[CQ-Contest] Assisted

[Stephen Bloom]

I think we're going to go round and round on this and overthink it to death.  .  I know that assisted vs. unassisted is a much bigger issue in NA than it is in EU.  I'm not sure that is a good thing though.  *NOT* having a "boy and his radio" category in some of the EU and OC contests probably discourages new and "casual" contesters from putting in their best efforts.  Avoiding having a category because some will cheat is self defeating, especially when we are getting better at catching cheaters.  Having said that :)  what I sense is that folks want a "Boy and his radio" category.  Given that, and .. just ignoring cheating, because, no matter what, some people will ..here is what I think would be the simplest way to resolve some of this ...and yes, each contest manager would have to implement it in a way that made sense for that contestA distinct 

Why not just create a "Boy and His Radio" category.  One operator, one radio, no use of assistance (and look, I know the devil is in the details, but really, assistance means acquiring data about who is on and on what frequency, using anything other than ones ears on that single radio.)  The one open question would be, whether to allow SO2R as part of this.  I'm 50-50 on this because, while SO2R is usually helpful, it varies widely by contest and you *CAN* win without it.  It's also about to get a lot messier defining what is and isn't SOxR with the newest Flex radios being able to do it in one box, and no doubt other SDRs coming along with same.  Still though, the "average guy" in this hobby has 1 radio, maybe a tribander and some wires, and often runs 100W.  Something specifically attractive to them seems like a cool idea to me and who does it hurt?

73
Steve KL7SB







-----Original Message-----
From: CQ-Contest [mailto:cq-contest-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of John
Sent: Friday, August 17, 2018 6:41 AM
To: Yuri <ve3dz at rigexpert.net>
Cc: Trent Sampson <vk4ts at outlook.com>; CQ-Contest at contesting.com
Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] Assisted

I don’t think it really matters what the real meaning of assisted and un-assisted is in the true meaning of the words. That has and no doubt  will be debated ad infinitum.
In the terms of contesting it is whatever the contest sponsors decide it is. They are the rules we play with. And as to the OP point about cheating. No amount of defining terms will stop cheating.
John
MM0JOM

Sent from my iPad

> On 17 Aug 2018, at 14:33, Yuri <ve3dz at rigexpert.net> wrote:
> 
> I think the definition of the category should be really based only on a number of operators and number of transmitted signals at a time. 
> Single OP or Multi Op (different numbers of TX's). That's it.
> If a single Op can do what a bunch of people together can't - why should he be handicapped?
> If he can utilize all of the technology and all by himself (without physical help of other people) - why should we call him assisted? Only because a bunch of "ordinary" people can't do the same?
> 
> Of someone is using OCF dipole instead of monoband Yagi, or if someone doesn't have Internet in the shack - that's his own choice. Everyone else doesn't have to "downgrade" because of that.
> 
> Yuri VE3DZ
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: CQ-Contest [mailto:cq-contest-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of Trent Sampson
> Sent: Tuesday, August 14, 2018 5:47 PM
> To: CQ-Contest at contesting.com
> Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] Assisted
> 
> Assisted is really not assisted - 2BSIQ Two Band Synchronised interleaved QSOs have left the assisted operator in its dust... 
> It is really time to reconsider whether Assisted is truly an advantage anymore and deserving of its own category...
> Assisted by my definition is the sourcing of callsign, band and frequency information from any source other than your radio system. 
> 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: CQ-Contest <cq-contest-bounces at contesting.com> On Behalf Of Stanley Zawrotny
> Sent: Wednesday, 15 August 2018 1:06 AM
> To: CQ-Contest at contesting.com
> Subject: [CQ-Contest] Assisted
> 
> Ken,
> 
> Is remembering a well-known callsign assisted?
> 
> Stan, K4SBZ
> 
> "Real radio bounces off the sky."
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