Just over 27 years ago I moved to Peru and was introduced to contesting by K1RQ. One of the first people I met at one of my first YCCC meetings was K1AR. I have always looked up to John over the years as he won contest after contest and always seemed to be working for the betterment of ham radio and contesting. He had a long run as contest columnist for cq, and did many other things that made me look up to him and those around him as great operators and inspirations.
I worked building and improving this station, recruiting operators, learning about propagation, pushing for new technology in contesting. I was in on the first tests of using packet radio for dx spotting, wrote my own software to extend the first packet spotting network into wma/eny, adapted ct to be a multi-user logging system with an array of dumb terminals and later provided a tool to network ct over ethernet. Recently I have been working with the CW Skimmer software and a new AR-Cluster version to better integrate the world wide RBN data into the station here... I even have a bag of memory bought just last week to upgrade the logging computers just sitting here.
I have also been working for years to bring real time visibility into contesting. I have always felt that this is one of the big missing links of contesting. Traditionally contesters close their doors Friday night, operate in their own little world, maybe hearing serial numbers from competitors in some contests, but usually not... Then they might try to listen in on 3830 to find out where they stood in the claimed scores, and finally wait 8, 9, or 10 months for the final results. I felt it would be much more interesting if there were real time scores available, after all, how many sporting events are there where spectators and even amateur participants, can't see who the leader is, or know how far ahead or behind they are? The first drafts of the specification were published by wa7bnm in 2005, I ran a test site on my web server for a bit. We ran some tests using n1mm logger, got some other loggers to add the capability, got support from ky1v to provide a real web server and bandwidth, and have been working to get more participation. Even though it got off to a rocky start, the next step of real time log entry was an offshoot of this and hopefully will become a future draw for the internet savvy upcoming contesters.
All the time I was chasing the likes of w3lpl, n2rm, then later k3lr and kc1xx... Over a period of time in the 80's or early 90's we were able to beat w3lpl on each band at least once, just never all on the same weekend. But I always felt that there was room at the top an some day I would put together the right combination of hardware, software, and operators to make it there. I have hosted many single operators and other groups who wanted to try out contesting with big aluminum.
I can't count how many hams I have introduced to contesting over the years, I just hope they never have a let-down like I just had. Wednesday morning I received an email from K1AR.. As I said, someone who I have always considered a pillar of the contesting community and someone I looked up to. He was writing in his role as a moderator of the cq-contest email reflector. I normally wouldn't make a private message like this public, but I think those of you who have been here and known me for all these years needed to understand how this affected me more, and his own words are the best. The email went like this:
"I'd like to ask a favor. As you know, while I don't personally support the real time scores concept (as is the case for most of the major competitors), I urge you to press forward and do encourage your investment in the concept.
Looking forward, can I ask that you begin to consolidate your postings on the subject, perhaps on a monthly basis or something similar? A weekly update is becoming a bit too much, especially considering the post only applies to a very small percentage of CQ-Contest's subscribers when looking at active real-time scores participation over the past year.
Thanks in advance the consideration and GL this weekend!"
In just one paragraph he has both condemned a project that I thought had pretty broad support and would some day attract enough interest to get 'major competitors' interested in joining in, and elevated himself and unamed others into their own 'major competitors' class which looked down on my work as nothing but noise that should be squelched so they didn't even have to delete the messages from their in-boxes. The utter arrogance of his approach to this just totally deflated me and pulled the rug out from under everything I have been working on for all these years. And it totally changed my image of someone I thought would have encouraged advances like that instead of trying to squash them.
I'm not sure where I'll go from here, I already had operators committed for this weekend and had the food already in the fridge, so this operation will go on... But I don't know about the future. Maybe I'll take up traffic handling or go sort 27 years of qsl cards to apply for dxcc or just host guest ops... But my heart just isn't in it right now.
David Robbins K1TTT e-mail: mailto:k1...@arrl.net web: http://www.k1ttt.net AR-Cluster node: 145.69MHz or telnet://dxc.k1ttt.net
Brazil is one most present country on realtime score system. Many little pistols post their score online and a lot of other keep the eye on it to follow the race. It's like soccer finals in Contest sphere here in Brazil. Sadly, many Big Gun still don't posting (even from Brazil). I don't know why. If it is because for not support online score or to hide something.
So, everywhere we find people against our ideas or even make it personal.
I don't know you in person. I just "read" on reflectors and "listen" for you on Contest. K1TTT is the "for-sure-will-be-there" for many contesters around the world.
You just can not give up! Stand up and keep the good work is the only answer you can give now. You are most respectful guy in Ham Radio Contest business.
I hope to keep put you, your guests and K1TTT team on the log many years ahead.
Oh, keep posting an e-mail weekly informing coming up online scoreboard events. I'll delete it AFTER read, who don't want to this info, just push Delete BEFORE read it.
