Curt,
thanks for all of the data. Any idea as to why logs
received maxed out in the early to mid 90s, and have
been declining since?
I also agree that we do not need to based points on
distance for QSOs. We need to keep logging as simple
as possible. If you make the points too hard to
calculate, people will stop sending logs in. There
are still hams who use paper logging-myself included
when I go portable or roving. If we want to encourage
new hams to get into VHF contesting, we need to keep
it as simple as possible.
With all of the current rigs out there that cover
VHF/UHF as well as HF, we should see activity growing
steadily. Rigs like the FT100D, Icom 706MKIIG, and
TS2000 are the stuff that one could only dream about
in the late 80s and early 90s. Now if they would only
add 222 and 902 to some of these rigs!
73s John NE0P
--- "Curtis C. Roseman" <croseman@almaak.usc.edu>
wrote:
> George et al.:
>
> Here are some numbers. First, the number of
> logs submitted for the
> three ARRL VHF/UHF contests since 1975 from QST
> write-ups (note a few of
> these numbers are estimates or interpolations, but
> the overall trends
> should be correct):
>
> Jan June Sept
> 1975 590 340 285
> 630 410 230
> 780 490 340
> 840 480 330
> 890 510 410
> 1980 995 500 380
> 970 540 390
> 940 590 448
> 950 510 436
> 800 590 450
> 1985 880 530 434
> 890 630 460
> 840 691 386
> 845 650 400
> 930 650 425
> 1990 910 600 439
> 912 480 415
> 958 610 591
> 1036 818 621
> 1200 820 714
> 1995 1150 837 720
> 1150 921 710
> 1020 837 752
> 1010 800 700
> 900 701 606
> 2000 820 710 582
> 799 680 553
>
> Whereas it is true that the numbers are down over
> the last few
> years, the current levels are comparable to (or
> better than) most of the
> 1980s and clearly higher than the mid-1970s.
>
> Now, let's look at the highest national QSO totals
> on 6 and 2 in
> June and Sept (since 1987):
>
> June Sept June Sept
> Hi Qs Hi Qs Hi Qs Hi Qs
> 6mtrs 6mtrs 2mtrs 2mtrs
>
> 1987 985 281 615 555
> 1988 688 338 673 573
> 1989 366 380 574 672
> 1990 527 359 656 699
> 1991 630 396 599 510
> 1992 976 418 641 870
> 1993 732 373 778 697
> 1994 472 417 752 883
> 1995 558 343 833 702
> 1996 1161 404 786 643
> 1997 674 493 864 762
> 1998 1358 562 770 671
> 1999 1077 607 725 736
> 2000 1104 668 655 700
> 2001 909 957 607 963
>
> Over the last few years, six meter qso totals have
> been higher
> than EVER, and two meter totals as high as ever.
> These data are only for
> the single highest total each year, but they reflect
> the overall trends
> for many stations and many regions over the years.
> The increase on six
> (and perhaps also on two) is partly due to the
> incorporation of that band
> into main-line HF rigs. QSO totals have generally
> gone up on other
> bands as well, as we have more rovers and others
> using more and more
> bands, and almost ever year several records are
> broken in various
> categories in various regions. (I have similar data
> for Grid totals,
> which vary quite a bit more from year to year with
> changing band conditions.)
>
> In summary, activity is up, but log submissions are
> down somewhat.
> We dont need to change the rules, we need to send in
> our logs. (I have
> plenty of opinions about proposed rules changes that
> I may put into
> another message. My overall feeling is that we
> have plenty of categories
> and distance scoring is not a good idea -- because
> better stations and
> operators already are rewarded with distance worked
> because they get more
> grids. That is the beauty of the grid system; more
> distance, more
> grids.)
>
> 73, Curt Roseman k9aks
>
>
> On Mon, 2 Sep 2002, George Fremin III - K5TR wrote:
>
> > On Mon, Sep 02, 2002 at 08:04:46PM +0000, Bill
> Olson wrote:
> > >
> > > 1. Is the reason there is a decline in contest
> activity because the
> > > "playing field" is not level???? I don't think
> so. Look back in old QST's
> > > at contest results. There were TWO entr
> > > ant categories: Single op, Multiop. And
> multipliers were arrl sections..
> > > not grids. That is about as unequal a playing
> field as we have ever had,
> > > yet there was a LOT of activity. Maybe
> participation is declining because
> > > the ham population is declining or at least the
> ham population interested
> > > in this stuff. Plus there are a LOT more things
> to do these days!!
> >
> >
> > I really wish someone would give us some hard
> numbers of this
> > "decline in contest activity". I have seen this
> thrown up
> > several times on this list in the last year but I
> do not
> > recall anyone providing any proof of this "fact".
> >
> >
> > Earlier this year I did look at the numbers of
> logs submitted
> > for the threee major ARRL VHF contests and found
> that they
> > were all within +/- 40-50 entries over those
> years.
> >
> > This does not seem like decline to me - it would
> seem that
> > good or bad conditions would have at least this
> > much affect on entries.
> >
> > From personal experiance I would say activity has
> been up
> > but the only proof I have for that is some big 6m
> scores in the june contests.
> >
> > Anyway - I guess it just gets to me when I read
> folks claims of
> > declining acvitiy without any proof to back it up.
> >
> >
> > --
> > George Fremin III - K5TR
> > geoiii@kkn.net
> > http://www.kkn.net/~k5tr
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > VHFcontesting mailing list
> > VHFcontesting@contesting.com
> >
>
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/vhfcontesting
> >
> >
>
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>
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