Having read with much interest the thoughts that have been written down and
sent to the reflector, I am wondering if there is a way to have an interim
solution on the way to the FINAL solution [no offense intended].
We are all speculating on just how much of an impact the Skimmer will have
on the score of a competent operator with a good station. There is a long
tradition in amateur radio for 'experimental' licenses that are issued to
allow 'new' technology to be investigated.
I suggest that this contest season, 2008-09, we establish an 'experimental'
category for contest operation that includes using 'locally positioned' [not
connected to the internet] Skimmers. Stations who wish to operate with
Skimmers may do so but they will need to notify the contest sponsor ---
preferably in advance, but certainly when submitting their log. Those
'experimental Contest' ops would be included in whatever category they would
be in if they had not used the Skimmer. However, their scores on 3830 and in
the contest results listings would have an 'X' indicator so everyone would
know that they had used the Skimmer as a part of their.
If you are going to 'cheat' and use the Skimmer but not tell anyone you do
not need to register for the X-class in advance. But then you were going to
cheat anyway so nothing has changed.
The collection of such actual contest data might go a long way toward
understanding the exact implications of the effect of the Skimmer on station
operation. In addition, after the contest[s] we could look forward to NCJ
articles or CQ-Contest emails or web site presentations by the 'X-Class' ops
sharing their thoughts about the effect of the Skimmer on their contest
operation. Maybe this issue will be clarified once we have some actual
experience.
This will not deal with the philosophy part of the discussion -- but that is
why it is philosophical.
I do not have any idea about the 'AWARDS' that are handed out by the Contest
Sponsors. It is no big deal to hand out duplicate certificates for X-rated
scores and regular scores but the big, expensive plaques from ARRL may be
something else.
However, doing this will allow us to have a plan for seeing just what the
technology really does. The guys who choose to register as experimental
contest ops [X-Class] {think solar flare} will have their scores flagged but
included in the category that they would have been in had they not used the
Skimmer. The guys who are in the 'assisted' or 'unlimited' categories will
have an idea of whether or not they want to add this technology to their
station. For many of us who may be struggling with SO2R or similar station
improvements it will be something to consider for the future.
For us all, adopting this idea will allow us to change the topic and debate
something else.
Tod, K0TO
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