73, Luc __ PW7T Team member WRTC.2010 Brazilian Team Leader PY8AZT (also PT7AG, PX8C, ZZ8Z, ZY7C) LABRE, ARRL, CWJF & Fortaleza DX Group Member
> Just over 27 years ago I moved to Peru and was introduced to contesting by > K1RQ. One of the first people I met at one of my first YCCC meetings was > K1AR. I have always looked up to John over the years as he won contest > after contest and always seemed to be working for the betterment of ham > radio and contesting. He had a long run as contest columnist for cq, and > did many other things that made me look up to him and those around him as > great operators and inspirations.
> I worked building and improving this station, recruiting operators, learning > about propagation, pushing for new technology in contesting. I was in on > the first tests of using packet radio for dx spotting, wrote my own software > to extend the first packet spotting network into wma/eny, adapted ct to be a > multi-user logging system with an array of dumb terminals and later provided > a tool to network ct over ethernet. Recently I have been working with the > CW Skimmer software and a new AR-Cluster version to better integrate the > world wide RBN data into the station here... I even have a bag of memory > bought just last week to upgrade the logging computers just sitting here.
> I have also been working for years to bring real time visibility into > contesting. I have always felt that this is one of the big missing links of > contesting. Traditionally contesters close their doors Friday night, > operate in their own little world, maybe hearing serial numbers from > competitors in some contests, but usually not... Then they might try to > listen in on 3830 to find out where they stood in the claimed scores, and > finally wait 8, 9, or 10 months for the final results. I felt it would be > much more interesting if there were real time scores available, after all, > how many sporting events are there where spectators and even amateur > participants, can't see who the leader is, or know how far ahead or behind > they are? The first drafts of the specification were published by wa7bnm in > 2005, I ran a test site on my web server for a bit. We ran some tests using > n1mm logger, got some other loggers to add the capability, got support from > ky1v to provide a real web server and bandwidth, and have been working to > get more participation. Even though it got off to a rocky start, the next > step of real time log entry was an offshoot of this and hopefully will > become a future draw for the internet savvy upcoming contesters.
> All the time I was chasing the likes of w3lpl, n2rm, then later k3lr and > kc1xx... Over a period of time in the 80's or early 90's we were able to > beat w3lpl on each band at least once, just never all on the same weekend. > But I always felt that there was room at the top an some day I would put > together the right combination of hardware, software, and operators to make > it there. I have hosted many single operators and other groups who wanted > to try out contesting with big aluminum.
> I can't count how many hams I have introduced to contesting over the years, > I just hope they never have a let-down like I just had. Wednesday morning I > received an email from K1AR.. As I said, someone who I have always > considered a pillar of the contesting community and someone I looked up to. > He was writing in his role as a moderator of the cq-contest email reflector. > I normally wouldn't make a private message like this public, but I think > those of you who have been here and known me for all these years needed to > understand how this affected me more, and his own words are the best. The > email went like this:
> "I'd like to ask a favor. As you know, while I don't personally support the > real time scores concept (as is the case for most of the major competitors), > I urge you to press forward and do encourage your investment in the concept.
> Looking forward, can I ask that you begin to consolidate your postings on > the subject, perhaps on a monthly basis or something similar? A weekly > update is becoming a bit too much, especially considering the post only > applies to a very small percentage of CQ-Contest's subscribers when looking > at active real-time scores participation over the past year.
> Thanks in advance the consideration and GL this weekend!"
> In just one paragraph he has both condemned a project that I thought had > pretty broad support and would some day attract enough interest to get > 'major competitors' interested in joining in, and elevated himself and > unamed others into their own 'major competitors' class which looked down on > my work as nothing but noise that should be squelched so they didn't even > have to delete the messages from their in-boxes. The utter arrogance of his > approach to this just totally deflated me and pulled the rug out from under > everything I have been working on for all these years. And it totally > changed my image of someone I thought would have encouraged advances like > that instead of trying to squash them.
> I'm not sure where I'll go from here, I already had operators committed for > this weekend and had the food already in the fridge, so this operation will > go on... But I don't know about the future. Maybe I'll take up traffic > handling or go sort 27 years of qsl cards to apply for dxcc or just host > guest ops... But my heart just isn't in it right now.
> David Robbins K1TTT > e-mail: mailto:k1...@arrl.net > web: http://www.k1ttt.net > AR-Cluster node: 145.69MHz or telnet://dxc.k1ttt.net
K1TTT is paramount about "open source" contesting.
Besides ham radio being a hobby in which the most of the beauty is in learning and sharing experiences, most of the contesters (specially big stations) hide their secrets, and hardly share information. In rare cases were they do it, they wont share the complete stuff, but just some bits.
People must keep in mind that the world isnt what it used to be. In modern internet age, it is absolutely nonsense to wait for months for a contest result to show up. (for example, the results of Brazil's last presidential election came up less than 48 hours after voting took place, quite fast for something that big...)
