WB4IUX asks if West Coast stations have worked more JAs on 10 meters
than on 15 or 20, in the last few years. The answer is a resounding
YES. I operated full bore single-op as N6TV in 1991, and as WA7NIN
in Nevada in 1992. Here are the numbers. I was really surprised to
work more Europeans than JAs. That is unheard of during a sunspot
minimum, from the West Coast.
The big decline in JAs, especially on CW, appears to be caused by
a combination of:
1) no code licensing
2) top CW operators are getting older and less interested
3) younger operators are more interested in VHF/packet than in HF CW
4) money goes towards computers rather than towards ham radio
5) big RFI problems, especially telephones
6) land for antennas is extremely expensive
7) poor QSLing practices by many U.S. stations (not answering a
QSL is considered very impolite; an exchange of cards, usually business
cards, is an important part of Japanese culture).
8) it is not much fun for a JA station to run around and call Ws in
the ARRL DX contest (it's boring)
Now, here are the backup numbers, courtesy of CT's ".CON" file:
Continent Statistics
CONTEST: ARRL91CW CALLSIGN: N6TV MODE: CW
160 80 40 20 15 10 ALL percent
North America 5 17 13 13 19 28 95 5.1
South America 0 4 5 5 7 11 32 1.7
Europe 0 4 64 412 239 188 907 48.7
Asia 0 54 247 110 146 202 759 40.7
Africa 0 1 2 8 4 2 17 0.9
Oceania 1 4 15 5 8 20 53 2.8
Continent Statistics
WA7NIN ARRL92CW Single Operator 16 Feb 1992 2357z
160 80 40 20 15 10 ALL percent
North America 5 15 13 15 20 21 89 3.6
South America 3 4 10 6 8 9 40 1.6
Europe 0 0 61 431 329 479 1300 52.9
Asia 0 103 359 153 159 161 935 38.0
Africa 0 1 3 7 9 6 26 1.1
Oceania 1 6 22 8 13 18 68 2.8
73,
Bob, N6TV
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