[Elecraft] ARRL November Sweepstakes CW

[Thom R LaCosta]

On Mon, 7 Nov 2005, Craig Rairdin wrote:

>> I am a newcomer to all of this, and I am wondering if there is any place
>> left in contesting for those of us who choose not to have a computer send
>> code or receive code
>
> Actually I was daydreaming about the opposite and was wondering if anyone is
> working on this: There's no reason a program couldn't be written to automate
> the entire contesting process. The computer could work the radio, answer
> calls, send replies, and keep its own log. A control op would have to be
> present, and we'd need an operating class for "fully automated". It wouldn't
> necessarily be something where you'd sell the software to the mass market,
> thus destroying contesting forever, but rather it would make an interesting
> competition among the various software companies.

Man....it's not even close to April 1st.
>
> You could even have networks of computers working one-per-band and other
> computers acting as spotters for rare multipliers.
>
> Software is pretty close to this already. WriteLog can integrate sending CW
> so tightly with logging, that it really only adds one keystroke to the
> normal keystrokes required for logging. After sending a CQ you enter the
> callsign and hit enter. It sends your report. Then enter the other guy's
> report and hit enter again. It logs the QSO and sends QSL/QRZ. If it could
> parse the CW decoder window it would be half-way there.

Why not set up a server on the internet that allows multiple cw qsos...then,
instead of using rf spectrum for the operator-less contest, folks could pit 
their computer against each other.

Obviously, no logs would have to be submitted, since the exchanges would be
on the server.  The server could tally the scores and announce the winners
via a web page and/or email.

>
> As a programmer this sounds really cool. I don't have time to write it but
> it would be fun to work on if I could.

Perhaps you could find the time if you stopped using your K2/100...after all,
with the system mentioned above, you wouldn't need to have a K2/100.

73,Thom-k3hrn
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