>"Based on the data
Gene presented, I don't doubt there has been a decline in participation."
First - good comments by Tom, KE6FI/r. Gene's article is interesting and
thought provoking. The decline in logs submitted kind of snuck up on me,
too. I figured it was maybe due to the poor prop. in the last couple of
contests.
However, I am not sure that logs submitted = overall participation. I think
"participation" is higher(at least on 6M) in the last 5 years than 10 or 15
years ago, but people are not submitting logs. Reason? Look at the Top QSO
totals achieved on 6M in the June VHF QSO Party.
Back in the 1992 June VHF QSO Party I was the 6M op at WBØDRL. We had 12 -
14 hours of 6M Es each day, and even worked Japan on 6M Es! The conditons
were "outstanding!" After dupes WBØDRL ended up with a contest high total of
975. The 1987 June VHF QSO Party, regarded by many as having the "best Es
propagation ever" for a June contest had no stations making 1,000 QSOs on 6.
Some years later George, K5TR easily broke the 1,000 mark on 6M. Since, a
number of stations have broke the 1,000 mark, including WD5K running low
power. Thus the number of W/VE stations available to work on 6M during Es
openings appears to be higher now than back in the 80s and early 90s. There
is high 6 Meter activity in Europe, but for those stations making over 1,000
contacts in the June VHF QSO Party, European QSOs were negligible.
Why more W/VE 6M activity now? This could be due to the widespread
availability of HF radios having 6 Meters. The recent solar cycle peak found
many casual ops and HF DXers appearing on 6 Meters due to the F2 DX. Why
don't these stations submit logs?
- Jon NØJK
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