[CQ-Contest] FT4 - Robotic Contesting

[rjairam at gmail.com]

There are Cw contesters who use cw decoders and many CW contesters use
computer generated CW. It’s simply not as good as a human ear yet but it’s
there already.

Ria
N2RJ

On Fri, May 3, 2019 at 9:07 AM Jim via CQ-Contest <cq-contest at contesting.com>
wrote:

> These digital modes, with appropriate tweaks to allow non-trivial
> information, can be very useful for communicating. But for sport? Not
> unless your sport is robotics.
>
> Imagine a similar takeover by machines of a well known sport: tennis. It’s
> not hard to imagine a robot that would eject a tennis ball into the air and
> use a mechanical arm with a tennis racquet attached to hit a ball at a
> similar robot on the other side of a tennis net, and with appropriate
> vision software then get to that ball when it is returned to again hit it
> over a net, and so on. What would that prove, and what about it would be
> interesting to observe?
>
> And I find that mentally decoding a call out of a pileup or out of noise
> comprises a lot more than 1% of contact management.
>
>
> 73  -   Jim  K8MR
>
>
>
>
>
> > On May 2, 2019, at 9:01 PM, Sterling Mann <kawfey at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > In the beginning, there were people. And people raced on foot. And then
> man
> > domesticated the animal, and raced that. And then man got creative,
> making
> > cars, planes, boats, trains, rockets, and so on and so forth...and raced
> > them all.
> >
> > Ham radio is the same. In the beginning there was CW. And then phone. And
> > then RTTY. And then BPSK. And so on and so forth, until now with FT4.
> >
> > What I'm getting at is that FT4 contesting will still be just as much fun
> > as CW, SSB, and RTTY, and just as competitive. But, I think now after
> > reading a negative opinion or two on CQ-contest, QRZ, eHam, reddit, and
> > elsewhere, is that the contesters ingrained in CW, phone, or RTTY
> > radiosport will be hard pressed to believe me. Meanwhile contesters of
> > modern-day modes will have as much fun with FT4 as those who have been
> > contesting with CW for their lifetimes and it makes me sad that they'll
> be
> > unlikely to share that experience. So, I challenge the naysayers to give
> it
> > a try. I promise you that the "robot" you QSOing with will be no
> different
> > than the N1MM automation that manage 99% of a contact already.
> >
> > -Sterling N0SSC
> >
> > On Thu, May 2, 2019 at 7:08 PM Mike Smith VE9AA <ve9aa at nbnet.nb.ca>
> wrote:
> >
> >> Hey guys n' gals,
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> I am not against FT# contesting, but I certainly won't pretend to
> >> understand
> >> it. (nor am I a Luddite)
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> IMO, if you remove too much of the human element from the picture, the
> >> 'rush', the 'reward', the 'competition' (if you want to call it that) is
> >> lessened.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> IE: I derive the greatest pleasure from CW, then SSB, and much much less
> >> for
> >> RTTY. (I don't do very much RTTY - and that is one reason) Watch my
> >> computer
> >> work someone elses computer with a few mouse clicks and some guessing
> as to
> >> the callsign and exchange depending on QSB/QRM etc.?  Some editing of
> >> function key files to tweak my exchange "better" than maybe Joe-Blow
> down
> >> the road who sends everything except his hat size. Being quick with the
> >> mouse.(timing)  Much less than SSB or CW, but at least there's some
> human
> >> interaction.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> When the JT modes hit 6m, it created a situation for the CW/SSB ops,
> that
> >> lessened the overall appeal of 6m as "everyone was up the band on the JT
> >> modes".
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> Again, not against it, but don't "get it".  Maybe it's that
> >> generational/instant gratification for very little outlay of energy
> >> mentality. Maybe it's just the soup de jour.  I dunno.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> Even though I am admittedly not a huge proponent of RTTY (as explained
> >> above), I don't think RTTY contests and awards should be watered down by
> >> including FT#, PSK31 or whatever.  There is still some human element in
> >> RTTY, however small that might be.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> Respectfully,
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> VE9AA Mike...CW and SSB forever !
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> Keswick Ridge, NB
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> _______________________________________________
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> >>
> > _______________________________________________
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>
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