[CQ-Contest] WRTC Spotting

[Mike Fatchett W0MU]

Everyone should be on be on the scoreboard so that people can watch.  It 
is a competition.  Would you watch the Indy 500 or other events if they 
did not have a scoreboard or leader board? Would you watch a baseball 
game with without scoring, balls and strikes etc?  Not me.

Does knowing this information really help me or others?  I doubt it.  At 
this stage of the game there are very very few unknown secret openings 
or rate periods.  It is nice to see that more and more are adopting the 
use of scoreboards.

Back to the spotting conversation.

W0MU

On 7/1/2023 9:29 AM, kq2m at kq2m.com wrote:
>
> Scoreboards are informative and fun to watch, and this usefulness 
> brings about my main objection to their use being allowed by the 
> NON-Assisted ops; that watching a scoreboard provides valuable 
> information about band openings, rate and what is likely being worked 
> on the band(s), by whom and when.  In some ways scoreboard info can be 
> even more useful than actually viewing DX cluster spots which only 
> tell you what is being spotted and by whom, not who/what is actually 
> being worked in real-time.  I believe that use of the Scoreboard 
> constitutes Assisted operating since this real-time information is 
> provided by others DURING the contest.
>
> For these reasons I personally do not look at scoreboards when I am 
> operating NON-Assisted, regardless of whether or not the SOABHP 
> category allows it.  I believe that the contest committees seriously 
> erred many years ago when they gave their blessing to scoreboard use 
> by the */NON-Assisted/ *ops along with several other forms of 
> real-time technology including skimmer.
> Why Mike and others feel the need to "get everyone to use scoreboards" 
> is baffling to me.  Why not get others to develop and improve their 
> OPERATING SKILLS instead?
> And, NO, there are many among us who DON'T "accept automatic spotting 
> on every mode"; rather, we have learned to live with it because we 
> have no control over it and have not been left with a viable 
> alternative except not to operate.
> Regarding SSB spotting in WRTC, I can see both the pros and cons of 
> doing this and the strong opinions already expressed.  Each WRTC 
> committee is charged with making their own rules and each WRTC event 
> has introduced new ideas and competition "tweaks" to experiment with 
> them.  Some have been great and others not, but it is part of the 
> ongoing evolution of WRTC (just as in the Olympics) and it will be 
> interesting to see how this hybrid form of SSB spotting turns out.
> Both WRTC and technology sure have changed a lot since the 
> groundbreaking event took place in Seattle, WA, some 33 years ago.  It 
> is still one of the highlights of my life!
> I wish the 2022 WRTC Committee and all judges, support people, 
> participants and competitors, a most awesome and wonderful event!
> CU in IARUHF!
> 73
> Bob, KQ2M
> In 2023-06-30 18:13, Mike Fatchett W0MU wrote:
>> I don't see much of an issue. CW spots are automatic with RBN and 
>> skimmer.  Why not SSB spots?  IARU could change their rules. Same for 
>> any other contest.    Maybe this is how we get everyone to use 
>> scoreboards.  If you use the scoreboards you get spotted on SSB.
>>
>> We accept automatic spotting on every mode but SSB simple because we 
>> don't have a good way to do it.  Maybe this changes that......
>>
>> W0MU