[CQ-Contest] Making the most of the RBN in the ARRL DX Contest

[N4ZR]

I'm addressing this both to RBN node-ops and to CQ-Contest, in the 
belief that there's something here for us all.

The message is simple. Activity will likely go far above 7070, 14070 and 
21070 this weekend.  But the default ranges provided in the Skimsrv.ini 
file stop at that point.  You do want to avoid the FT8 and RTTY 
frequencies, to avoid a lot of junk spots like EE5EE, but be able to 
decode CW above as well as below them. That means adjusting your Center 
Frequencies and most importantly your CW Segments.  For example on 40 
you can set one CW Segment for 7000-7040, and another for 7050-7100 (if 
you want to go that high).  On 20, good choices would be 14000-14070 and 
14080-14125, and similar blocks on 15.

So why am I telling contesters this?  Because we can't know how many RBN 
nodes will adopt these suggestions.  In turn, that means that if you CQ 
above xxx70, you may be spotted less often because fewer nodes will be 
decoding above that frequency.  On the other hand, if it helps to find a 
clear run frequency, the benefit may outweigh any loss.  With 170+ nodes 
on the air, there should be plenty of spots for all.

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.