Most-Logged Stations in CQ WW CW and SSB Contests, 2017

The public CQ WW CW and SSB logs allow us easily to tabulate the stations that appear in the largest number of entrants' logs. For 2017, the ten stations with the largest number of appearances in CQ WW SSB logs were:

Callsign	Appearances	% logs
CN3A	10,347	62
EF8R	9,099	56
CN2R	8,649	55
LZ9W	8,251	53
CN2AA	8,090	54
ES9C	7,941	53
M6T	7,856	52
A73A	7,501	47
PZ5K	7,481	45
DF0HQ	7,372	50

The first column in the table is the callsign. The second column is the total number of times that the call appears in logs. That is, if a station worked CN3A on six bands, that will increment the value in the second column of the CN3A row by six. The third column is the percentage of logs that contain the callsign at least once.

For comparison, here is the equivalent table for 2016:

Callsign	Appearances	% logs
CN3A	8,696	57
CN2R	8,333	55
9A1A	8,111	53
LZ9W	8,072	52
PJ2T	7,729	45
EF8R	7,677	53
YT8A	7,629	50
CN2AA	7,268	51
PJ4X	7,087	44
DF0HQ	6,752	47

Similarly, the ten stations with the largest number of appearances in CQ WW CW 2017 were:

Callsign	Appearances	% logs
TK0C	10,719	63
9A1A	10,594	65
M6T	9,884	62
CR3W	9,783	61
YT5A	9,692	63
PJ2T	9,661	53
EF8R	9,538	60
LZ9W	9,257	60
V47T	9,128	55
CN2AA	9,092	58

And the equivalent table for 2016:

Callsign	Appearances	% logs
HK1NA	10,277	59
9A1A	9,921	63
TK0C	9,682	61
CN2R	9,675	63
PJ2T	9,569	53
CR3W	9,354	60
LZ9W	9,091	59
CN2AA	8,912	59
P33W	8,661	56
EF8R	8,409	57

We can also perform the same analysis for, say, a ten-year span, to show which stations have most consistently appeared in other stations' logs. So, for CQ WW SSB for the period 2008 to 2017, we find:

Callsign	Appearances	% logs
LZ9W	82,463	57
CN3A	79,752	59
DF0HQ	77,755	56
OT5A	71,370	53
PJ2T	69,695	47
K3LR	69,026	51
P33W	65,432	50
A73A	60,563	46
CN2R	60,356	48
DR1A	56,425	40

 And for CW over the same span:

Callsign	Appearances	% logs
LZ9W	92,842	66
9A1A	88,714	62
PJ2T	87,728	57
DF0HQ	82,412	62
P33W	72,498	54
W3LPL	71,859	52
K3LR	71,438	52
LX7I	69,457	53
PJ4A	68,654	52
D4C	65,049	43

RBN Signals From DXpeditions in 2017

Below are plots of the signals from five DXpeditions to top-50 most-wanted entities that took place in 2017, as recorded by the Reverse Beacon Network.

H40FN

H40GC

VK9MA

3C1L

3C0L

2017 RBN data

All the postings to the Reverse Beacon Network in 2017, along with the postings from prior years, are now available in the directory https://www.adrive.com/public/cQwkEB/rbn.

Some simple annual statistics for the period 2009 to 2017 follow (the 2009 numbers cover only part of that year, as the RBN was instantiated partway through that year).

Total posts:

2009:   5,007,040
2010:  25,116,810
2011:  49,705,539
2012:  71,584,195
2013:  92,875,152
2014:  108,862,505
2015:  116,385,762
2016:  111,027,068
2017:  117,973,111

 Total posting stations:

2009: 151
2010: 265
2011: 320
2012: 420
2013: 473
2014: 515
2015: 511
2016: 590
2017: 625

 Total posted distinct callsigns:

2009: 143,724
2010: 266,189
2011: 271,133
2012: 308,010
2013: 353,952
2014: 398,293
2015: 433,197
2016: 375,613
2017: 356,461

Obviously, statistics that are considerably more comprehensive may be derived rather easily from the files in the directory.

