No argument there, Rich. I forgot to mention the Call History File…automatic pre-fills in the exchange boxes, which is another (IMO) dilution of skill. Of course, you still have to *listen* if the calling station is not in the file. Also, if the exchange includes a sequential serial number, manual copying is still required.
"Spotting" was in use very far back. Maybe to the 1970s with M/S (M/2) and M/M stations. Radio clubs had "secret" simplex frequencies where DX/multiplier information was passed.
AK1A (Dick Norton) took his idea of "packet" information between dispatchers and individual police vehicles and applied it to ham radio. His software created a "node" that stations connect to and information is shared amongst the connected users. Nodes sprang up up and down the East Coast, with UHF links between nodes and individual/station connections to those nodes. I do not know where else nodes formed.
Packetcluster, combined with a new contest logging program called ConTest by K1EA. (AK1A's friend) revolutionized contesting. Now even single ops were using the spotting network, but the contest sponsors had not changed the rules as yet, so those stations were "re-catorigorized" as "+net."
Packetcluster spots and spotting became very popular, so contest sponsors added Assisted categories to each contest. It was slow at first, but now almost every contest has an Assisted category.
If you want to blame someone, blame AK1A and K1EA. Though I don't think you'll have much company.
Remember, one does not have to actually USE any of the technology. There is no requirement to use spotting, nor use a Call History File, nor have the computer send the code.
But my question is (which was part of my last reply to you in the locked 3Y0J thread) do we want to stifle technology? 40 years ago, a friend of mine wrote a logging program for the ARRL 10m contest. It printed out the log sheets pretty much exactly the way the contest log sheets looked like back then. However the ARRL actually DQd him because somehow they thought he was "cheating."
Forty years ago, if one decided to use a computer as a dupe sheet (remember those?) would likely have gotten you a DQ. Today, the major contest sponsors no longer accept paper log sheets.
Where do we stop allowing technology to be implemented into contesting? Where do YOU draw the line? Maybe we should have an iron man category. No computers, no spotting network, no radio interfaces, no memory keyers, no auto tune amplifiers, no auto antenna switching, no modern rotators (with digital readouts), no new technology at all. Let's go back to 1971 and use radios from that year. Are you willing to sign up for that?
Winning or placing high in a major contest is a different discussion altogether. Those ops are very experienced and skilled, whether or not they operate assisted with call history files, and have advanced station capabilities as well. Certainly not easy or lazy. Using Bud, who operates assisted in major contests and places high in his category, isn’t typical of the average contester. His skills are extraordinary no matter what. I’d be willing to bet that search and pounce is a very small percentage of his operation. Running and the ability to handle and pick out multiple callers efficiently is a key skill.
There are several guys in SO(A)HP that do 2BSIQ. K3WW, N3RD, N3RS, etc. There are several in SOAB as well. Yes it is a unique skill set that not many people have. SO2R has become a broad category. It can be as simple as running on one radio and doing S&P on another radio (on another band). There is also SO2V, where the second VFO of one radio used to work other stations on the same band. There is also a "sub-category" of that, where you use two separate radios on the same band.
That is always the key - picking out a single complete callsign in a pileup. Master that, and your rate and scores will go up. It's relatively easy to copy one callsign by itself (especially when it's loud). It's quite another when there are 10-100+ stations calling at the same time. There are programs that can help you practice, but like music (which I am not good at) it either takes a special talent or lots of practice (or both).
Those with smaller stations, consequently having to mostly rely on search and pounce, using point-and-click spotting clusters and call history files isn’t very skillful nor challenging. Actual *listening* and copying is compromised relying on them as a crutch. The spots and call history files aren’t always accurate, and can cost you points. Then again, to each his own as long as they’re having fun.
Maybe not, but as you said, they seem to be having fun. If not, they likely would not be doing it. Some have to run and some decide to S&P. It's the nature of the beast, right?
Depends. The RBN is relatively accurate. Sure there are certain calls that are mis-copied (look up TN2SR, TN2RC, TA1K). But I'd trust the RBN over most human spotters. There have been far too many times where typically on a Sunday afternoon, someone doesn't hear a particular callsign and spots it as something else, creating a huge pileup for "common" mult. Many years ago 6Y5LZ was spotted many times as BY5LZ. My blacklisted spotters list kept growing until I set my RBN filter to not accept any human spots at all.
73, Bob K7JQ
Just a civil discussion, no?