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Re: [CQ-Contest] NA February Sprint

To: "CQ-Contest" <CQ-Contest@contesting.com>
Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] NA February Sprint
From: Pete Smith <n4zr@contesting.com>
Date: Tue, 10 Feb 2009 16:32:18 -0500
List-post: <cq-contest@contesting.com">mailto:cq-contest@contesting.com>
Spoken like a westerner, Steve.

'Ted's data covered 5 years, not just this year - most of the whole 
downslope of this sunspot cycle.  I think they're pretty persuasive.

73, Pete N4ZR

At 04:00 PM 2/10/2009, yN2IC wrote:
>No doubt, 20 meters really stunk for everyone last weekend. However, a one 
>time
>anomaly is not a good reason to change what has worked well for the past 
>25 years.
>
>If you question whether this last Sprint was an anomaly, compare with the
>results of the February, 2008 CW Sprint. The solar flux was exactly the 
>same -
>70-71, but the number of 20 meter QSO's made by everyone, east and west coast
>alike, was much higher.
>
>73,
>Steve, N2IC
>
>Pete Smith wrote:
> > Bravo, Ted!  Succinctly stated, good data, asking the right questions.
> >
> > I favor a test of moving the February Sprint an hour earlier, but keeping
> > the bands as is.  Reasoning, chiefly, is that it's a minimal change and
> > doesn't penalize guys without good 160M antennas, and doing it once (say,
> > next year) should help to illuminate the cause of the much-more-profound
> > bias in February.
> >
> > 73, Pete N4ZR
> >
> > At 02:20 PM 2/10/2009, Ted Bryant wrote:
> >> On the 3830 reflector, Andy N2NT asked:
> >>
> >> "...Anyone for moving the Feb sprint an hour earlier or to 160m? Well, at
> >> least till the spots come back..."
> >>
> >> Interesting ideas, Andy.
> >>
> >> In the Northern California Contest Club's annual Sprint "Ladder"
> >> competition, there are three competitive categories. One is strictly for
> >> NCCC members but the other two divide the U.S. into two groups: stations
> >> East and West of the Mississippi River.  Apparently someone recognized 
> that
> >> there must be some geographical/propagational bias that warranted these
> >> groupings. Also, the Ladder competition is held across 20/40/80 and 160
> >> meters. Applying the NCCC Ladder competition's categories to the claimed
> >> scores for the FEBRUARY Sprint CW for the last 5 years shows some
> >> interesting details.
> >>
> >> # stations in top 20:   West of the Miss      East of the Miss
> >>   2005                         16                    4
> >>   2006                         17                    3
> >>   2007                         14                    6
> >>   2008                         13                    7
> >>   2009                         14                    6
> >>
> >> # stations in top 10:   West of the Miss      East of the Miss
> >>   2005                          9                    1
> >>   2006                          9                    1
> >>   2007                          8                    2
> >>   2008                          6                    4
> >>   2009                          8                    2
> >>
> >> # stations in top 5:    West of the Miss      East of the Miss
> >>   2005                          5                    0
> >>   2006                          5                    0
> >>   2007                          5                    0
> >>   2008                          5                    0
> >>   2009                          5                    0
> >>
> >> To no one's surprise, I'm sure, these statistics show a pretty clear
> >> advantage for stations West of the Mississippi River in the February CW
> >> Sprint.
> >>
> >>
> >> Let's look at the statistics for the last 5 SEPTEMBER CW Sprints:
> >>
> >> # stations in top 20:    West of the Miss     East of the Miss
> >>   2004                          9                    11
> >>   2005                         14                     6
> >>   2006                          9                    11
> >>   2007                         10                    10
> >>   2008                          8                    12
> >>
> >> # stations in top 10:    West of the Miss      East of the Miss
> >>   2004                          4                     6
> >>   2005                          8                     2
> >>   2006                          6                     4
> >>   2007                          4                     6
> >>   2008                          6                     4
> >>
> >> # stations in top 5:     West of the Miss      East of the Miss
> >>   2004                          2                     3
> >>   2005                          4                     1
> >>   2006                          4                     1
> >>   2007                          3                     2
> >>   2008                          4                     1
> >>
> >> The September Sprint is much more equitable but it is still tough to break
> >> into the top 5 if you are East of the Mississippi.
> >>
> >> So, to follow up on Andy N2NT's question:
> >> - Should there be any changes made to the February Sprint?
> >> - Should the February Sprint start an hour earlier?
> >> - Should 160m be added? (or replace 20m?)
> >>   -or-
> >> - Should Sprint results simply be reported with different/additional
> >> categories? (sorry, Tree!)
> >>
> >> 73, Ted W4NZ
> >>
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