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While there were some animated conversations inside and outside the 2008 Dayton Hamvention about the contesting impact of VE3NEA's controversial CW Skimmer software, there wasn't a major repeat of the verbal tangles earlier this month on the CQ-Contest reflector.
"It's been beaten like a dead horse," said Bob Naumann W5OV, who led a discussion on technology in the Hamvention's Contest Forum.
Instead, there seemed to be more jokes about the Skimmer than anything else, as contesters await the decision of various contest committees on how the rules will handle the issue for single operators.
"I'm not saying anything about the Skimmer," laughed Jerry Rosalius WB9Z as he hustled his way to the bar in the Contest Super Suite on Friday night.
"Made that decision on the Skimmer yet?" cracked one ham as he greeted newly minted CQ WPX Contest Director Randy Thompson K5ZD.
As Thompson spoke with radio-sport.net inside Hara Arena, there were lots of interested hams checking out the variety of software defined radios on display along with various software packages that allow for multimode radio data decoding.
While a demonstration of the Skimmer ran into some technical problems at the Contesting Forum, the basics were obvious for those in attendance.
"A static run of a pre-existing band scan of about 1.5 minutes showed Skimmer decoding about 150 calls," said Rich DiDonna NN3W.
Skimmer though only scored a 31 in the KCDXC pileup contest, which was won by Doug Smith W9WI, who successfully copied 52 calls.
That was a surprise to many in the room, who figured the Skimmer would be the contest equivalent of Deep Blue in chess.
You can see the results of the KCDXC Pileup contest on the CQ-Contest reflector.
The debate over the Skimmer came as the ARRL ironically announced in Dayton that it will publicly place an increasing emphasis on technology in promoting the hobby.
"Radio amateurs have entered a new era," said ARRL Preisdent Joel Harrison W5ZN.
"Software is expanding the capabilities of their radio hardware," Harrison added.
"Ham radio is state-of-the-art, innovative and relevant," said Harrison.
The growth in technology though left an unsettled feeling in the stomachs of some contesters, who seemed to be visibly struggling at Dayton with where to draw the line on the Skimmer.
"It could start an arms race," was a comment heard from several prominent contesters at Hara Arena, as many wondered whether the software would be used by prominent U.S. multi-ops at some point.
Several hams told radio-sport.net in Dayton that while they had signed an online petition calling for a ban on the Skimmer, they didn't believe that was the answer.
While over 400 hams have now signed that on-line petition calling for a total contest ban, a poll on contesting.com still is running about two-to-one against allowing 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
Skimmer Controversy Dominates As Contesters Assemble at 2008 Dayton Hamvention - May 12, 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.
