I've been DXing for 40 years, but I'm a relative newcomer to contesting
so I created a simple Excel spreadsheet to help me analyze the logs of
others to get some insight into strategy and potential openings. I
wrote it so that pretty much any number of Cabrillo logs from the CQWW
contests can be inputted in combination and summarized in a table
showing the number of contacts in every zone by time and band (it adds
the two days together). I suspect that most of the more knowledgeable
contesters would not find much utility in it, but I used it for CQWW SSB
last weekend using about a dozen aggregated 2007 logs from my general
geographical area and it helped me.
I uploaded the spreadsheet to the Repository section of KY1V's new
UltraDX web site and it is available from there for free download. The
simple instructions for using it are embedded within the spreadsheet.
It's pretty basic, but I'd appreciate hearing about any errors or
glaring deficiencies.
http://www.ultradx.com (click on Community, then on Repository)
The summary table won't identify when and where the BEST openings were
since it is strictly dependent upon what was worked, not what could have
been worked. It's also, of course, dependent upon the activity level
from some of the rarer zones. But if you load enough logs into it ( I
arbitrarily capped it at 50,000 QSOs) it will mostly display what zones
were possible to be worked by time and band with some indication for
intensity. If you're lucky enough to live near one of the large M/Ms,
make sure you include their log ;) In most cases you can mentally
group zones from the table for beam heading purposes since the CQ zones
tend to be contiguous geographically.
The ARRL doesn't (yet) make logs for its contests available, but I might
try to generate a similar spreadsheet for the ARRL contests that first
translates every QSO into a beam heading from your QTH before
summarizing the number of contacts into a table .... i.e., the number of
contacts for each beam heading by time and band. I would think that
might be usable for members of a local club who decided to share logs on
their own. The results might even be fairly valid after the February CW
contest since the SSB version is only two weeks later.
73,
Dave AB7E
Robert L. Shohet wrote:
>
> 1) The CQWW Log database is an INCREDIBLE source
> of operating information/strategies and techniques based on
> ops actually working people in the contests!
>
> Go to:
> http://www.cqww.com/ssblogs.htm
> http://www/cqww/com/cwlogs.htm
>
> and click on the log that you want to see.
>
> Want to know what propagation paths are/were possible on a given weekend?
> Then read the M/M, M/2 and single band logs of serious competitors.
>
> Want to see what the competition was doing in your category? Then look
> at their log.
_______________________________________________
CQ-Contest mailing list
CQ-Contest@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/cq-contest
|