[Skimmertalk] PJ2T and CW Skimmer in CQWW 160 CW

[Jeff Maass]

We are planning a system of three on-site CW Skimmers for CQWW 160 CW later this month. I
thought some here might find a description of our application interesting.

A diagram of the planned system is at: 
  http://www.k8nd.com/Radio/Planning/CQWW160/pj2t_cw_skimmer_scheme.pdf

Each of the three SDR-IQ receiver will be using a different directive receiving antenna,
and these will be switched periodically depending on the target areas of interest. We will
have six receiving antennas at PJ2T: 570-foot US/JA Beverage, 1000-foot Europe Beverage,
two Flags, a DX Engineering 4-Square RX antenna, and a short Beverage On Ground (BOG). The
RX antennas at PJ2T are such that switching from the Europe Beverage to the USA/JA
Beverage is like listening to two different pileups. The Flags and BOG are much less
discriminating, but in general each Skimmer will be providing a different set of spots
with only a little overlap. The map of our RX antenna bearings are online at
http://www.k8nd.com/Radio/Planning/CQWW160/PJ2T_RX_Ants_Bev_4SQ_Planned.pdf. 

The CW Skimmers will be set to filter spots using "Paranoid" filter and the MASTERDX.DTA
Super Check Partial (SCP) file. We are looking primarily for multipliers using the
Skimmers, not QSOs. The bandmap gets plenty busy during the contest from just the
PacketCluster spots, and Skimmer can easily double the number of callsigns displayed if
the filters allow US/VE station spots into the mix.

The outputs of the CW Skimmers will be run through K1TTT's WinTelnetX software to combine
the spots and provide them directly to the Writelog contest logger's spot window. These
will supplement the spots from a PacketCluster.

We used a single SDR-IQ receiver with CW Skimmer last year in this contest, and it was
very helpful in finding multipliers. I also recorded ~25 hours of the contest (the hours
of dark on the island), and it is amazing to sit here almost a year later watching the
spots pile up during the European prime-time just as I did in person last January!

73,  

Jeff  K8ND

Topbanders for a Modern Maunder
"Can't Sleep, Clowns Will Eat Me"

Caribbean Contesting Consortium: www.pj2t.org