[VHFcontesting] Spotting and the DX Cluster in VHF Contesting

[Roger Rehr W3SZ]

  Hi Phil et al,

Thanks for the additional details.  And thanks for doing such an 
excellent job steering the superb and wide-ranging sessions at the NEWS 
Conference!

As you know, and as you point out,  it is not really an "either / or" 
situation.

I believe that the cluster will work very well as the first mechanism 
for finding out who is on and available in a busy contest environment 
when "yet another window" will often get lost in the shuffle among the 
many open windows already present on multiple screens.  It is for 
spotting new stations, and can also be used for brief messages, as 
others have noted.  The potential use of the cluster as a gateway for 
station info from other sources [SMS, APRS, twitter], as was discussed 
at the Conference, is exciting to say the least.  Cluster use will be 
like its use in HF contests, with additions and modifications as 
desired/required by those of us using it for VHF and up.

As you point out, there is certainly a role for ON4KST, and I plan to 
use it, but not for the purpose of spotting during a busy contest!  
ON4KST comes into its own as a liaison channel for stations to use to 
work out the details of their contacts.   It is also useful for a less 
busy station in an area where there is much less "going on" during a 
contest than there is in the busy corridors on the left and right 
coasts, where there isn't so much to keep an eye on that adding an extra 
window that needs to be constantly watched is counterproductive.   My 
sense is that ON4KST will work much better in contests such as the 
Sprints/ARRL 10 GHz / ARRL UHF contests where things are "quieter" and 
there are fewer bands to watch than during the Jan/June/Sept contests 
when things are extremely busy and there are many bands / windows to 
keep an eye on.

What works best on the coasts might be much different that what works 
best in the middle of the country.  These are examples of different 
regions, and it will in my opinion not present a problem if different 
regions find different solutions for their different environments.  And 
what works best in one type of contest may be different than what works 
best in another type of contest.  One size does not fit all.  But within 
a region, best results will be achieved if there is a common approach to 
the problem.  The fact that Phil and I and others in the North East are 
going to start by using the cluster for spotting and ON4KST for 
liaison/chatting does not preclude others elsewhere from choosing other 
approaches.

I will be on for the 432 sprint tonight and will make use of both of 
these tools, using the cluster for spotting and ON4KST for liaison, or 
when things are slow.

An example of how my contest screens will look for the Jan/June/Sept 
contests is at:
http://www.nitehawk.com/w3sz/3screenNew_Software_3_14_2015b_small.png
The cluster window is top right.
Note that when this screenshot was taken:
1.  The radios were not "on"
2.  Cluster filters were not engaged
3.  The browser was set to display aprs.fi , as it would be during a 
contest to keep an eye on rovers.
4.  I DO have a chat page up on the browser [WSJT EME Link], though it 
is not displayed.  During an actual contest I will also have the ON4KST 
page up, but it will not be displayed except when in use.


73,

Roger Rehr
W3SZ

On 4/29/2015 7:39 AM, Phil Theis wrote:
> It's time for me to stop the digest and get these emails directly. So 
> glad to hear the comments coming.  There is a solution out there and I 
> think it will be a combination of several things.
> ON4KST is a great choice for when you have the time to chat.  One of 
> the brilliant things about that page is that it does include a 
> filtered display of spots.   Most of what I've seen is EU spots, but 
> we can change that by generating our own NA spots as well.
> At times it may be necessary to consult the chat page to gain that new 
> grid / multiplier, but when the going is fast the place to stay is 
> usually the logger when you are busy and the major loggers are all set 
> up to present filtered spotting activity to your attention.   It's a 
> proven tool in very busy (HF) contests.   Why not use what we already 
> have in our hands.
> My belief at this time is that the existing amateur radio cluster 
> (which seems to be used heavily by the EU crowd) should be at the core 
> of our common attention gathering efforts.
> One of the thoughts that came out of our initial workshop was to 
> employ a gateway to feed the cluster.
> For instance we can take APRS data gleaned from Rovers who are ready 
> and in position to operate and post it to the cluster. This covers 
> Rovers who may not be in cell phone range at their location.  If they 
> do have coverage it will be possible for this gateway to put an APRS 
> message out on the cluster or to take a twitter feed and put it out on 
> the cluster.
> As has already been mentioned there is a talk mechanism that allows 
> private messages to be passed between cluster users; we need to pursue 
> that further.   These messages show up in a logger window in 
> Highlighted fashion.   Several of us did some experimenting with this 
> function in the 222 sprint.   There is much to discover, and perhaps 
> much to develop further here.
> My next task is to evaluate further the internal schema of the cluster 
> traffic to see just what latitude we have going forward.
> I know that there are at least two cluster programs being used; 
> AR-Cluster and DX Spider.   There seems to be a difference in 
> capability here which we need to explore.  Is there anyone out there 
> in the VHF community with intimate knowledge of these features?
> There are also opportunities to build more functionality into the 
> loggers that we use.
> I'll stop rambling now.   Perhaps we can start a few separate threads 
> here to keep focused on how we can really make the new rules work to 
> our mutual advantage.
> 73,
> Phil K3TUF