[Skimmertalk] The New Radio – an audio and visual approach to contesting

[Steve Lott]

Jose

very well stated !!!!!

I had not envisioned use of skimmer for SSB but it is as you say a very
valuable point and click tool, versus other tools that allow you to see the
band but point and click must be followed by fine tuning which waste time
and time is lost qso rate

One thing I miss now that I am using FT-1000MP's in my SO2R shack is the
band scope which I had on my old 756-Pro2

Now I can have the best of both worlds with a simple SDR rcvr and software
that ties the two together

There is much happening in our world of Ham Radio
and many are helping push the state of the art in operating
from Contest loging tools, to interfacing skimmer spots to contest logger
band charts
with applications like that of RigSync from W2RF

And Dave yes your right we can use skimmer now for SSB, most RTTY software
looks at things as a band scope per se but the point and click accuracy of
the skimmer software is, much more "accurate" so one point and click and we
are zero beat

cheers !
steve
KG5VK

http//:sdxa.blogspot.com <http://www.sdxa.blogspot.com>


On Mon, Nov 3, 2008 at 1:07 PM, José Nunes CT1BOH <ct1boh at gmail.com> wrote:

> >>>>The New Radio – an audio and visual approach to contesting
>
>
> There is a trend in the new SDR radios that incorporates spectrum scopes
> (panadapter, waterfall, etc). This trend will change the way we operate and
> will impact the way we do Contesting.
>
> The new way of operating is:
>
> completely eliminate the VFO knob and tune with a mouse and keyboard keys
> use both ears and eyes to identify stations
> have visual information of the totality of the signals on a band
>
> "The new radio" offers the visual element, along side the audio element and
> the ability to tune from one signal into the next signal without having to
> listen to the empty band space in between stations.
>
> This will have a tremendous impact in the way we Contest, and will
> accelerate activity, i.e. more QSOs in the time frame of the contest,
> because tuning is many orders of magnitude faster. In a way we can say that
> with the "new radio" there is no more Search&Pounce but only Pounce.
>
> >>>>Contesting with "the old radio"
>
> Before starting a run, the operator dials the band up and down, turning the
> VFO knob, in a continuous way, looking for a clear frequency. Once he finds
> and holds the frequency he is able to start a Run. While on the frequency
> he
> is only aware of a few Khz, depending on his passband filter (500Hz in a CW
> contest). He has no information whatsoever of what is adjacent to his
> frequency and up and down the band.
>
> If the operator stops the Run and goes into S&P mode, he has to dial the
> VFO
> knob in a continuous way, going from one station into the other station.
> While doing this, he will listen to the bands (empty space) in between the
> stations.
>
> >>>>Contesting with "the new radio"
>
> Before starting a Run, the operator looks at a spectrum scope that shows
> him
> the entire band at once. He visually identifies an empty spot and with a
> mouse click is taken right to the frequency of choice. Once he finds and
> holds the frequency he is able to start a Run. While on the frequency he is
> aware of a few Khz, depending on his passband filter (500Hz in a CW
> contest), AND to the all the signals present on the band. He not only has
> an
> audio element (the passband of the radio) but a visual element (all the
> signals on the band).
>
> If the operator stops the run and goes into "S&P" mode, he can click and go
> zero beat with each signal present on the band. There is no tuning anymore,
> there in no more listening to the empty band space in between each station.
> The visual element of the new radio will provide the operator the
> information to go directly zero beat to each signal.
>
> Sprectrum scopes have been around for more than 20 years. Radios like ICOM
> 781 have sprectrum scopes that have been used by Single Operators in the
> Non
> Assisted categories. All the ICOM PRO series and ICOM 7800 radios have
> scopes, as well as Yaesu FT2000 and FT9000 (with DMU units). We can say
> that
> these scopes are very crude, but they already provide the visual element.
>
> >>>>Blind Skimmer
>
> When Alex, VE3NEA released CW Skimmer I sent him an e-mail and told him
> that
> CW Contesting would be very different in the future.
>
> CW Skimmer attracted my attention not because of the decoding element of
> call signs, but for the very powerful and fast waterfall display, with a
> resolution sufficient for reading Morse Code dots and dashes visually.
>
> Note that CQWW Rules prohibit CW decoding of call signs in the Single
> Operator Non Assisted categories, but it does not prohibit scopes.
>
> With this in mind, I contacted again Alex, VE3NEA, and asked him if he
> could
> release a version of his waterfall display, that provide a visual
> representation of the dots and dashes, with the CW decoding disabled,
> therefore suitable for the Single Operator Non Assisted class. He was very
> receptive and we came up with Blind Skimmer.
>
> In "Blind Mode", no call sign list is produced, none of the waterfall dots
> and dashes are annotated with the text of the call sign and the up/down
> arrows of the keyboard enable the operator to move the frequency of the
> radio from one signal into the next (once again Alex was very receptive to
> my suggestion of implementing this very efficient way of "zero beat
> tuning").
>
> >>>>What's next?
>
> Contesting is a technological game, and because of this an evolving game.
> The new generation scopes, with enough resolution to separate one signal
> from the other will indeed accelerate the way we contest and this means
> more
> QSOs
>
> In the end its still one guy, his ability to make QSOs and winning the
> Contest
>
> 73
> José Nunes
> CT1BOH
>
> --
> --
> José Nunes
> CONTEST CT1BOH - http://www.qsl.net/ct1boh
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