On 1/21/02 12:42 PM, Ford Peterson at ford@cmgate.com wrote:
>I am thinking about taking the time to book the previous 20 Qs, and
>calculate the rate per minute. E.g. 20 Qs in 8 minutes is 2.5 per minute.
>Using 10 Qs made the graph swing wildly. Using 50 Qs smoothed out the graph
>quite a bit.
Typically, when contesters refer to the "rate meter" they mean the "last
10" rate displayed by many contest programs.
Traditionally, programs like CT and NA (and I don't remember for TR)
display the rates for the last 10, the previous 10 (eg the 10 before the
last 10), and the last 100. (The AE6Y software gives a "last hour" value,
but omits the previous 10 value)
This is a very simple calculation -- you simply take the time period of
the given span of QSOs, and calculate the requivalent hourly rate.
There are some differences in the calculations. For example, I noticed
the AE6Y software doesn't consider the seconds portion of the time in
it's calculations. it only counts whole minutes. So, if you get 10 QSOs
in 3 minutes, the answer is always 200/hr. 10 in 4 minutes is always
150/hr. 10 in 2 minutes is 300/hr. 10 in 5 minutes is always 120/hr.
Other applications use finer measurements, so the rates aren't as
stair-stepped.
Your rate values do depend on the "window" you use for smoothing. I would
suggest a window of 10 is standard for "instantaneous" rates.
And, yes, the last 10 rates vary somewhat. That's part of the fun.
Bill Coleman, AA4LR, PP-ASEL Mail: aa4lr@arrl.net
Quote: "Not within a thousand years will man ever fly!"
-- Wilbur Wright, 1901
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