2020.pdf
>>>
>>> Contesting software capabilities 2020 on slides 20 through 23.
>>>
>>>
>>> 73,
>>> Jukka OH6LI
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> 2017-04-24 23:51 GMT+03:00 Barry <w2up at comcast.net>:
>>>
>>> If you are seeing many spots before they are workable, one of those other
>>>> skills to which you refer needs more work.  That is, knowing your station
>>>> and setting  filters to keep you from wasting time clicking on spots you
>>>> can't hear or can't work.
>>>>
>>>> Barry W2UP
>>>>
>>>> On 4/24/2017 12:10, Matt NQ6N wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Spotting makes some of the skills required to contest and work DX less
>>>>> useful, but it makes other skills more useful.  <snip>
>>>>>
>>>>> Also, since most stations see spots before they are workable (before
>>>>> propagation has reached their QTH)
>>>>> 73,
>>>>> Matt NQ6N
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
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