[CQ-Contest] The future of radio contesting

[Stanley Zawrotny]

A few years ago, just for fun (??), I operated in one of the major US contests using only spotting. I would click on a spot in the DXcluster, my rig would use rig control to change bands/frequency and I would call the station. The callsign, time, frequency, etc was automatically entered in my log, so as soon as I worked the station, I would hit enter and it was logged. I would then go on to the next station in the cluster. I never touched the tuning dial during the entire contest. I did not do S&P or run.

It really wasn’t that much fun. The only challenge was busting a pileup.

What contesting skill is involved with following spots? 

Are you contesting to have fun and demonstrate your contesting skills or are you just contesting to run up a high score?

If you don’t like the multi in M/2, why not the eliminate the “other guy” and operate unassisted. If you need the “other guy’s” assistance, then operate M/2.

Besides, SO(A)= M/2=SO(A) - and a rose by any other name is still ….. 😀

Stan, K4SBZ

"Real radio bounces off the sky."

> On Aug 9, 2021, at 1:44 PM, Doug Grant <dougk1dg at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> K3KU wrote:
> 
> "- It seems to me that the automatic spotting could grow to automatic
> running, and with just a little bit more technology we could eliminate the
> radio.  It's just a nuisance between the two ends of the QSO.  Somebody --
> I think K1DG or K1AR) wrote a fantasy about this many years ago.  How far
> away are we from its being reality?"
> 
> That was mine. I had to go searching but found it. I wrote it in 1995.
> 
> Some of my predictions were OK...some were pretty far off. It just needs a
> little light editing and it might be good for 2025.
> 
> Enjoy!
> 
> https://www.dropbox.com/s/4fld2s0ra3uzmzz/The%202005%20CQWWW.pdf?dl=0
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