[CQ-Contest] How many hours do SOAB entrants actually operate?

[Steve London]

How about looking at the statistics for those major worldwide contests 
that are already 24 hours long, such as the IARU HF, and Russian DX ? 
What percentage of participants currently operate more than, say 22 
hours ? I'm sure there is a reader of this list has access to that data. 
Are the "24 hour category" folks walking their talk ?

73,
Steve, N2IC

On 04/01/2013 11:29 AM, David Gilbert wrote:
>
> Ahh ... you mean that more people will do what they actually prefer to
> do instead of what they might feel compelled to do. I didn't realize
> that was a bad thing for a hobby. I think it's pretty funny that some
> folks are against a 24 hour category precisely because they think it
> might be popular enough to make a difference.
>
> But apparently you didn't bother to read the statistics in the original
> posts from KR2Q. Fully 90% of all contesters who send in a log ALREADY
> operate less than 24 hours and 75% operate less than 15 hours. I'd bet
> that the numbers for those who don't bother to send in a log (but still
> contribute to contest activity) are skewed even lower. I think it's
> fully debatable whether or not a 24 hour category would encourage more
> of the 10% who currently operate more than 24 hours to operate less than
> it would encourage those 15% in the 15 to 24 hour group to operate more,
> but personally I suspect it would be a wash.
>
> Besides, I don't think anyone advocating a 24 hour category expects to
> garner a victory from having one. Hard core stations and elite operators
> will always win over casual ops. A 24 hour category merely gives more
> people a chance to compare themselves on a more equal footing.
>
> Dave AB7E
>
> p.s. In cycling, fewer riders in the longer races absolutely impinges on
> the efforts of others. Drafting in a group is critical ... a solo rider
> will expend as much as 30% more effort than a rider in the middle of a
> group going the same speed.
>
>
>
>
> On 4/1/2013 7:21 AM, Richard F DiDonna NN3W wrote:
>> Because in cycling, the efforts of one cyclist don't necessarily
>> impinge on the efforts on others. By encouraging stations to operate
>> only 24 hours, you will have an effect on how the bands load and the
>> availability of stations during certain periods. I can guarantee you
>> that if stations got to chose to chose a 24 hour operating period,
>> most would chose to operate during daylight hours and would avoid
>> marginal bands as you can't mess up in a 24 hour contest. Look at the
>> scores from this past weekend's CQWPX contest - SOAB stations
>> completely minimized their efforts on 80 and 160 because the ratio of
>> time versus QSOs does not justify being up that late.
>>
>> I'll also stand in total agreement with other posters who note that
>> creating a new "24 hour" category won't guarantee any victories for
>> non-hard core stations. It will instead mean that certain hard core
>> stations who don't want to do 48 hours, will instead do 24 hours and
>> will knock off the competition.
>>
>> 73 Rich NN3W
>
> _______________________________________________
> CQ-Contest mailing list
> CQ-Contest at contesting.com
> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/cq-contest
>