From NG9R
2/10/2008 4:34:24 PM (0 comments) 
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I don't know who all uses packet for spotting DX stations or contesting, but there is a debate going on among the contesters about spotting being used by stations claiming not to use packet.
A new method of spotting for CW operators is a recently introduced software package called CW Skimmer. What CW Skimmer does is listen to and decode all the CW stations it hears in the audio passband of a transceiver. Similar to other sound card digital modes, all you need it a computer using the CW Skimmer software and an audio connection from your radio audio output and the sound card input. It will easily identify every station it hears and allows the operator to click on the callsign and the software will set the radio to that frequency, very much the same as contest packet spotting software. In this case, the wider your received bandwidth, the more stations you are going to be able to decode. It allows spotting many signals without tuning around the band looking for new multipliers or DX stations. I am sure the contest crowd will be up in arms about how to classify stations using this software.
I played with it a bit and it does a very good job of decoding callsigns, much better than I ever could myself. I can see this being a boon to the casual DXer, and a real help to those who do not access to packet spotting networks.
Good or bad, the many face of ham radio is rapidly changing. Whether it is for the better or the worse, it is changing.
