[CQ-Contest] Encouraging Spotting of SSB QSOs in Contests

[K9MA]

It would seem that spotting S&P contacts would be beneficial to the unassisted operator. Let them all fight over the station you just worked. The downside, I suppose, is that if everyone does that, the unassisted operator is less likely to find a new station before it's spotted. That's a moot point in CW contests, as the RBN spots everything almost immediately. 

73,
Scott K9MA 

----------

Scott Ellington

 --- via iPad

> On Nov 19, 2022, at 10:54 AM, Pete Smith N4ZR <pete.n4zr at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> I've been appalled by how few stations spot in phone contests, even though N1MM+ (and perhaps other contest logging programs) offer the option of spotting all S&P QSOs, regardless of mode.
> 
> It's been suggested to me that some non-assisted contest entrants may be deterred because of concern that they might risk disqualification if frequent spots attributed to them are seen on the cluster network.  If that's a significant deterrent, which seems somewhat credible, then perhaps the sponsors of the major contests should singly or collectively announce that the appearance of spots attributed to non-assisted competitors will not, by themselves, be considered  evidence of assisted status.
> 
> Then how would illicit assisted operation be detected?  15 years ago, CT1BOH and VE5ZX authored a paper on how to identify undisclosed two-radio or assisted operation through log analysis.  With the capabilities now available to us, and the near-universal acceptance of open logs, it seems to me that the means exist for detecting undisclosed assistance without making assumptions based on spotting.
> 
> So what say, contest organizers?
> 
> -- 
> 73, Pete N4ZR
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