Category — Software

There is a (long) conversation going on over at the Contest Reflector about how rules should be constructed around the new CW Skimmer software that recently made its debut for hams. The commentary ranges from letting a single operator use the software to placing that operator into an "assisted" category like packet to banning the software from contesting.

Having these sorts of discussions is a good thing in that it helps contest organizers figure out where all of the passion and objections come from while they design rules around this new technology.

The deal is this: technology will always be ahead of the rules.

Dipoles came before beams and beams came before stacked beams. No filters came before filters on radio and filters came before software DSP. No spots came before 2-meter local spotting and 2-meter local spotting came before packet spotting.

To try and have rules ‘already set up’ ahead of time to accommodate what we think might happen with technology is really a waste of time. We don’t know where technology will take the hobby — one of the things that make ham radio so much fun.

To try and take new technology and shove it into an existing rules category is a useful exercise much of the time. But sometimes something so new comes along that new rules need to be created.

Have at the CW Skimmer discussion with the rules. But let’s not have a heart attack over how it will be treated in the rules. You won’t have anything left over to deal with the next technology change that won’t fit into the rules.

Technology will always trump the existing rules.

Scot, K9JY

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There are some stations not sending the signal report as part of the contest exchange in the CQ WW Prefix contest this weekend — just the serial number. Some people aren’t happy about it since sending the signal report is part of the rules.

But, in every contest I’ve been in, the signal report is the same: 59 for SSB Contests and 599 for CW/RTTY Contests. Of course, in the thousands of contacts I’ve made as a contester, there have been a handful of operators who gave something different for the signal report. But only a handful.

In addition, all of the contest logging programs automatically default to the 59/599 signal report for the field in the exchange.

And I haven’t heard of anyone getting disqualified for not providing the signal report; it will be interesting to see if this happens from this contest.

Scot, K9JY

I read a blog post the other day from February (sorry, I don’t remember which post!) that marked the one year anniversary of the no-code license. While much has been talked about with no-code both good and bad, while reading that particular article I finally had a Blinding Flash of the Obvious:

The real issue isn’t code or no-code, the real issue is how adaptable is the amateur radio service to change?

Humans are tremendously adaptable. Companies are adaptable. Organizations are adaptable.

How’s our ham radio service doing on the adaptability scale?

I originally thought that radio doesn’t adapt well or that quickly. But, after thinking about that a bit, I think that’s incorrect. Radio is adopting to change very quickly. Just think about some of the changes over the last few years:

• Computers are now hooked to virtually all ham shacks
• Software for use with radio has significantly increased
• Contesting methods, education, software and participation have significantly changed
• DXpeditions have become significantly better in terms of operators, logistics, logging, publishing logs
• LoTW has moved to electronic confirmation of contacts
• Global QSL has provided a service for DX bureau cards
• Ham radio presence on the web has increased significantly
• Digital modes have significantly increased in number and participation

Is everything wonderful? Nope. Rules, necessarily because of FCC involvement, take time. Clubs come and go, depending upon the club leadership and the club mission. Debates about a particular segment of the hobby (e.g., no-code licenses) can degrade into pet peeves instead of being about the overall hobby. DX cops still think they can direct traffic for DXpeditions, while simply fulfilling their need to be shouted upon.

That’s going to happen.

But if you look under the hood, the hobby is significantly different than it was ten, even five, years ago.

Adaptability to change is critical to keeping the hobby — or any organization — at the forefront. How do you think we’re doing?

Scot, K9JY

I’m working from home today and, enjoying a bit of the nice weather, I spend a good part of my lunch hour looking over my (small) back yard and figured out where I was going to re-install my vertical.

Some of you know that with this house I have not had a radio station up for over a year. A little tough to write about ham radio without a station, but that’s the way it has been. There are many good reasons I haven’t had the station up, but I won’t cover that here.

In any case, I need some parts, some logistics, and then the station goes back up. No powerhouse — but I’ve wanted to work a little more in the digital areas and having the station up will help do that.

