Hi to all....
Just wrapping up from the ARRL SSB contest (20 single band) which was
again a fun thing to do, although it has been a constant battle for
frequency space, akin to what ON4UN described for 80m. I had the
impression certain stations deliberately pushed Mic and Proc gain to be
wider and all that. At one point I was informed I was a bit too wide
which was correct as I had inadvertently given the Mic gain a swing
instead of the RF Pwr knob around it and so I corrected that problem.
However, having a clean signal means others can work very close to you!
Anyway, that is not the topic of this message.
Someone really has to explain to me now, why the ARRL contest has such a
high dupe rate and if anyone else (from the DX-end) is having a similar
experience. Here is some data:
Call Entry Mode QSOs Dupes Percentage
D25L 1997 40m/HP CW 987 60 6.08
PA3DZN 1998 AB/HP CW 2597 80 3.08
PA3DZN 1998 20m/HP SSB 2025 94 4.64
I do not have more data, but I wonder if this high dupe percentage is a
structural and recurring issue which seems to be inherent to the ARRL DX
contests. (Other world wide contests show a much lower dupe rate).
Looking at the statistics, and assuming a whole lot, the working of
dupes over the contest period equals by approximation to one hour of
"running" stations; on average I work between 80 - 100 stations per hour
(it is not a CQWW contest, that is obvious). Thus, working over 80 dupes
translates to working one hour of dupes, which is a plain waste of time
of course.
73, Alex PA3DZN
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Alex C.J. van Eijk
Email: DXIS@wxs.nl
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