[CQ-Contest] CQWW SSB 2017 Effective DQ

[Richard Ferch]

N1UR wrote:

> Sure they don't ask everyone in the top 5 for a recording, but I assume if
> Scott had one, it would have clarified whatever the concern was.

Not necessarily.

Presumably they are checking for assisted vs. non-assisted, since audio
recordings are only required in non-assisted entry classes.

But just how would a recording tell them whether you were assisted? Because
you jumped directly from one S&P QSO to the next without tuning through
intervening frequencies? At one time, maybe that would have been an
indication, but not with current technology. With a current Icom or Flex
radio, or with any other radio plus a cheap SDR and some free or
inexpensive software, you can now configure N1MM Logger+ to display a
spectrum/waterfall window that is integrated with the logger, so you can
click on traces in the waterfall and jump directly from one signal to the
next. You can do an entire contest S&P without ever turning the tuning
knob, and without using any assistance as defined in CQ WW rule VIII.2 (the
spectrum display software does not decode CW, it just displays signal
traces, the same as the display on the front panel of many current radios,
or on an external panadapter like a P3).

As far as an audio recording is concerned, someone clicking on spectrum or
waterfall traces to jump between signals would sound exactly the same as
someone clicking on cluster spots. An audio recording would not be able to
discriminate between the two.

73,
Rich VE3KI