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Re: [CQ-Contest] WW-Digi Contest -- Rule Clarification

To: Edward Sawyer <EdwardS@sbelectronics.com>, "'CQ-Contest@contesting. com'" <cq-contest@contesting.com>
Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] WW-Digi Contest -- Rule Clarification
From: David Gilbert <xdavid@cis-broadband.com>
Date: Tue, 6 Aug 2019 14:19:59 -0700
List-post: <mailto:cq-contest@contesting.com>

Well, I've read the contest rules several times, and they don't specifically make the same "one signal per band" limitation for single op that they do for multiop.  I agree that it is assumed, but again ... the rules don't specifically rule it out and we all know from past experience that loopholes tend to be exploited.

And I am absolutely certain that these were three separate QSOs with three different stations.  I should have taken a screenshot.  The contacts were within the same 15 second window, with different stations, and with different signal reports.  And as I said, it happened again a short while later with two completely different stations.  These were not images, and they were not the staggered transmissions that we can do while overlapping more than one contact.

I'm pretty sure you can run multiple instances of WSJT-X as long as you specify different rigs for each.  If you check out 5T5PA's page at QRZ.com you can clearly see that he is a pretty smart guy and that he has multiple rigs.  Probably the simplest way would be to use three instances of WSJT-X driving the same sound card and talking to three rigs via different com ports.

Regarding DXCC eligibility, what I saw did not appear to be any more automated than normal FT8 contacts.  They didn't need to be.  If he called CQ on three different frequencies, WSJT-X handles everything from that point on if he clicked the "Call 1st" box.  He would still have to manually enable the next CQ's, but that wouldn't be difficult to quickly do three times.

I think it's all kind of clever, but I wouldn't want to see it in the contest.

73,
Dave   AB7E


On 8/6/2019 1:17 PM, Edward Sawyer wrote:
Dave - is this actually REALLY quickly synchronized separate transmissions to 3 different stations?  Or are there 
3 simultaneous transmissions occurring at exactly the same time?  If it’s the former, its certainly serial 
single op worthy - I do this all the time while contesting - just not as fast as a computer.  If it’s the 
later, then it would be "more than one signal at a time".  That would violate current rules in all 
categories I believe.  Even Multi-Op stations can only have one signal at a time on a distinct band.  Of course I 
am assuming that a "signal" is the roughly 50hz of individual beeps and not the 3khz of computer 
managed bandwidth.  All definitions to be finalized with this new breed of contest category.  Illustrating how 
non-human controlled it really is.

Interestingly, and on a different subject, whether 5T5PA is actually compliant with the 
new DXCC rules making such contacts ineligible for DXCC is another topic.  I believe that 
the next contact cannot be made without a human engagement.  So was it semi-automatic or 
automatic fire?  And is that engagement needed as part of a "stack build" or 
real time - the initial DXCC language was not too clear.

Ed  N1UR

-----Original Message-----
From: CQ-Contest [mailto:cq-contest-bounces@contesting.com] On Behalf Of David 
Gilbert
Sent: Tuesday, August 6, 2019 3:10 PM
To: 'CQ-Contest@contesting. com'
Subject: [CQ-Contest] WW-Digi Contest -- Rule Clarification


Although it is certainly implied, the rules listed on the WW-Digi website do not 
specifically prohibit using more than one signal at the same time ON THE SAME BAND 
for the single op category.  They say that transmission can only be on one band 
at a time, but they don't say you can't make multiple transmissions at the same time 
on the same band.

The reason I bring this up is that I just witnessed 5T5PA making three separate FT8 
transmissions on 20m to three different stations all within the same fifteen second 
window.  A short time later I saw two separate transmissions from him to two different 
stations (and different stations than the previous three), again all within the same fifteen 
second window.  Each simultaneous transmission was spaced exactly 60 Hz apart, and the 
software cleanly decoded all signals as if they were from different callsigns.  5T5PA 
expertly managed all the QSOs cleanly.

Interestingly enough, even though I've worked 5T5PA before, JTAlert only 
labeled one of the three as a dupe.

I can think of more than a couple of ways 5T5PA could be doing this, and for casual operation 
I see no problem with it.  For a DXpedition, it might even make a lot of sense.  I 
don't remember it being against FCC/other laws, but I could be wrong about that.  In any 
case, it seems to me that it could open up the possibility for some controversy in a contest.

Or maybe I'm just crying wolf here ...

73,
Dave   AB7E

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