Topband: CW Skimmer, PJ2T During 2009 CQWW 160 CW

[Jeffrey Maass K8ND]

I've recorded a short (90 second) video of CW Skimmer operation during the
2009 CQWW 160 CW Contest at PJ2T, as a demonstration of the value of CW
Skimmer to the Multi-Op or Single-Op Assisted contester. It's posted on
YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZarmnghuQK8 (Viewing in
'Fullscreen' strongly recommended!) 

This 90 seconds was recorded on January 24 starting at 0514Z, as sunrise was
moving across Central Europe. The receiver was an RFSPACE SDR-IQ and the
antenna was the PJ2T 1000-foot Europe Beverage. The entire 25 hours of
operation were recorded during the contest, and this is a short sample of
that set of recordings. Typically, we have two or three CW Skimmers running
during a Topband contest, each listening on a different receive antenna. The
typical configuration is shown at
http://www.k8nd.com/Radio/Planning/CQWW160/PJ2T_CW_Skimmer_CQWW160CW_2013.pd
f. 

Shown in the video is a Writelog Bandmap window on the left, and the CW
Skimmer windows on the right. This is exactly what CW Skimmer would have
spotted had it been turned on at the beginning of the recording: the video
is not speeded-up in any way. The spots shown were decoded while PJ2T was
calling CQ and working stations at 84 QSOs per hour in the same room, and
you will see the overload on the Skimmer display. Although CW Skimmer
decodes all callsigns, only those callsigns calling CQ are passed via telnet
to Writelog. Note that CW Skimmer decoded 240 callsigns during that
90-second period!

CW Skimmer is an invaluable contest tool! 

73,  Jeff K8ND

(PJ2T was the #3 Multi-Op in the 2009 CQWW 160 CW Contest and set a new
South America record. Operators K8ND and W8WTS)