I completely agree with your logic, Steve. Living in NorCal, I set
CCluster to give me manual, RBN, and Skimmer spots from receivers west
of the Rockies, KH6, KL7, and W3LPL's aggregator. The frustrating thing
is that I rarely hear EU stations that are spotted on CW. When running
FT8, I spot to PSKReporter and use it to see where I'm being decoded.
73, Jim K9YC
On 3/9/2020 12:45 PM, VE6WZ_Steve wrote:
Hi Mike…
My logic is that I want to see ALL spots…especially those from EU skimmers.
Why?
First of all I want to use my own radio to decide if I can hear them. My own
RBN skimmer will only decode a small fraction of what I can copy with my own
ears. If my RBN skimmer is spotting any EU, then the band has to be REALLY
open, but I am often working a lot of EU and my skimmer is spotting nothing.
Also, I can be working EU, and not have any EU skimmers spotting me.
Secondly, when I CQ, I want to know the QRG is clear in EU. By seeing all EU
skimmer spotters, I will know a frequency is clear of CQing.
I really wish more EU ops would do this. Many times it has happened….I am CQ on 1822.2…..EU
station starts calling CQ on 1822. Well….he cant hear me, but he should know I’m there, and
him calling CQ on that QRG is bad for HIM because not many in NA will hear him with me CQing there! Same
with me. If I start calling CQ right beside LY7M who is CQing, my chances of being heard in EU have been
handicapped.
More information is always better in my books.
Especially in DX contests I will turn the NA spot filter on. I don't want to
be flooded with NA spots. I want DX, non-NA spots.
_________________
Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
|