The Contest SDR will have far more capability. The whole gig about contesting
is probability and maximizing efficiencies and there now exist monte carlo
engines that can run thousands of simulations and develop a distribution of
forward looking likely scenarios, and can do a risk benefit analysis to help
you make decisions. It won't be you sitting on the beach at Aruba. It will be
the program analyzing what is available on each of several bands, analyzing the
propagation and whether signals are building or receding, analyzing the
"rareness" of the multiplier, analyzing the relative QRM environment and
whether the station is running efficiently, and doing this for dozens or
hundreds of potential contacts and then coming up with a schedule for you to
run off these contacts while at the same time maintaining your "run" freq on a
separate band. The radio will have its ability to dynamically adjust the
antenna for best forward gain in a particular
direction on TX and best pattern or RX on receive (eg diversity). The antenna
system can look for best path eg skewed paths or long/short path. etc etc and
it can do all this before you show up on freq to make the contact. In my mind
the LCD will be replaced with some kind of heads up display and the mouse will
be replaced with something like a joystick and contesting will become something
similar to being in a cockpit and dogfighting, or some other kind of game
interface. your feet could be controlling the run freq logging while your
hands control racking up multipliers.
This is why flexwire is so much more than just a bus to run some relays, and
why it will be important to be able to distribute functionality across a
network. Flexwire is a master-slave/ master-master 2 way high speed
(relatively) communications protocol. I hope that complexity is recognized and
implemented. If the contest boys are kvetching about CW skimmer they better
get out the KY. The hand writing is on the wall. Contesting will become a
real test of skills and brain power, not just some joker with half a million
invested in real estate towers aluminum and 4cx5000's.
What will happen is all the jokers with the above investment will get together
and try to jigger the rules, like they will do with Skimmer. They will try to
do a statistical analysis to try and flag non random randomness in scores.
What will happen then is people will figure out how to beat those score
checking programs, since the radio can be made to schedule its contacts in such
a way that beats the score checkers and eventually we will be free as the
scores of the "big iron" men fall to dust. Remember when the Fosburry flop
came on the scene in the '68 Olympics? The better mouse trap was built. High
jumpers have been flopping ever since. The future is so bright I need shades.
73 W9OY
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