[CQ-Contest] Spots and Success in the WRTC - a little data for discussion

[Pete Smith]

The following table lists the contestants in WRTC by finish order and 
callsign, and then shows the number of spots recorded in the Reverse 
Beacon Network database.  Reverse beacons don't cheerlead or select 
which stations to spot.  You can draw your own conclusions.  Perhaps 
there is a statistician among us who can derive further enlightenment by 
analyzing these numbers, together with others released by the organizers.

Call 	Place 	 Spots
R32F 	1 	182
R33A 	2 	109
R33M 	3 	316
R39D 	4 	172
R34P 	5 	156
R32K 	6 	0
R32R 	7 	106
R31X 	8 	21
R37M 	9 	189
R36C 	10 	166
R33L 	11 	132
R38F 	12 	232
R33G 	13 	163
R31U 	14 	62
R34O 	15 	122
R36Y 	16 	59
R34W 	17 	197
R39M 	18 	222
R32C 	19 	115
R37L 	20 	139
R37Q 	21 	247
R34C 	22 	184
R36O 	23 	17
R38O 	24 	116
R31A 	25 	302
R36F 	26 	41
R38K 	27 	187
R38X 	28 	79
R31D 	29 	111
R34D 	30 	14
R32Z 	31 	252
R32O 	32 	111
R37A 	33 	184
R32W 	34 	142
R31N 	35 	140
R36Z 	36 	100
R38N 	37 	50
R36K 	38 	91
R38W 	39 	79
R37P 	40 	10
R39A 	41 	25
R37U 	42 	191
R34X 	43 	76
R39R 	44 	12
R34Z 	45 	133
R33U 	46 	96
R36W 	47 	152
R33Q 	48 	85


When I first saw this, I questioned how it was possible that a station 
could finish sixth and yet not be spotted even once, but the scientist 
on our team tells me it is not only possible, but statistically likely.  
In any case, that's what the database says.

-- 
73, Pete N4ZR

The World Contest Station Database, updated daily atwww.conteststations.com
The Reverse Beacon Network athttp://reversebeacon.net, blog at reversebeacon.blogspot.com,
spots at telnet.reversebeacon.net, port 7000