[CQ-Contest] Stimulating Participation was: Limited Antenna Height Category

[Kenneth E. Harker]

On Tue, Nov 30, 2004 at 02:51:56PM -0500, Richard DiDonna NN3W wrote:
> 
> --- Original Message ---
> From: "Kenneth E. Harker" <kenharker at kenharker.com>
> To: CQ Contest <cq-contest at contesting.com>
> Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] Stimulating Participation 
> was: Limited Antenna Height Category
> 
> >On Tue, Nov 30, 2004 at 01:01:16PM -0500, Pete Smith 
> wrote:
> >
> >>                       Doesn't mean it isn't still a 
> good idea, particularly 
> >> in the face of flat or declining participation in 
> contests, which is why I 
> >> have brought it up again.
> >
> >Can you back up that assertion that contest activity 
> is "flat or declining"
> >with data?  On HF, it is exactly the opposite of my 
> personal observation.
> >
> I think there is a perception that activity on 10 
> meters has decreased significantly - and not due to 
> the sunspot cycle.  As the number of novices and techs 
> decreases, I've noticed that the wild 10 meter QSO 
> counts of the early-mid 90s have not really been 
> matched today.  You could spend most all day on 10 in 
> the NAQP, CQP, and SS contests - racking up unique Qs 
> from Novices and techs.  

The 2002 ARRL 10 Meter Contest had more log submissions 
than any previous ARRL contest in history.  The number of 
submissions in the 10 Meter Contest in 2003 was slightly 
down, but so was propagation.  Even so, I made at least one 
QSO in each of the 36 clock hours I operated last year in 
the contest, and the top phone-only single operators made 
in excess of 2500 QSOs (in 2001 and 2002 better propagation 
enabled nearly 3000 QSOs!)

Yes, 10 meter activity will diminish as the solar cycle 
wanes.

Japanese contest activity has diminished.  But European
contest activity has exploded in the past five years,
and I believe that U.S. contest activity has been 
gently increasing - or at least I have no reason to think
it's been declining, as naysayers will always assert.

-- 
Kenneth E. Harker WM5R
kenharker at kenharker.com
http://www.kenharker.com/