[CQ-Contest] NT5C Spot analysis 2006 WPX CW

[Jim George]

Following my operation in the 2006 CW WPX contest using my fellow CTDXCCer 
John Warren's call, NT5C, I looked on the OH2AQ cluster for spots, and 
attempted to correlate them with possible increased QSO rates in the 
contest.  My thesis from previous contests is that spots do help out the 
rate in general, and in the WPX, one tends to be spotted more often with a 
callsign that is likely to be a multiplier.  NT5C was spotted 53 
times.  Two of those spots were not valid in "before and after" comparisons 
because I was going off for a break or coming back on, but 51 of them 
seemed to be valid for comparison.  I used the preceding 10 minutes 
comparing the number of contacts with the ten minutes including and after 
the spot.  There were 42 cases where the rate increased following the spot 
and 9 cases where the rate declined.  The largest increases were 11, 10, 9, 
and 8, and the largest declines were 8, 6, and 6.  Two of the largest 
post-spot increases (the 11 and the 8) were right after I went to a band 
where I was fresh, and had not been on in a while.  Clearly these were helpful.

The average rate change following a spot for the NT5C operation was plus 
2.2 QSOs in the 10 minutes, and since my overall average for the 36 hours 
was about 77 QSOs per hour, or 12.8 QSOs in an average 10 minute segment, 
the 2.2 additional QSOs post-spot equated to a 17% increase, certainly 
significant.  It underscores the importance of spotting, and confirms the 
importance if ethical spots.  The post-contest analysis by K1TTT and others 
showing certain questionable and unethical spotting efforts are important 
to keep the radio-sporting hobby as even as possible, given all the 
variables that are normal to our sport.

Jim George N3BB