Topband: Web SDR's and 'Cheating'

Sat Oct 8 04:33:30 PDT 2011

It is simply beyond me how anyone can get any satisfaction from making a
QSO using a web SDR; ultimately of course they are fooling themselves into
believing that they have a high performance station when the opposite is
true.

It took me 33 years to work KH6 on 160m - an unforgettable experience and
one of the best moments of my Amateur Radio 'career'; the same RX/TX
antenna is still in the air and occasionally when out in the field I still
hear myself saying "Did I really work Zone 31 on that"? ):

73 Cris
GM4FAM

> Why use SDRs when there are Beverages, Pennants, K9AY loops? does one
> feel satisfied knowing he/she worked a rare DX station using someone
> else's RX antennas? if you are really into DXing you will feel bad
> about it.
>
> T32C heard 3 times now using single 170m long beverage towards W6
> (recording available for anyone who wants to know how it sounds in
> Northern CT).
>
> If you hear it, you work it, simple as this.
>
> Filipe CT1ILT aka CR6K
>
>
>
> Citando Kostas Stamatis <sv1dpi at otenet.gr>:
>
>> Anyone who makes available his sdr without delay, just helps cheaters.
>> We
>> all know some of them who use a sdr receiver to make qsos. Maybe there
>> is no
>> need anymore to learn the calls. Just stop this. A delay of 1min for
>> example
>> is perfect to enjoy all the goods of an sdr receiver without helping
>> cheaters. I don't know if software allows it but i don't think it is
>> difficult.
>> 73 Kostas sv1dpi
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Thorvaldur Stefansson" <otradalur at gmail.com>
>> To: "Brendan Minish" <ei6iz.brendan at gmail.com>; <topband at contesting.com>
>> Sent: Thursday, October 06, 2011 7:47 PM
>> Subject: Re: Topband: Web SDR's and 'Cheating'
>>
>>
>>> hello Brendan,
>>>
>>> Perhaps this thread is too old, but I only now came across it, sorry if
>>> the
>>> subject has been beaten to death already.
>>>
>>> As you may know I have served my Perseus SDR receiver over the internet
>>> for
>>> almost a year - it never occurred to me that people would use it for
>>> cheating purposes.   I found the experiment interesting for a variety
>>> of
>>> technical issues - it also pleased me to allow remote users to
>>> experience
>>> what Zero Noise level sounds like.   Obviously the issues are the same
>>> whether a SDR or a regular remote receiver is used for cheating.
>>>
>>> http://microtelecom.it/map/PerseusServers.html  shows a map of remote
>>> Perseus receivers.
>>>
>>> However, reading your post on the topband reflector got me thinking
>>> that
>>> the
>>> scenario was familiar....:
>>>
>>> I am hearing a station in the Caribbean on 160m with strong signals and
>>> I
>>> start calling him thinking he will be an easy QSO.... I call him
>>> constantly
>>> for about two hours without luck.
>>>
>>> In the beginning I do not have any propagation to EU, but he is working
>>> EU
>>> with a fairly good rate.
>>>
>>> When his signals have almost disappeared (RST 339) at my location and
>>> propagation has changed from TF to EU away from the Caribbean (!), he
>>> finally hears me and we had a QSO.
>>>
>>> This is cheating on so many levels I don?t know where to begin...
>>>
>>> the DX station is listening to a receiver located in EU - and because
>>> the
>>> DX
>>> has a good transmit antenna on an island surrounded by Salt Water he
>>> has a
>>> relatively good signal in EU  - but the DX suffers from high tropical
>>> noise
>>> making it difficult for him to hear the weaker signals.
>>>
>>> With the remote receiver, he can now clearly hear even the poorest
>>> signal
>>> from EU - stations with poor antennas are now able to "work" the DX
>>> station
>>> even though their setups should not be able to work any DX contacts at
>>> all -
>>> on the cluster the DX is spotted "good ears"  "hears well" "worked with
>>> 5
>>> watts and window antenna" and so on....
>>>
>>> At the same time, one of the most powerful stations on the planet is
>>> unable
>>> to get through since I did not have propagation to EU!
>>>
>>>
>>> All the effort of building a superb station, trying to make use of
>>> elusive
>>> short propagation openings, all of this is flushed down the
>>> toilet....and
>>> I
>>> am hearing that contesters have been doing this for years !
>>>
>>> So this is the reason that the 599+40 station can?t hear me!  not even
>>> a ?
>>> sometimes.
>>>
>>> And here  I was naive enough to think there was a rational explanation
>>> -
>>> this might be because the stations were using directive antennas and
>>> were
>>> listening in another direction - certainly plausible, I myself have
>>> long
>>> Beverage antennas which will have this effect....I have even heard this
>>> explained as "one way propagation"....
>>>
>>> I well remember my QSO with KH2L on Top Band a few years ago that was
>>> ruined
>>> by HB9... who was obviously using a remote receiver to help him hear
>>> the
>>> DX
>>> - the HB9 kept calling completely out of sync about 30 seconds off sync
>>> right on top of my transmissions during the QSO, he managed to ruin my
>>> QSO
>>> completely and it took me a whole year before I heard and worked KH2L
>>> again.....I remember there was a russian station who was also calling
>>> in
>>> sync with the HB9 - both obviously with a similar internet delay.
>>>
>>> I have decided not to make my Perseus receiver available over the
>>> internet
>>> anymore because of these issues.
>>>
>>> Not naming the cheater only serves to create suspicion on other DX
>>> stations
>>> and ruins the sense of accomplishment in making long haul DX contacts.
>>>
>>> Any contacts made in this manner  are not valid for any award purposes
>>> -
>>> after all they are simply contacts over the Internet - only by naming
>>> the
>>> cheaters can we put a stop to these practices - at the very least we
>>> should
>>> not tolerate this behavior on 160 Meters.
>>>
>>> 73 Thor, TF4M
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Hello all
>>>
>>> I have a Software Defined Receiver (SDR) that I make available when I
>>> am
>>> not using it for others to use. it's an SDR-14 and is usually connected
>>> to one of my beverages via a multi-coupler so it hears and performs
>>> well
>>> Software wise , anyone using sdrradio can connect to it.
>>> the latency is alos very low with sdrradio.
>>>
>>> I am happy to make this available to others because in turn I enjoy
>>> using internet connected SDR's provided by others
>>>
>>> last night however I took a listen to what the connected user was
>>> listening to, It turns out that the connected user was a DX station
>>> utilising my SDR to work 160m SSB. He had a pileup of EU stations and
>>> was utilising my SDR to better hear his pileup.
>>> Surely this is 'not on' After all the EU stations may have been able to
>>> hear him (although I could not copy him better than about 21 here)
>>> But he was using a receiver within Europe to hear the EU stations
>>> calling.
>>>
>>> What is the ethical position on this, it sure seems wrong to me
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> 73
>>> Brendan EI6IZ
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
>>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
>>
>
> _______________________________________________
> UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
>