JIDX CW Contest
Call: VA7ST
Operator(s): VA7ST
Station: VA7ST
Class: SOAB LP
QTH:
Operating Time (hrs): 2
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
-------------------
160:
80:
40: 8 8
20: 23 14
15:
10:
-------------------
Total: 31 22 Total Score = 682
Club:
Comments:
SFI=69 A=10 K=1 == Solar cycle 24 cannot get here soon enough.
Was on for a total of 2 hours, but conditions were very bad and my time was
spread out over MANY visits to the radio to see if I could hear anyone new.
I wondered aloud in 2006 where all the JA contesters have gone. Back then I
worked twice as many JAs as this year (60 vs. 31). This morning I was lamenting
the decline of JA contesting, using JIDX CW as a measure of that decline.
I wanted to ask "Will they be back one day, with the return of sun spots?"
Then I saw that NT6X found 278 JAs on 40M this weekend. N6RO worked 416 JAs on
40M. Outstanding! They are there, but a little pistol station like mine just
isn't hearing them.
That prompted me to look at JIDX CW logs submitted year-over-year...
JAs NAs All
2008 180 30 591
2007 149 41 488
2006 150 37 570
2005 171 48 661
2004 114 32 377
2003 163 37 520
2002 244 45 655
2001 257 39 591
Just 30 North American stations send in logs last year -- it's no wonder JAs
are so hard to find in this contest: there's little reason to beam North
America. On 20M or 40M, an enterprising JA could work every single North
American participant in about 15 minutes flat -- leaving 29.75 hours remaining
to beam the rest of the world.
About 180 JAs submitted logs in 2008, which was actually up by 31 from the year
before.
Looking at these historical participation rates reveals that JIDX CW is
actually quite stable. For example, in 2001 about 591 logs were submitted from
around the world. In 2008, the count was the same: 591 logs.
So, will they be back? Well, at least in JIDX CW it appears they never left.
We've had 600 sunspotless days since then (as of April 12, 2009). Typical solar
min duration: 485 days. See the "Spotless Days" counter at Spaceweather.com
http://www.spaceweather.com/
When sunspots begin to perk away again I'm sure a lot of contesters in Japan
(and elsewhere), particularly those with more modest antenna arrangements, will
once again find their transceivers. I can hardly wait.
My JIDX CW tracking...
Year Class Qs Pts Mult Score
-----------------------------------
2009 ABL 31 31 22 682
2008 40H 20 20 16 320
2007 ABH 11 11 10 110
2006 ABL 60 60 37 2,220
2005 ABL 35 38 19 722
2004 ABL 7 7 7 49
2003 ABL 51 51 35 1,785
Thanks to Tack JE1CKA and the contest committee -- and all the JA ops.
73, Bud VA7ST
http://www3.telus.net/va7st
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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