> 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. 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. 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. Craig NZ0R K1 #1966 K2/100 #4941 _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: [email protected] You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
