[CQ-Contest] east coast advantage in SS

[Leigh S. Jones]

Although the "West" has a bit of an advantage over the "East" in the
modern SS contest, this advantage does not extend to the "West Coast"
in this or the past decade.  There has been something of a shift in
demographics with the decline of the American automobile industry
(i.e., in Detroit) and the replacement of the midwestern family farm
with giant agribusiness.  Amateur radio contesting in the Great Lakes
region declined numerically in favor of the South and Northeast.  The
result is that a lower percentage of contesters are found within the
single hop range of the coastal California and Pacific Northwest
stations.  In the early 70's Pete Grillo (then W6RTT and then a recent
winner of the SSCW) explained the coming shift in demographics to me
(then a teenage WB6OLD and then also a recent winner of the SSCW) and
predicted that the Gulf Coast region would be the hotbed of victorious
contesters in the upcoming years.  I had trouble believing it, but it
certainly turned out to be true during the 80's and up to the present.
The Northeast, however, unquestionably has the biggest advantage in DX
contesting these days -- European ham radio being a great area of
growth.

----- Original Message -----
From: <Cqtestk4xs at aol.com>
To: <cq-contest at contesting.com>
Sent: Friday, November 01, 2002 10:26 AM
Subject: [CQ-Contest] east coast advantage in SS


> > i agree ... i think it boils down to has the most pull
> > at the league plus most of the new sections both canada
> > anf the us continue to improve the easter stations advantage
> > in my opinion
>
> Some advantage.....Usually I and maybe one other station east of the
> Mississippi cracks the top ten SSB high power.  Uh, lets see, that's
makes 80
> %  for the west coast, right?
> K4XS
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