I had done a little research on this earlier this year. Since you're discussing
just 6m, that's the data I'll include here. It is from the SEPTEMBER contest
(only) between 2017-2020. Often when I try to type a table in the body of an
email it loses formatting when going through the reflector - I apologize if
this is difficult to read after I send it.
Year Legacy (CW,FM,SSB) Digital (all types) Total %QSO's by Band
2020 29.13% (9200) 70.87% (22387) 31587 45.7%
2019 41.22% (9277) 58.78% (13230) 22507 40.25%
2018 69.2% (10265) 39.8% (4568) 14833 33.16%
2017 79.79% (8868) 20.21% (2246) 11114 30.39%
This chart shows the dramatic percentage increase (and number) of QSO’s which
took place on 6m in the September VHF contests between 2017 and 2020. In 2020
only 29% of 6m QSO’s were made on legacy (SSB, CW, FM) modes (63% of 2 meter
QSO’s were made on legacy modes). If you subtract the non-weak signal mode of
FM from the legacy category the percentage drops to 28% on 6m (and 58% on 2m).
"Essentially" only about ¼ of 6m QSO’s and about ½ of 2m QSO’s were made on a
traditional weak signal mode. This compares with the 2017 event where 80% and
99% of QSO’s were made on 6m and 2m respectively. I’d hypothesize that prior to
FTx (2017) both the 6m and 2m legacy percentages were most likely well over 90%.
So, yes - more contacts are being made on 6m due to the increase in digital
QSO's.
Interestingly, even with all those additional QSO's, the Average Score PER Top
Ten Log (all categories) has dropped from 25,016 in 2005 to 4,419 in 2015 to
3874 in 2020.
73,
Ed K3DNE
> On 03/19/2021 3:48 PM Marshall-K5QE < k5qe@k5qe.com mailto:k5qe@k5qe.com
> > wrote:
>
>
> On 3/19/2021 7:43 PM, Marshall-K5QE wrote:
>
> > > Hello Mr. Duffey(no call)....Maybe we should just ask
> other top
> > operators how they feel about this. To me, it FEELS like we are
> > making a lot less 6M contacts than before. Maybe we are getting a
> > few
> > more mults, but maybe not too. The slow rate of FT8 makes it FEEL
> > like we are wallowing in mud. It is almost impossible to get any
> > rate
> > with FT8. Will FT8 bring in some contacts that otherwise would not
> > be
> > made?? Of course it will.
> >
> > Because there is almost never any Es in January, FT8 is well suited
> > for slugging it out on 6M. To me, January is always a slugging
> > match. Rate in January is almost non-existent. So, you have to
> > keep
> > your butt in the chair and pound it out. At this, FT8 works well.
> >
> > The June contest is where slow rates are a killer. As I posted
> > previously, we made 1836 contacts on 6M in 2010(and unfortunately,
> > came in second to K5TR). Will we ever see this kind of rate
> > again??
> > With the casual ops welded to FT8 and the resulting slow rates, I
> > don't see it.
> >
> > What is the feeling of other ops? Are you making more or less QSOs
> > on
> > 6M with FT8?
> >
> > I proposed checking for SSB/CW on the hour and half hour. What do
> > others think about that?? IF you find a bit of SSB/CW, then you
> > will
> > surely make more contacts and more mults as long as the Es lasts.
> > If
> > the band dies out, then you can go back to FT8.
> >
> > I hope that we have some big time propagation this June. Hopefully,
> > everyone will get a piece of it....
> >
> > 73 Marshall K5QE
> >
> >
> > On 3/18/2021 12:57 AM, James Duffey wrote:
> >
> > > > > Marshall - You wrote "However,the total
> > scores of everyone in the
> > > contest has gone DOWN due to thefact that FT8 takes so long
> > > to make a
> > > contact.”
