eXTREME

Now here is some news. I think this will go a long way to pump up interest in SDR

At Dayton this year K1DG asked to speak at the SDR forum. His topic an extreme contest category with SDR at the center. It seems he and K3LR had taken a shine to the possibilities of SDR in the contest world. I have been beating that drum for several years. The advantages are obvious You can have a receiver explore vitrually every station on the bands at least on CW and digiatla modes. You can have the program determine the multiplier propagation QSO rate/pileup of these stations and you could have the program make a guess as to the workability of any station at any given time using something called monte carlo analysis and make a list for you.

You could have a remote receiver or a bank of remote receivers listen to your run TX freq and help you cut down on broken calls thereby improving your efficiency You could use the remote receivers in a diversity sense and you could us remote transmitter sites as well given the vagaries of propagation. If the DX is hearing W6 and you are K4 then simply turn on the W6 transmitters

You could redesign the interface. In stead of a radio you may decide a game conroller is a more efficient interface and you may come up with some kind of cockpit display instead of a "radio" and fly your way throgh the contest a million possibilities present themselves

Here is the announcement

"This year at Dayton, the new CQWW Xtreme categories were announced.

These new categories (single-operator and multi-operator) have been
established to allow amateurs to participate in the CQ WW Contest
while experimenting creatively with Internet-linked stations and other
new technologies that currently are not permitted in any of the
existing contest categories. The full rules for the new Xtreme
Category, as approved by the CQ WW Contest Committee, appear in June
CQ magazine and also at:

http://cqww.com/CQ_WW_Xtreme_Rules.pdf

This PDF file may be copied and re-posted to other Web sites as long
as this text is included: "Reprinted with permission from the June
2009 issue of CQ magazine; copyright CQ Communications, Inc."

Please forward this email to your local club reflectors and newsletters.

The new categories are effective with the 2009 CQ WW Contest later this year.

In essence, (almost) anything goes! The "almost" part means that you
must obey the rules of your country, including power (up to the CQWW
1500W maximum), licensing, and remote operation (if you use it).

It is permitted to use multiple transmitting sites with one callsign
(if legal in your country), but all transmitting sites must be located
in the same country and CQ zone, and only one signal is permitted on a
band at any time. Single-ops with packet, Skimmer, robot stations,
on-line databases, etc. are OK! Multiops with remote operators and
remote receiving sites around the world...OK!

The initial response at both the Contesting Forum and SDR Forum at
Dayton was very positive, with some of the SDR Forum attendees
actually challenging each other in public! This is a chance for
experimenters to see which technology innovations actually work best
in competitive situations.

If you have questions about the rules, please send them to Xtreme@cqww.com

There is an also email reflector (Xtreme-talk@contesting.com) set up
for discussions relating to these new categories. You can subscribe by
sending email to Xtreme-talk-request@contesting.com with the word
SUBSCRIBE in the subject line and message text, or go here:
http://dayton.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/xtreme-talk
(thanks, K5TR)

K3LR has stepped up and is sponsoring the K3TUP Memorial Trophies for
the winners of the single-op and multi-op Xtreme categories.

73, and let the Xtreme Contesting Games begin!

Doug K1DG"

I am amazed and gratified that such contest luminaries as K1DG and K3LR have begun to embrace the reality of software.

I predicted this would come years ago. This is the dawning of the ascendancy of software

See also N4HY's blog

73