Topband: Quality of RBN data

[thorvaldur S T E F A N S S O N]

Hi JC,

as a proponent of remote technology, which I consider to be of immense
benefit to the Amateur Service, I think we should stick to facts and not
let our emotions concerning new technology cloud our thinking.

Although we will no doubt see cheaters employing remote technology one day,
I think your conclusions about cheating based on RBN data are wrong.

As someone who actually had a RBN receiver at my location for a few years,
I became intimately familiar with the reports from the system.

I had my cluster connection set to show the RBN report for my own
transmissions and the results were sometimes "unbelievable" indeed.

I found that often the RBN would give a fantastic report, yet I knew for a
fact that I might be just above the nose level in that area.

What happens is that the RBN receivers grab the call sign of the DX but a
split second later measure the signal level of the stations calling the DX.


If one of those stations is a local, you see those fantastically strong
signal reports, I think I saw a 70dB report once from the US on 160!

My transmit antenna - the Arctic King - may be powerful, but it´s not  that
powerful ;-)

In a contest environment with many strong local stations this problem
reaches monumental proportions rendering the RBN reports in many cases
meaningless.

I think we should take those RBN reports with a grain of salt and not
submit unsubstantiated accusations.


73 Thor, TF4M


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Reference:






*Date: Sat, 6 Dec 2014 15:51:16 -0500From: "JC" <n4is at comcast.net
<n4is at comcast.net>>To: <Gary at ka1j.com <Gary at ka1j.com>>,
<topband at contesting.com <topband at contesting.com>>Subject: Re: Topband:
ARRL160 Test conditions*


*Hi guys*




*We have a new class of station this year, few but some European
stationsrunning contest from remote station in US using European call sign,
notW4/xxxx or W7/xxx not even xxx/W4.*











*Today with the RBN it is easy to confirm where the station is
transmitting,you just need to search the call sign r down load the report
with allreports and filter it using Excel.First of all , it is illegal to
operate in US without a US license notmention the ethic that does not exist
and the Ham radio contest aspect ofthe event. Forget about DCXX program the
issue is real treat for all of usthat love what we do in 160m.Check that
small report from RBN from EA7PP yesterday night, you can verifyreports up
to 52db signal in Virginia RBN station and several over 40 db inUS at the
same time 5-15 db in Europe and sometimes up to 24 db in Europe.*
http://www.reversebeacon.net/dxsd1/dxsd1.php?f=0
<http://www.reversebeacon.net/dxsd1/dxsd1.php?f=0&c=ea7pp&t=dx>








*&c=ea7pp&t=dxjust unbelievable!!73'sN4ISJC*

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