Getscores make it more fun to operate, and even makes it possible for someone who cant operate to follow the progress of friends and peers.
If the predominant attitude is like the one from the fellow who sent you that message, be sure that we are dinosaurs looking forward to be extinct.
Hang in there Dave, and thanks for all you have done to the contest community.
Felipe Ceglia - PY1NB --------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------- PR1T team member /// Rio DX Group member /// Araucaria DX Group member http://dxwatch.com /// http://reversebeacon.net /// http://riodxgroup.com
> Just over 27 years ago I moved to Peru and was introduced to contesting by > K1RQ. One of the first people I met at one of my first YCCC meetings was > K1AR. I have always looked up to John over the years as he won contest > after contest and always seemed to be working for the betterment of ham > radio and contesting. He had a long run as contest columnist for cq, and > did many other things that made me look up to him and those around him as > great operators and inspirations.
> I worked building and improving this station, recruiting operators, > learning > about propagation, pushing for new technology in contesting. I was in on > the first tests of using packet radio for dx spotting, wrote my own > software > to extend the first packet spotting network into wma/eny, adapted ct to be > a > multi-user logging system with an array of dumb terminals and later > provided > a tool to network ct over ethernet. Recently I have been working with the > CW Skimmer software and a new AR-Cluster version to better integrate the > world wide RBN data into the station here... I even have a bag of memory > bought just last week to upgrade the logging computers just sitting here.
> I have also been working for years to bring real time visibility into > contesting. I have always felt that this is one of the big missing links > of > contesting. Traditionally contesters close their doors Friday night, > operate in their own little world, maybe hearing serial numbers from > competitors in some contests, but usually not... Then they might try to > listen in on 3830 to find out where they stood in the claimed scores, and > finally wait 8, 9, or 10 months for the final results. I felt it would be > much more interesting if there were real time scores available, after all, > how many sporting events are there where spectators and even amateur > participants, can't see who the leader is, or know how far ahead or behind > they are? The first drafts of the specification were published by wa7bnm > in > 2005, I ran a test site on my web server for a bit. We ran some tests > using > n1mm logger, got some other loggers to add the capability, got support from > ky1v to provide a real web server and bandwidth, and have been working to > get more participation. Even though it got off to a rocky start, the next > step of real time log entry was an offshoot of this and hopefully will > become a future draw for the internet savvy upcoming contesters.
> All the time I was chasing the likes of w3lpl, n2rm, then later k3lr and > kc1xx... Over a period of time in the 80's or early 90's we were able to > beat w3lpl on each band at least once, just never all on the same weekend. > But I always felt that there was room at the top an some day I would put > together the right combination of hardware, software, and operators to make > it there. I have hosted many single operators and other groups who wanted > to try out contesting with big aluminum.
> I can't count how many hams I have introduced to contesting over the years, > I just hope they never have a let-down like I just had. Wednesday morning > I > received an email from K1AR.. As I said, someone who I have always > considered a pillar of the contesting community and someone I looked up to. > He was writing in his role as a moderator of the cq-contest email > reflector. > I normally wouldn't make a private message like this public, but I think > those of you who have been here and known me for all these years needed to > understand how this affected me more, and his own words are the best. The > email went like this:
> "I'd like to ask a favor. As you know, while I don't personally support the > real time scores concept (as is the case for most of the major > competitors), > I urge you to press forward and do encourage your investment in the > concept.
> Looking forward, can I ask that you begin to consolidate your postings on > the subject, perhaps on a monthly basis or something similar? A weekly > update is becoming a bit too much, especially considering the post only > applies to a very small percentage of CQ-Contest's subscribers when looking > at active real-time scores participation over the past year.
> Thanks in advance the consideration and GL this weekend!"
> In just one paragraph he has both condemned a project that I thought had > pretty broad support and would some day attract enough interest to get > 'major competitors' interested in joining in, and elevated himself and > unamed others into their own 'major competitors' class which looked down on > my work as nothing but noise that should be squelched so they didn't even > have to delete the messages from their in-boxes. The utter arrogance of > his > approach to this just totally deflated me and pulled the rug out from under > everything I have been working on for all these years. And it totally > changed my image of someone I thought would have encouraged advances like > that instead of trying to squash them.
> I'm not sure where I'll go from here, I already had operators committed for > this weekend and had the food already in the fridge, so this operation will > go on... But I don't know about the future. Maybe I'll take up traffic > handling or go sort 27 years of qsl cards to apply for dxcc or just host > guest ops... But my heart just isn't in it right now.
> David Robbins K1TTT > e-mail: mailto:k1...@arrl.net > web: http://www.k1ttt.net > AR-Cluster node: 145.69MHz or telnet://dxc.k1ttt.net
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