It was a good day. And, by the way, the station pictured is the one used in VP9, not here!

Scot, K9JY

While away in Ireland, a technology busting new program from the makers of DX Atlas showed up on the scene, creating responses of reluctant acceptance, to ham-bashing, to declarations that CW skills will no longer be required.

Well, facts first.

CW Skimmer is a "multi-channel CW decoder and analyzer." Think of it as your PSK waterfall screen for CW. It’s not the first CW decoder out there on the market; WriteLog has had a CW decoder for as long as I remember having the program, pulling out callsigns from the ether through your receiver’s passband.

But CW Skimmer is a bit like WriteLog’s CW decoder on steroids. Features, from the web site:

• a very sensitive CW decoding algorithm based on the methods of Bayesian statistics;
• simultaneous decoding of ALL CW signals in the receiver passband - up to 700 signals can be decoded in parallel on a 3-GHz P4 if a wideband receiver is used;
• a fast waterfall display, with a resolution sufficient for reading Morse Code dots and dashes visually;
• the callsigns are extracted from the decoded messages, and the traces on the waterfall are labeled with stations’ callsigns;
• a DSP processor with a noise blanker, AGC, and a sharp, variable-bandwidth CW filter

And a picture is worth a thousand words; this from a 3-kHz mode:

This is a pretty interesting program. Others have noted that, especially in the wideband mode, DXpeditions would have an easier time pulling out callsigns and contesters would too.

Detractors lament the lack of skill needed in this endeavor for copying CW, but I don’t agree with that position. The mind is a great filter and I’ve done enough RTTY contesting — where the machine decodes everything — to know that what is copied by a machine isn’t necessarily the right thing copied by a machine. The operator still counts.

Yes, it could make CW different, just like calculators made doing long division different.

I think this sort of stuff is great for the hobby — it shows that we continue to embrace technology for communicating through radio waves. It will be interesting to see where this program takes the hobby.

I know I, for one, certainly don’t miss paper logs and dupe sheets…

Other reviews:

• K4SAC: CW Skimmer Vs. Contesting
• N4ZR: What’s Next
• CW Skimmer on 144 MHz receiving beacons (You Tube)
• KR2Q: THIS is the big deal about CW Skimmer
• NS3T’s Radio Sport: CW Skimmer Software Faces Questions on Use by Contesters
• KB6NU: This Changes Everything?

Scot, K9JY

One of the great things about contesting software, such as WriteLog, is the ability to have multiple computers on a network so that logging information is shared. This can be done in a multi-operating environment or simply on a single operator position where another PC is connected so that others can check up on progress without interrupting the operator.

All of that, of course, is getting your networking system to work with properly sharing files. And, quite frankly, it can be a real pain in the you-know-what to get things working right.

Even myself, on my home network with three computers attached, where I’m supposed to know how all things work, I’ve had networking issues that just haven’t been able to resolve. Simple things on the surface — like I can transfer files between my desktop computer to my laptop, but not my laptop to my desktop. Where I get random “you aren’t authorized, dummy, to do this — what were you thinking?” messages.

And I paid good money for the privilege of being told I’m worthless by my PC…

So rather than spending hundreds of dollars for some computer geek to come out and look at my network, I did the expedient thing and ordered some software that claims to solve your networking issues once and for all.

And it did.

Network Magic, from Pure Networks, is a program that uses wizards to update each of your PC’s, Printers, and Router to seamlessly allow for networking and sharing files between your PC’s.

The process is simple: download the software (free version and trial for seven days will give you a good taste of how it works) and follow the wizards to install the setup on your first PC.

Then install the software on each of your PC’s and finish the wizard.

Finally, designate the folders on your PC that you want to share with other PC’s on the network (like your /ham folder for WriteLog users).

The program even offers a snapshot of how the network is connected. Here’s a screen shot from my home setup:

This software makes networking and sharing files simple and easy — something needed when networking contesting software.

Scot, K9JY