[VHFcontesting] Re: Recent trends in Logs and Qs, VHF contests

[Curtis C. Roseman]

George et al.:

    Here are some numbers.  First, the number of logs submitted for the
three ARRL VHF/UHF contests since 1975 from QST write-ups (note a few of
these numbers are estimates or interpolations, but the overall trends
should be correct):

	Jan	June	Sept
1975	590	340	285
 	630	410	230
 	780	490	340
 	840	480	330
 	890	510	410
1980	995	500	380
 	970	540	390
 	940	590	448
 	950	510	436
 	800	590	450
1985	880	530	434
 	890	630	460
 	840	691	386
 	845	650	400
 	930	650	425
1990	910	600	439
 	912	480	415
 	958	610	591
 	1036	818	621
 	1200	820	714
1995	1150	837	720
 	1150	921	710
 	1020	837	752
 	1010	800	700
 	900	701	606
2000	820	710	582
 	799	680	553

	 Whereas it is true that the numbers are down over the last few
years, the current levels are comparable to (or better than) most of the
1980s and clearly higher than the mid-1970s.

	Now, let's look at the highest national QSO totals on 6 and 2 in
June and Sept (since 1987):

	June	Sept	June	Sept
	Hi Qs	Hi Qs	Hi Qs	Hi Qs
	6mtrs	6mtrs	2mtrs	2mtrs

1987	985	281	615	555
1988	688	338	673	573
1989	366	380	574	672
1990	527	359	656	699
1991	630	396	599	510
1992	976	418	641	870
1993	732	373	778	697
1994	472	417	752	883
1995	558	343	833	702
1996	1161	404	786	643
1997	674	493	864	762
1998	1358	562	770	671
1999	1077	607	725	736
2000	1104	668	655	700
2001	909	957	607	963

	Over the last few years, six meter qso totals have been higher
than EVER, and two meter totals as high as ever.   These data are only for
the single highest total each year, but they reflect the overall trends
for many stations and many regions over the years.  The increase on six
(and perhaps also on two) is partly due to the incorporation of that band
into main-line HF rigs.  QSO totals have generally gone up on other
bands as well, as we have more rovers and others using more and more
bands, and almost ever year several records are broken in various
categories in various regions.  (I have similar data for Grid totals,
which vary quite a bit more from year to year with changing band conditions.)

	In summary, activity is up, but log submissions are down somewhat.
We dont need to change the rules, we need to send in our logs.  (I have
plenty of opinions about proposed rules changes that I may put into
another message.   My overall feeling is that we have plenty of categories
and distance scoring is not a good idea -- because better stations and
operators already are rewarded with distance worked because they get more
grids.  That is the beauty of the grid system; more distance, more
grids.)

73, Curt Roseman k9aks


On Mon, 2 Sep 2002, George Fremin III - K5TR wrote:

> On Mon, Sep 02, 2002 at 08:04:46PM +0000, Bill Olson wrote:
> >
> > 1. Is the reason there is a decline in contest activity because the
> > "playing field" is not level???? I don't think so. Look back in old QST's
> > at contest results. There were TWO entr
> > ant categories: Single op, Multiop. And multipliers were arrl sections..
> > not grids. That is about as unequal a playing field as we have ever had,
> > yet there was a LOT of activity. Maybe participation is declining because
> > the ham population is declining or at least the ham population interested
> > in this stuff. Plus there are a LOT more things to do these days!!
>
>
> I really wish someone would give us some hard numbers of this
> "decline in contest activity".  I have seen this thrown up
> several times on this list in the last year but I do not
> recall anyone providing any proof of this "fact".
>
>
> Earlier this year I did look at the numbers of logs submitted
> for the threee major ARRL VHF contests and found that they
> were all within +/- 40-50 entries over those years.
>
> This does not seem like decline to me - it would seem that
> good or bad conditions would have at least this
> much affect on entries.
>
> From personal experiance I would say activity has been up
> but the only proof I have for that is some big 6m scores in the june contests.
>
> Anyway - I guess it just gets to me when I read folks claims of
> declining acvitiy without any proof to back it up.
>
>
> --
> George Fremin III - K5TR
> geoiii at kkn.net
> http://www.kkn.net/~k5tr
>
>
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