[CQ-Contest] possible changes for CQ VHF Contest

[rjairam at gmail.com]

It’s an undeniable statistic regardless but two more pieces of data stand
out:

Paper bureau QSL volume is now increasing and FT8 is a significant
proportion of those cards. I’ve confirmed this in at least two QSL bureaus
(W2 and W7).

The band when viewed on a waterfall display, has always something on FT8,
whereas many times there is little to none of other modes.

What would be interesting is comparing RBN to PSKReporter, but even from
casual glance, the stats on PSKR exceed RBN by a large number. Both of
these methods directly measure on-air activity and not logged contacts.

There is absolutely no denying the popularity of these modes. It’s also
easy to see why - they enable every ham even with almost no antenna to make
contacts. There’s also no need to have a mic and interfere with others
nearby and (sadly) no need to learn CW.

My view is we need to adapt to this, respect the old ways but also coach
the newcomers and those who use this mode, rather than cast out and exclude
them.

And in our own game, we need to recognize that it changes from time to time
and adapt.

Ria
N2RJ

On Wed, Jul 24, 2019 at 8:52 AM Edward Sawyer <EdwardS at sbelectronics.com>
wrote:

> I thought that was likely the source.
>
>
>
> It’s a very common misconception that Clublog logs pick up all of the
> “traffic” on the air.  I tested this theory a month or so ago.
>
>
>
> I called CQ on SSB for an hour and called CQ on CW for an hour.  I worked
> about 100 stations.  This was a weekday evening with a mix of NA, SA, and
> Eu stations.  I then looked up each call to see how many were log uploaders
> to Clublog.  The answer, only 20% of that “traffic” uploaded to clublog.
>
>
>
> Beware of assumptions on data.
>
>
>
> 75% of clublog uploaders may be FT8 – to your point probably higher.  But
> that does not represent the HF traffic at all.  Even clublog itself has a
> statement about drawing wide conclusions from its log data.
>
>
>
> Ed  N1UR
>
>
>
> *From:* rjairam at gmail.com [mailto:rjairam at gmail.com]
> *Sent:* Wednesday, July 24, 2019 8:46 AM
> *To:* Edward Sawyer
> *Cc:* cq-contest at contesting.com
> *Subject:* Re: [CQ-Contest] possible changes for CQ VHF Contest
>
>
>
> Analysis of logs submitted to ClubLog.
>
>
>
> This is 2017 when it was introduced. I have to find the more recent
> analysis. It’s higher now.
>
>
>
> https://g7vjr.org/2018/01/proportion-of-modes-used-on-the-air-2017-update/
>
>
>
>
>
> Ria
>
> N2RJ
>
>
>
> On Wed, Jul 24, 2019 at 8:28 AM Edward Sawyer <EdwardS at sbelectronics.com>
> wrote:
>
> "70% of ham traffic is now FT8."
>
> I am curious where this datapoint is coming from?
>
> Ed  N1UR
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>