[VHFcontesting] Assistance in the VHF Contest

[James Duffey]

I am not sure what others, particularly rovers, are doing for assistance in the upcoming contest. I have some questions and comments.

0. Does anyone this list run a skimmer that feeds into the RBN? Can or will you operate it on 6M during the contest?

1. Will there be any, well more than a few, RBN (skimmer) stations serving 6M spots during the contest?

2. Will these skimmers capture not only the default CW band from 50.080 to 50.100, but also the lower part of the SSB band? I know that the skimmers can’t decode and spot SSB, but if they can monitor the SSB band, a quick CW CQ from an SSB OP before calling CQ on voice would get one spotted, right? And if you did it every 10 minutes or so, that would keep you spotted, right?

3. I think a cluster filter setting like “Set dx filter spotterstate=nm and (band=6 or band=2)” will feed me spots only from NM and only on 6M and 2M. I have been trying this, but there is no activity here now, so I don’t see anything on the cluster, but at least the cluster didn’t barf up my filter setting. 

4. A self spot is the same as a regular spot, so I would send something like  “DX KK6MC/r 50.147 DM74”

I am going to use my iPhone as a hot spot to access the internet, and also use it to generate APRS spots. I will also check the MUF maps on DX Maps for openings. What are others doing? - Duffey KK6MC