[CQ-Contest] Assisted vs "Unassisted"

[ko7ss at yahoo.com]

It seems the top scores in CW contesting from now on will be dominated by those ops capable of 2BSIQ.
More power to them! I don't have the young age to try to learn this on CW. It's much easier on RTTY.

However, in this day of SDR bandscopes and "unassisted" software like: n4ogw.github.io/SO2SDR/
there certainly is a blurring of the line between assisted and unassisted SO2R. I don't think there are
many actual radio "knobs" being turned these days at the upper levels of competition.

With the upcoming BARTG RTTY contest in mind, maybe CW contests also just need two categories:
SO and SO Expert. The Experts get unlimited band changes, regular SO has a limit. Log checking
would be easy, no recordings needed. No questions about who is using a local Skimmer or the RBN.

It is quickly becoming "2BSIQ capable ops" at the top and "everyone else" below in the 3830 results.

73, Bill KO7SS