> > >
> > > I suppose you used “everyone” for effect, but the facts don’t
> > > bear it
> > > out, at least for the January contest. Consider the K5QE
> > > Limited
> > > Multioperator scores since they switched from the Unlimited
> > > Multioperator category in 2014, separated into before the
> > > introduction of the WSJT-X modes and the three years after the
> > > introduction of WSJT-X:
> > >
> > > January VHF Contest scores
> > > YearTotal Score
> > > —Pre WSJT-x—
> > > 201475969
> > > 201594724
> > > 201669344
> > > 201761,766
> > > —With WSJT-X—
> > > 201879205
> > > 201976212
> > > 202094941
> > >
> > > September VHF Contest scores
> > >
> > > YearTotal Score
> > > —Pre WSJT-x—
> > > 201378740
> > > 2014NA
> > > 201548320
> > > 2016NA
> > > 201763570
> > > —With WSJT-X—
> > > 201843420
> > > 201960606
> > > 202047142
> > >
> > > June VHF Results
> > > YearTotal Score
> > > —Pre WSJT-x—
> > > 2013383691
> > > 2014483448
> > > 2015273000
> > > 2016629241
> > > 2017409260
> > > —With WSJT-X—
> > > 2018394272
> > > 2019252170
> > > 2020220640
> > >
> > >
> > > It doesn’t look like your total scores have gone down much
> > > since the
> > > introduction of WSJT-X. Now, I realize that there are a lot of
> > > factors that enter into your scores,
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > > > > > On Jan 31, 2021, at 3:04 PM,
> > > vhfcontesting-request@contesting.com
> > > mailto:vhfcontesting-request@contesting.com
> > > > <mailto: vhfcontesting-request@contesting.com
> > > > mailto:vhfcontesting-request@contesting.com > wrote:
> > > >
> > > > Hello everyone....Switching to FT4 sounds great, except
> > > > that the
> > > > "casual
> > > > contesters" are not there. They seem to be welded to
> > > > FT8 and will not
> > > > move. I have often listened on 50.318 during the
> > > > contests and I hear
> > > > nothing there. That forces me back to .313 after a few
> > > > minutes of lost
> > > > contest time.
> > > >
> > > > In June of 2010, the QE contest station made 1836
> > > > contacts on 6M using
> > > > SSB/CW. Jay-W9RM was a major part of that. I think that
> > > > he sat in the
> > > > chair for hours and he is a very good operator. All
> > > > that, and we
> > > > came in
> > > > SECOND(!!!) on 6M in terms of contacts made. Can anyone
> > > > really imagine
> > > > that happening today?
> > > >
> > > > FT8 is very popular, especially among the casual
> > > > operators. They are
> > > > making contacts that they know they could not make
> > > > otherwise. That is
> > > > why they are addicted to FT8 and will not use anything
> > > > else. However,
> > > > the total scores of everyone in the contest has gone
> > > > DOWN due to the
> > > > fact that FT8 takes so long to make a contact. Yes, FT4
> > > > would cut that
> > > > time in half, but even if everything was perfect, FT4
> > > > can make a
> > > > contact
> > > > in 30 sec. A really good operator can make 4-5 contacts
> > > > in the same
> > > > time on SSB.
> > > >
> > > > So to summarize, participation is apparently up and
> > > > scores are down.
> > > > That seems contradictory, but it also seems to be true.
> > > >
> > > > How can we improve participation AND scores??? I don't
> > > > know. I really
> > > > don't like the idea of allowing two different contacts,
> > > > one on FTx and
> > > > one on SSB/CW, with the same station. I like the idea
> > > > of checking for
> > > > SSB on the hour and the half hour. It is easy to
> > > > program a button on
> > > > your rig that goes to 50.125MHz. Push the button for a
> > > > quick check on
> > > > SSB and if nothing is there, go back to FTx.?
> > > > Announcing an SSB opening
> > > > on the reflectors would help too.
> > > >
> > > > OH WELL, June is approaching and we will get another
> > > > chance. Hopefully,
> > > > we will get some killer Es and we can make contacts
> > > > like crazy.
> > > >
> > > > 73 Marshall K5QE
> > > >
> > > > > > >
> > >
> > > > >
> >
> >
> > >
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