CW Skimmer:= SOA in CQ WW 2008
The ham radio contest community has been debating the impact of CW Skimmer since its inception. Alex, VE3NEA, really seems to have let a genie out of a bottle with this magic Morse Code decoder. The issue doesn’t seem to be that it merely decodes CW. There have been CW decoders on the market for years.
The issue is that it can (with a wideband SDR radio receiver) decode almost the entire band at once - using some slick DSP programming techniques! My 
first reaction was - wow, what a great piece of software. Since, I’ve gone back and forth on whether it should be allowed or rather, as the CQ WW rules are now defined, allowed - but it puts the operator into the “Assisted” class.
It’s been an interesting debate (that often delves into “what’s next - QSO robots that run the whole contest without me?”) - but now it’s time to see just how it will impact the world of contesting.
What do you think about the use of CW Skimmer in ham radio contests?
Pat,
I think it’s complete nonsense that something that can be done with a radio and a computer — with the computer disconnected from any sort of network — be considered “assisted”.
With no other human involved (like a spotting network), how on earth can that activity be considered “assisted”?
If we are saying that computers and software have become too smart, and offer too much of an advantage, then it would be easy to make the same argument against computer logging, DSP, roofing filters, etc. These all offer the operator a certain advantage over someone who doesn’t have them available AND yet they are no more “assistive” than CW Skimmer…
This is a slippery slope issue as many more software features will soon come along that will assist a contester and now each and every time that it does, the entire community will have to “debate” what category to put it in… sigh.
73 de Jeff
Ah, but what is CW Skimmer doing? Is it not performing the same action as all those other humans on a cluster — spotting other juicy contacts and giving you a serious leg-up over someone who is using nothing but the grey matter between his ears?
With CW Skimmer, one can easily argue, you are being “assisted” — assisted in finding the biggest score differentiator, that is finding multipliers.
I have no problem with any contest that says “use of CW Skimmer puts you in the ‘assisted’ category.” Likewise, I have no problem with contests that say “CW Skimmer is of no consequence, as far as we’re concerned.” The contest organizers make the rules. If I don’t like the rules, I don’t compete.
Personally I work contest weekends for fun, not because I think I can win, or have to best my buddies. “[But then, I also] think that water is wet, so who am I to judge?”
73 de N7GMT
Maybe I’m a purist, but there’s something about an old key and an old radio that DSP equipped radios and software just can’t touch. On the other hand, I’m with Trent. It’s just a contest, and whatever makes the organizers happy is great with me!