On Dec 4, 2009, at 12:08 PM, John Geiger wrote:
> What have other entry classes done? Have they grown at the same rate, at a
> faster rate, or have they actually declined?
>
> 73s John AA5JG
Here is a table of activity in all classes since 2001. The data is harder to
extract from contests before 2001 as it is not collated on the ARRLweb site and
is not always explicit in the QST write ups.
Activity by class, June VHF QSO Party
Year A B L M Q R RL UR All
2009 695 206 56 44 33 60 37 5 1168
2008 660 200 52 32 34 61 26 8 1073
2007 477 162 62 38 23 98 860
2006 610 184 81 39 39 96 1049
2005 468 166 47 38 31 92 842
2004 412 155 43 37 28 91 766
2003 445 157 55 38 31 92 818
2002 319 157 49 36 27 84 672
2001 253 243 62 33 25 59 675
I hope that the formatting has held up. Best viewed with monospaced font.
I have commented on the Rover participation growing at a steady rate and being
relatively steady while the total contest participation has varied widely. The
multi category shows an even more steady participation during the time period,
and I suppose for the same reason, with a large investment in equipment, setup
time, travel to an operating site, and operators time; multis are more likely
to participate year after year to get the most out of their investment and are
more likely to submit a log given the investment made in the contest. The
limited multi class has shown wider swings, but still is a pretty steady
contributor to the contest. The single op low power shows the most variation in
participationm more than a factor of 2, in the data above. I suppose that is to
be expected, if the bands are open, there are a lot of logs submitted by these
participants, but if 6M is not open, they probably go do something else for the
weekend, or just work the locals and not submit a l
og.
The QRP Portable participation is steady, but numbers are small. These are a
dedicated bunch. I will have to try that class some day.
The rise in participation in low power single ops in the last 2 years is
interesting after a long period of lower but constant participation. I suppose
more of those guys who are chasing FFMA are getting linears to help in the grid
hunting and finding out that power does open a dead 6M band with a variety of
scatter modes.
Your interpretation may be different.
The offer of my prepared presentations on beginning VHF operating and Roving
are still open. Use these as a basis to stir up some interest in the local
club. Give a VHF talk in May. - Duffey
--
KK6MC
James Duffey
Cedar Crest NM
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