Note that if you intend to use the databaseߴs reported signal strengths in an analysis, you should be sure that you understand the ramifications of what the RBN means by SNR.

Video Maps of CQ WW QSOs, 2005 to 2017

I have updated the set of CQ WW video maps on my youtube channel (channel N7DR) to include the logs from the 2017 events. These video maps cover all the years for which public CQ WW logs are currently available (2005 to 2017).

To access individual videos directly:


SSB

• 160m
• 80m
• 40m
• 20m
• 15m
• 10m

CW

• 160m
• 80m
• 40m
• 20m
• 15m
• 10m

 

Cleaned, Augmented and Submitted Logs for 2017 CQ WW CW and SSB Contests

Now available are copies of the public logs for CQ WW CW and SSB for 2017, as well as cleaned and augmented versions of the logs for the period 2005 to 2017,.

The copies of the public logs for 2017 may be downloaded from:

• CW
• SSB

Links to the cleaned and augmented logs may be followed here.

The cleaned logs are the result of processing the QSO: lines from the entrants' submitted Cabrillo files to ensure that all fields contain valid values and all the data match the format required in the rules. Any line containing illegal data in a field (for example, a zone number greater than 40, or a date/time stamp that is outside the contest period) has simply been removed. Also, only the QSO: lines are retained, so that each line in the file can be processed easily.

The augmented logs contain the same information as the cleaned logs, with the addition of some useful information on each line. The information added to each line comprises:

1. The letter "A" or "U" indicating "assisted" or "unassisted"
2. A four-digit number representing the time if the contact in minutes measured from the start of the contest. (I realise that this can be calculated from the other information on the line, but it saves a lot of time to have the number readily available in the file without having to calculate it each time.)
3. Band
4. A set of eleven flags, each -- apart from column k -- encoded as T/F: 
   • a. QSO is confirmed by a log from the second party 
   • b. QSO is a reverse bust (i.e., the second party appears to have bust the call of the first party) 
   • c. QSO is an ordinary bust (i.e., the first party appears to have bust the call of the second party) 
   • d. the call of the second party is unique 
   • e. QSO appears to be a NIL 
   • f. QSO is with a station that did not send in a log, but who did make 20 or more QSOs in the contest 
   • g. QSO appears to be a country mult 
   • h. QSO appears to be a zone mult 
   • i. QSO is a zone bust (i.e., the received zone appears to be a bust)
   • j. QSO is a reverse zone bust (i.e. the second party appears to have bust the zone of the first party)
   • k. This entry has three possible values rather than just T/F:
     • T: QSO appears to be made during a run by the first party
     • F: QSO appears not to be made during a run by the first party
     • U: the run status is unknown because insufficient frequency information is available in the first party's log 
5. If the QSO is a reverse bust, the call logged by the second party; otherwise, the placeholder "-"
6. If the QSO is an ordinary bust, the correct call that should have been logged by the first party; otherwise, the placeholder "-"
7. If the QSO is a reverse zone bust, the zone logged by the second party; otherwise, the placeholder "-"
8.  If the QSO is an ordinary zone bust, the correct zone that should have been logged by the first party; otherwise, the placeholder "-"

Notes:

• The encoding of some of the flags requires subjective decisions to be made as to whether the flag should be true or false; consequently, and because CQ has yet to understand the importance of making their scoring code public, the value of a flag for a specific QSO line in some circumstances might not match the value that CQ would assign. (Also, CQ has more data available in the form of check logs, which are not made public.)
• I made no attempt to deduce the run status of a QSO in the second party's log (if such exists), regardless of the status in the first party's log. This allows one cleanly to perform correct statistical analyses anent the number of QSOs made by running stations merely by excluding QSOs marked with a U in column k.
• No attempt is made to detect the case in which both participants of a QSO bust the other station's call. This is a problematic situation because of the relatively high probability of a false positive unless both stations log the frequency as opposed to the band. (Also, on bands on which split-frequency QSOs are common, the absence of both transmit and receive frequency is a problem.) Because of the likelihood of false positives, it seems better, given the presumed rarity of double-bust QSOs, that no attempt be made to mark them.
• The entries for the zones in the case of zone or reverse zone busts are normalised to two-digit values.