[UK-CONTEST] UK performance in CQ WW etc

[Chris Tran ZL1CT]

Hello all

As Stewart GM4AFF commented, it's difficult to resist responding to some of
the comments that are posted !   Tony G3ZRJ writes :
"I don't see the parallel with International athletic or motor racing,  the
only way a UK team or single op can win the big International contests is to
run humungous amounts of power to compete with (certain countries) where ex
military TXs of at least 10 kW are commonly employed - even then the "bonus
dBs"of a rare DX call make the chances of a UK station coming out as overall
winner as pretty remote."
Partly right, partly wrong - I think (as seen in IARU where GB5HQ is trying
very hard but is geographically disadvantaged) that it is (almost)
impossible for a UK station to win overall in most categories of the big
international events, simply because the UK is too far away from the
Equator. However, Tony seems to be forgetting that in recent years many UK
stations are doing very well within Europe or with single-band entries. CQ
WW results for the last 10 years show a lot of success from UK stations.

Congrats to Steve GW4BLE and Andy G4PIQ/M6T on great scores - Steve says "it
surprises me how some single Ops have obtained such high QSO rates *and*
achieved such big mult totals....." - it surprises me too Steve !  If we
look at the (3rd Nov) 3830 claimed scores for CQ WW SSB 2004 :
----
Non-USA SOAB HP
A61AJ(S53R)       7304   175   624    48 16,234,881
OE4A(OE1EMS)      5206   169   644    45  9,749,496
FS/AH8DX          5544   134   484    46  8,433,228
VO1AU             4491   125   510    42  7,599,045
VO1MP             4058   118   471    34  6,619,771
M6T(G4PIQ)        4505   148   498 42.75  6,576,926
LY4A(LY2FY)       4021   167   646    44  6,359,286
DJ5MW             3911   145   560    46  5,737,290
V55V(ZS6MG)       3467   140   396    36  5,449,512
RZ9OZO(RZ9UA)     2842   146   526  41,5  5,024,544
----
I've always believed that in the Single-op All-band Unassisted category,
there is an approximate relationship between QSO numbers, zone nos, DXCC
numbers and points score. However, two of the stations listed above
have DXCC country scores which do not conform to this (subjective)
relationship. I suggest that to achieve such a high country total as OE4A
(644) and LY4A (646) both stations must either (a) be doing a heck of a lot
of S&P using their second radio or (b) be watching the DX Cluster. I am not
accusing either station of anything, nor suggesting that they are anything
but expert operators, just pointing out what seem to me the only 2
possibilities. Time and the CQ WW DX Cluster cross-checking software (if it
exists and works) will tell !

73
Chris
ZL1CT