We all wonder where the JA's are during contests, we all have been asking
this question for some time. From the mid 70's to the mid 80's you could run
JA's from the West coast for as long as you could hold up. There has been a
decline in JA contest interest, no doubt about it. The decline in W/VE contest
activity seems to be on a par with JA activity decline from my perspective. I
work half as many JA's for a given effort now, I also work half as many W/VE's
for a given effort. The following is typical:
ARRL DX SSB 80M Low Power
Year Hrs. Q's Mults Rate
1992 7.5 852 61 113.6 Steady activity
1995 7.5 661 57 88.1 Slow at times
2003 8.0 404 53 50.5 Darn boring
WPX in 1992 and 2003 had similar results from W/VE, JA results in these two
WPX tests were down 27%. Same location and the same antennas.
None of this proves much other than the fact that were not having as much fun
as we once did. I suspect there isnt one answer nor one solution. I cant
explain why I hear an amazing wall of JA's every time there is an expedition,
and
why many of the same stations aren't active during contests. Without input
from the JA perspective were just guessing.
Ron KH6DV
_______________________________________________
CQ-Contest mailing list
CQ-Contest@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/cq-contest
|