[Skimmertalk] Archive?

[Dick Dievendorff]

I'm troubled by the word "assistance".

It has a common dictionary meaning which could be applied to any human or
non-human helper including all the non-human SO tools (computers, SCP) we've
used in the past.

The contest organizers created SOA to mean "SO + spotting help using the
efforts of other people". 

Some of us argue that since the SOA category contains the word "assistance"
and SOA means "spotting assistance using the efforts of other people",
therefore anything that is enabled by non-human local technology is not
"assistance". 

Let's say, for the sake of argument that a local CWSkimmer is permitted for
SO in some contest.

Is the use of a offsite skimmer cluster which involves no humans, but does
involve remote receiving equipment not "assistance" because there are no
humans involved?  It's not "multi-op" because there is only one human
operator?  

So does assistance mean "other people"?

I believe the contest organizers can arbitrarily, by fiat, and without
apology define a new or modify an existing category in any way they wish.
The organizers may be motivated by popular opinion, consistency, fairness,
ability to verify that the rules are being followed, desire for fewer or
more categories, convention from other contest organizers, a desire to
change or preserve the status quo, or any number of pressures that I can
only guess at.

Once the contest organizers make their decisions, the contestants will vote
with their feet. 

Dick, K6KR
















-----Original Message-----
From: skimmertalk-bounces at contesting.com
[mailto:skimmertalk-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of K0HB 
Sent: Monday, June 30, 2008 12:32 PM
To: W4TV Joe Subich; skimmertalk at contesting.com
Subject: Re: [Skimmertalk] Archive?


>
> If I connect a CW decoder to each of those 17 receivers where 
> is the "assistance?"  
>

The "assistance" is the CW decoder.

I submit that there ought to be a "classic" category in CW contesting in
which only a single human operator decodes the Morse signals, and
consequently the most skilled operators in that category would have the
best chances of winning.  If they were skilled enough to simultaneously
decode signals by ear from 17 receivers, then they should win over the
operators whose skill was only sufficient to simultaneously decode signals
from 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, or 16 receivers. 
Diana Moon Glompers would hate such a category!

Such a category would exclude operating aids such as CW decoders, SCP, and
similar means of determining the callsigns of others stations.

73, de Hans, K0HB
Just a boy and his (17) radios
--
><{{{{*>    http://www.home.earthlink.net/~k0hb



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