Following this whole discussion about S&P stations being spotted as
runnersled me to wonder whether logging software couldn't do more to
address this. For example, N1MM+ (and Classic before it) always
replaceeach spot of a station with the next one on the same band. To be
sure, that isn't any help if an S&P station is DXing the contest and
only calling stations very occasionally, or on different bands, but for
the rest of them, it should help a lot.
Something else that occurs to me - how many people using Skimmer spots
have set their logging programs' spot time-out interval to 11 minutes or
less? Back when we dealt with human spots, I'll bet most people used
30-45 minute timeouts, but with Skimmer spots, an 11-12 minute timeout
should help clean up the bandmap.
That said, I suspect many people are like me, and use tools like N1MM+'s
Available Mults and Qs window, sorted by arrival time, and try to grab
stations as soon as they're spotted. I find this to be a real key to
maintaining a 100+/hr rate S&Ping, because you can often be the first
caller. However, by the time a mis-identified S&Per's spot disappears
from the list, it's too late. That can mean that the station you pounce
on won't be there, but another one may be, so you have to be careful not
to be calling someone you've already worked.
For me, that leads to considering tools like CT1BOH's skimquality
filters. I had an exchange with him yesterday, and he provided the
following explanation of how that might work:
He says [slightly edited for anaudience less familiar with his work]:
Every time a spot arrives in the [DX cluster's] database
(call/time/freq), the program [AR Cluster V6] will look for each
call, the frequency and time and add a counter. If the counter
reaches 3, frequency does not change +/- 0.35 KHz and time is within
25 minutes, then that call will be tagged "V" meaning Valid or
Good. Once a call has been tagged V, if there is another spot of
that call at a frequency greater than +/- 0.35 KHz from the last
valid one, then that spot will be tagged Q or QSY?. This re-starts
the counter. If it is a legitimate CQer who has moved, the station
will quickly get another Q, then another, at which point it will be
re-tagged V [and any previous spots on your bandmap will be removed,
presumably, by your logging program]. If it was not a runner
changing frequency or a bad spot, continuing good spots will keep
the correct spot in the V category and therefore alive on the bandmap.
What Jose is saying is that by letting only ? (not yet validated) and V
(validated) spots through to your logging program, you can clean up your
bandmap considerably. You could also just let V spots through, at the
cost of some small delay in spots' appearance.
Why not give it a try and see if it's worth adding to your toolbox? You
can find a list of DX clusters using AR Cluster V6 at
http://www.dxcluster.info.
--
73, Pete N4ZR
Download the new N1MM Logger+ at
<http://N1MM.hamdocs.com>. Check
out the Reverse Beacon Network at
<http://reversebeacon.net>, now
spotting RTTY activity worldwide.
For spots, please use your favorite
"retail" DX cluster.
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