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So far the run-up to the 2008 Dayton Hamvention isn't about any new radio being introduced, or any new SO2R system or antenna. It's about VE3NEA's controversial CW Skimmer software and how it might impact the contest world.
"Yes, I'm sure there will be great debate about CW Skimmer," says Bob Wilson N6TV, who touched on it in Visalia during his presentation on Software Defined Radios.
While Wilson won't be in Dayton, he tells radio-sport.net that Doug Grant K1DG "is planning to present my WinRad and CW Skimmer demo at the Contest Forum."
"WinRad is an interface to sofware defined radios that displays a really nice 'waterfall' diagram of the entire band or of an individual pileup," says Wilson.
"It doesn't decode CW so it is not controversial yet," he added.
"The Contesting Forum of Saturday of the Dayton Hamvention, will be focused on technology for contesting," says Grant K1DG.
Grant will not only present N6TV's demonstration, but also excerpts from Pete Smith N4ZR's paper on the CW Skimmer.
"This will include a live demo of the CW Skimmer decoding a previously-recorded on-air pileup (using the Perseus SDR) and the 2007 KCDXC pileup audio file," Grant says.
"It will be interesting to see if the Skimmer can beat last year's high score of 57 out of 100 callsigns," said Grant.
The Dayton discussion comes after the moderators of the CQ-Contest reflector blocked further messages about the Skimmer controversy, which had dominated the bandwidth there for several weeks.
The note from Tom Frenaye K1KI and John Dorr K1AR, said, "we are going to take a break from the topic until after the conclusion of the Dayton hamvention."
"While we realize that some of you will not be attending Dayton, the discussion that takes place next weekend may put new life into what is otherwise a dying thread," said the reflector moderators.
"The subject simply needs to take a rest," they concluded.
That seems unlikely to last long, as after Dayton, some major decisions still loom for contest committees on whether the Skimmer should be allowed for use in any contest category.
Meanwhile, over 300 hams have now signed an on-line petition calling for a total contest ban on the Skimmer.
"While it is certainly cool technology, it has no place whatsoever in CW contests," wrote John Bayne N4EEB.
But even on the petition, there were some dissenting voices.
"I don't think this (a ban) would be enforceable," wrote Roy Hradilek AD5Q, adding that many in the packet pileups aren't in the contest, but are simply out to work new DX.
"They aren't sending their logs in anyway, so the use of a skimmer can't be considered cheating. The contest rules are irrelevant to them," Hradilek said.
That enforcement issue has prompted its own spirited argument as well, as some want to establish a category separate from Single Op Assisted that would include Skimmer use.
"In a way - if someone proposed putting skimmers and packet assistance in different categories," said Larry Tyree N6TR, "that would greatly diminish our ability to do any kind of enforcement - since the signatures for both are very similar."
For now a poll question posted by N6TV on contesting.com has sentiment running over two-to-one against including the Skimmer in the Un-assisted single operator category.
You can read previous stories about the CW Skimmer:
Contesters Await Rules Decisions On Use of CW Skimmer Software - April 21, 2008
Uproar In Contest Ranks Swells On CW Skimmer; Contest Rulemaking Efforts Not Resolved - April 28, 2008
Log Check Experts Confident CW Skimmer Use Can Be Detected - May 5, 2008
Tell us what you think about the CW Skimmer! Should contest rules be changed? Should this be allowed for unassisted ops? Email us at radio-sport.net
When tied into a radio properly, the program can basically offer you a bandmap full of stations, without being connected to any packet cluster site, as it automatically decodes and identifies CW signals (see photo below.)
The CW Skimmer program and more can be found at VE3NEA's DX Atlas web site.
This is a screen shot of the wideband DX Skimmer mode. (Photo courtesy dxatlas.com)
Pete Smith N4ZR has spearheaded a "reverse beacon" network, with multiple listening locations using the Skimmer around the world.
To see the stations it picks up, go to dxwatch.com and click on the calls of the stations with Skimmers that are online.
"Ultimately, I hope to see a DX-Atlas style propagation map overlaid with actualy reported paths," Smith said. "I think that would be a great teacher about propagation.
"Watching a given band open at various locations up and down the East Coast has been a valuable learning too for me already," he added.
This reporter went on 40 meters earlier in April and made a simple "CQ DE NS3T" call. Sure enough, "NS3T" quickly popped up on the screen via a Skimmer in W9.
