[SCCC] Being spotted by the RBN tips and spot counts for CQ WW CW 2011 SOHP stations

[Timothy Coker]

Some interesting information about being spotted by the RBN while
running, extracted from a recent CQ-Contest reflector post:

http://reversebeacon.blogspot.com/2011/12/most-spotted-single-ops.html

Most-spotted Single Ops
Again, from N6TV, here are the most spotted single-ops.  He says:

I pulled spot counts for the Top-Ten SOHP stations, as reported so far
to 3830 (plus CR3E who has not posted yet).  Note that if you were
spotted once a minute for 48 hours, that would add up to 2880 spots.


Most Spotted USA (SO HP)
K0DQ    6724
K1RX    6681
K3CR    6439
K5ZD    5684
K4ZW    5606
NN1N    5543
N2NT    5052
N9RV    4829
K1DG    4400
K1TO    4218


Most spotted DX (SO HP)
VY2TT   3639
VY2ZM   3541
P40W    2695
P40F    2249
A45XR   2162
PZ5T    1864
8P5A    1647
NH2T    1439
CR3E    1430
CR6K    1253
4O3A     447

Tip (from N6TV):  The best way to get spotted by a Skimmer is to send
"CQ" or "TEST" and your callsign (twice), with everything  sent at the
same speed.  Sending "TEST" faster than your callsign, or sending the
exchange faster than everything else, will make CW Skimmer much less
likely to properly decode your call.  CW Skimmer must detect your CW
speed before it can decode any letters successfully.  Varying your CW
speed constantly will make it much harder for CW Skimmer to spot you.

N4ZR adds:  Also, you *must* send TEST or CQ, or you will not be
spotted.  These are keywords that Skimmer uses to identify running
stations.  No keyword, no spot.

Of course, the numbers above reflect the geographic distribution of
RBN Skimmers.  It is surprising, though, that given the density of RBN
contributors in Europe, only CR6K and 4O3A made the list.  Perhaps
there aren't very many competitive high-power single-ops in Europe, or
maybe they were all off operating at the big multis.