[CQ-Contest] Is ARRL DX Really Broken ?

[Jeffrey Clarke]

Below are numbers I took from the ARRL results database.  I think many
people have just made a blanket statements that there should be a distance
based points system without even looking over the numbers. Is this contest
really broken that changes need to be made ?

 

 


Contest

Total Entries

DX

W/VE

AS

AF

EU

OC

SA


2010 ARRL DX SSB

3175

1484

1691

231

22

972

53

144


2009 ARRL DX SSB

2668

1178

1490

159

17

740

45

142


2008 ARRL DX SSB

2128

812

1316

112

13

464

33

124


2007 ARRL DX SSB

2161

880

1281

134

13

547

29

102


2006 ARRL DX SSB

2221

940

1281

120

21

612

28

98


2005 ARRL DX SSB

2057

901

1156

144

15

556

31

94


2004 ARRL DX SSB

2267

930

1337

157

17

567

30

91


2003 ARRL DX SSB

2261

918

1343

179

11

530

29

118


2002 ARRL DX SSB

2286

964

1322

198

12

623

19

64

									
									
									

2010 ARRL DX CW

3938

2270

1668

384

21

1661

51

96


2009 ARRL DX CW

3131

1739

1392

277

25

1271

48

61


2008 ARRL DX CW

2686

1392

1294

208

16

1016

37

66


2007 ARRL DX CW

2569

1278

1291

191

28

916

29

68


2006 ARRL DX CW

2547

1363

1184

189

16

1035

27

44


2005 ARRL DX CW

2568

1381

1187

204

10

1040

21

55


2004 ARRL DX CW

2681

1383

1298

223

14

1004

35

57


2003 ARRL DX CW

2349

1226

1123

221

12

859

21

61


2002 ARRL DX CW

2384

1241

1143

261

15

874

19

36

 

 

Note :

 

1)      Since 2002 participation is up for both W/VE and DX. I believe 2011
will be up too since propagation was good this year.

2)      There are usually 5 times more EU entries than AS on CW since 2002.

3)      There are usually 4 times more EU entries than AS on SSB since 2002.

4)      Given that the east coast has the best propagation to EU and the
west coast to AS what type (fair) of algorithm do you use ? For example on
CW do you give the west coast  5 times more points for working EU and the
east coast 5 times for working AS. What do you do for the middle of the
country ? Do you cut that in half ?

5)      Since there is more activity in EU than anywhere else will this even
make up the difference for someone not on the east coast ?

6)      Could someone on the west coast make up the difference with the low
activity from JA ? I don't see where they would ever make 1/3 of the QSO's
to EU that someone on the east coast would.

7)      If the ARRL went to a distance based scoring system for ARRL DX then
will this set a precedence for other ARRL contests ?  After all ARRL
Sweepstakes isn't  fair to those who are not in W5/W6/W7. When is the last
time someone on the east coast won SS ? (Especially SSB)

 

 

73, Jeff KU8E