[RTTY] New proposal for a Automated Digital Contest

[Terry]

One option would be to adopt a "mean spirited" approach like Winlink that
says busy frequency detectors are NOT needed.  

However, MMTTY has FFT data available via its API (the data that drives the
waterfall display).  I am not sure about 2-tone.  By having access to the
FFT data, one could make a good decision if the frequency was busy.  I have
some old code written 10 years ago somewhere that interfaces into MMTTY and
pulls in the FFT data using VB6.    If done today, the language of choice
would be C#.


Terry  AB5K




-----Original Message-----
From: RTTY [mailto:rtty-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of Joe Subich,
W4TV via RTTY
Sent: Saturday, April 19, 2014 1:23 PM
To: rtty at contesting.com
Subject: Re: [RTTY] New proposal for a Automated Digital Contest


 > One question, is it legal for a automated station to beacon, i.e.
 > call CQ?

It's not a beacon (a one way transmission) if one is soliciting a contact.
However, to be fair and set a good example, MMTTY and 2-Tone would need to
be extended to provide a "channel busy" signal to hold off CQ transmissions
or automatically QSY prior to a CQ if the frequency was busy.

73,

    ... Joe, W4TV


On 4/19/2014 1:58 PM, Terry via RTTY wrote:
> Well my last proposal flopped big time but it spawned a very 
> interesting thread on the history of RTTY RU and the amount of efforts
spent in
> processing contesting results.    Thanks for all of the comments.
>
> So I am now thinking about proposing a new contest.  The contest would 
> be used to study propagation.  The initial thoughts are somewhere along
the
> line of a RTTY sprint contest but do it in a fully automated way.    Since
> its automated it should probably be done in the FCC sub-bands set aside
for
> automated digital stations.    In order to do a proper study of
propagation
> we probably need to run the contest 24 x 7.
>
> Both client and server software would need to be developed to support 
> the contest.
>
> The client software would:
>
> 1.       Interface into MMTTY and 2-tone
>
> 2.       Initiate a contact or accept a contact and exchange the contest
> format
>
> 3.       Interact with a central server  logging QSO's/Scores
>
> 4.       Interact with a central server reporting the frequency the
station
> is listing on
>
> 5.       Interact with the station radio to control the frequency
>
> The server software would:
>
> 1.       Take care of logging QSO's and scores
>
> 2.       Take care of sharing station operating frequencies
>
> 3.       Provide a FTP site where raw QSO data could be downloaded for
folks
> interested in propagation studies
>
> 4.       Provide a web site that automatically summarizes and displays
> contest results
>
> Most of the software is fairly straight forward.   The hardest part would
be
> providing support for radios that are not available for testing.
>
> Since the end goal is to collect propagation data, stations would be 
> encouraged to run SO2R and even SO3R covering several bands at once.
>
> The results of the contest would be automated and published on the web
site
> with weekly, monthly and yearly totals.   Perhaps we could get a sponsor
for
> a few plaques for the yearly awards.
>
> One question, is it legal for a automated station to beacon, i.e. call CQ?
>
>
>
> Thoughts?
>
> Terry   AB5K
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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