[CQ-Contest] Canada versus USA

[Kenneth E. Harker]

On Thu, Apr 07, 2005 at 11:09:22AM -0400, ku8e at bellsouth.net wrote:

>     No disrespect to my Canadian contesting friends but why does Canada  
>   need to be considered the same as a US state in ARRL sponsored contests....
>                              ...You have a "huge" advantage if you could 
>   run EU below 14150 and in the clear as compared to fighting for the 
>   band edge like the big S/O and M/M US stations do. Don't even get me 
>   started on 40 meter phone. 

*sigh*

Let's examine this assertion that Canadians have a huge advantage in the 
ARRL International DX Contest, Phone, W/VE competition.

There are thirteen entries categories.  In the phone contest, how many 
of the W/VE records for these categories are held by Canadian stations?
One.  (see http://www.arrl.org/contests/results/intldx-rec.html)

Category   Area   Call              Score       Year
----------------------------------------------------
SOHP       W1     KQ2M              6,586,785   2002
SOLP       W4     K4XS              3,186,945   2001
SOQP       W2     K1ZM              1,917,510   2001
SOSB/10    W4     W4ZV              981,837     2000
SOSB/15    W8     K8DX              1,239,540   2000
SOSB/20    VE6    VE6WQ (@ VE6JY)   933,525     2004
SOSB/40    W4     K4XS              268,761     2004
SOSB/80    W3     KQ3V              156,216     1996
SOSB/160   W1     K1ZM              34,380      1996
SO/A       W1     KI1G              5,790,720   2000 
M/S        W1     K5ZD              6,730,380   2000
M/2        W1     K1AR              11,435,802  2000
M/M        W1     KC1XX             19,610,580  2000

If the Canadians have such a huge advantage over their American 
competition in this contest, wouldn't you expect them to hold all
the contest records?  What about 40 meters?  The Canadian record 
for SOSB/40 is only 62,622 points (also from an operation at 
VE6JY, clearly the ideal contest location!)  That's only 23% as 
high as the W/VE record, and lower than _any_ U.S. call district 
record.

How often do Canadian stations win any of the 13 entry categories
in the DX phone contest?

Canadian victories in the ARRL DX Phone Contest
-----------------------------------------------
2004:  2 out of 13 categories
2003:  1 out of 13 categories
2002:  2 out of 13 categories
2001:  0 out of 13 categories
2000:  0 out of 13 categories
1999:  0 out of 13 categories
1998:  1 out of 13 categories
1997:  1 out of 13 categories

Basically, Canadians win category victories in the ARRL DX Phone 
contest about as frequently as do stations from the U.S. west coast or
Texas.

So, why are we complaining?  Because one Canadian station has managed 
repeat victories in one entry category?

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