[Skimmertalk] Skimmer Server Stats - ARRLDXCW 2010

[Mack]

Pete and others,

Based upon your experience and others I have purchased a QS1R with an
expected delivery this week.

I'd really appreciate you taking a few minutes to describe any special
configuration you needed to have it work across 7 bands with CWSkimmer
Server. I don't want to have to discover all your lessons learned myself. It
will be used solely in this role.

I plan to use a dedicated receive antenna (vertical) with a receiver front
end overload protector (I.C.E.) before going into the QS1R. I'll use it on a
stand-alone computer which is a quad core with 2 GB of RAM running Windows
XP Pro latest SP.

Thank you in advance for any tips or lessons learned you have.

73,

Mack de WB4MAK
http://www.nfarl.org
http://www.sedxc.org

-----Original Message-----
From: skimmertalk-bounces at contesting.com
[mailto:skimmertalk-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of Pete Smith N4ZR
Sent: Monday, February 22, 2010 07:49
To: skimmertalk at contesting.com
Subject: [Skimmertalk] Skimmer Server Stats - ARRLDXCW 2010

I thought fellow Skimmerheads - and maybe some others - would be 
interested in some statistics from my Skimmer Server in the ARRLDXCW 
2010.  I was running a QS1R receiver on 6 bands simultaneously, with 96 
KHz bandwidth on each, and an 8-foot active vertical from Clifton 
Laboratories (mine is a prototype, but production units are now 
available - www.cliftonlaboratories.com ).  Incidentally, I never saw 
over 50 percent CPU loading on a very minimal dual-core Pentium.

In the 48 hours of the contest, Skimmer Server reported 46,954 spots, 
almost 1000/hour.  Of these, 28,634 were DX (non-W/VE) [note please, 
these sub-totals are approximate because I'm doing this manually].

On Saturday morning, the first European heard on 15M was 9A1A at 1140Z, 
8 dB above the noise; on Sunday it was 9A5X at 1142Z, 2 dB above the noise.

I would be curious to know how those compare with other US Eastern-half 
Skimmers.  My QS1R is sensitivity-limited on 15 and 10, because I don't 
(yet) have a preamp in line.  Did you hear your first Europeans earlier 
than I did?

Also, are there any hardcore Excel or Access jocks out there who would 
be interested in massaging the data?  If so I'd be glad to provide it in 
either form.

-- 
73, Pete N4ZR
Visit the Contesting Compendium at http://wiki.contesting.com
The World Contest Station Database, updated daily at www.conteststations.com
The Reverse Beacon Network at http://reversebeacon.net

_______________________________________________
Skimmertalk mailing list
Skimmertalk at contesting.com
http://dayton.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/skimmertalk