2021-03-29

Evaluating Station Contributions to the Reverse Beacon Network: 2020

Applying the algorithm described here to the Reverse Beacon Network data for 2020 (1.1GB; MD5: 966cc0317bc0e94d70d3b9a553215702) we obtain the following tables for the stations that, on the basis of that algorithm, made the highest-valued contributions to the RBN in 2020:

Band Position Call Value
ALL 1 OE9GHV 396,913
ALL 2 OK2EW 337,335
ALL 3 OH6BG 329,298
ALL 4 DL3DTH 316,445
ALL 5 WZ7I 315,386
ALL 6 KM3T 304,869
ALL 7 DO4DXA 289,372
ALL 8 DL9GTB 285,668
ALL 9 HA1VHF 278,712
ALL 10 W1NT-6 265,115


Band Position Call Value
10m 1 G0LUJ 38,448
10m 2 DL3DTH 35,759
10m 3 KU7T 29,824
10m 4 OH6BG 25,361
10m 5 DO4DXA 23,999
10m 6 WZ7I 19,598
10m 7 KM3T 14,227
10m 8 DJ9IE 13,544
10m 9 EA8BFK 12,229
10m 10 G4ZFE 12,090


Band Position Call Value
12m 1 CX6VM 11,101
12m 2 DL3DTH 5,763
12m 3 OH6BG 4,571
12m 4 EA8/DF4UE 3,642
12m 5 LZ4UX 3,494
12m 6 G0LUJ 2,956
12m 7 EA5WU 2,423
12m 8 JH7CSU1 2,292
12m 9 CT7ANO 2,187
12m 10 DJ9IE 2,101


Band Position Call Value
15m 1 CX6VM 42,323
15m 2 VU3KAZ 28,040
15m 3 EA8/DF4UE 22,155
15m 4 OH6BG 21,016
15m 5 EA8BFK 18,996
15m 6 DL3DTH 13,416
15m 7 JH7CSU1 13,302
15m 8 W3UA 13,042
15m 9 DO4DXA 12,982
15m 10 KO7SS 12,850


Band Position Call Value
17m 1 CX6VM 25,584
17m 2 OH6BG 23,968
17m 3 EA8/DF4UE 18,929
17m 4 WZ7I 17,580
17m 5 DL3DTH 17,170
17m 6 KM3T 15,229
17m 7 W1NT-6 14,918
17m 8 EA5WU 11,954
17m 9 OE9GHV 11,417
17m 10 KO7SS 10,529


Band Position Call Value
20m 1 DL9GTB 124,911
20m 2 OE9GHV 109,617
20m 3 WZ7I 108,177
20m 4 KM3T 106,772
20m 5 OH6BG 103,200
20m 6 K1TTT 94,867
20m 7 VE2WU 94,197
20m 8 W1NT-6 86,002
20m 9 W3UA 84,003
20m 10 LZ7AA 83,671


Band Position Call Value
30m 1 OH6BG 38,419
30m 2 SE5E 31,793
30m 3 DL3DTH 30,380
30m 4 OE9GHV 26,680
30m 5 W1NT-6 26,291
30m 6 OL7M 25,808
30m 7 EA5WU 24,246
30m 8 OK2EW 23,308
30m 9 UA4M 21,772
30m 10 F6IIT 21,634


Band Position Call Value
40m 1 OE9GHV 126,261
40m 2 LZ7AA 98,606
40m 3 OL7M 93,747
40m 4 WZ7I 91,648
40m 5 DO4DXA 87,750
40m 6 KM3T 87,222
40m 7 W1NT-6 79,517
40m 8 N5RZ 77,767
40m 9 W3UA 74,512
40m 10 SE5E 73,488


Band Position Call Value
80m 1 OE9GHV 84,977
80m 2 OK2EW 67,364
80m 3 DO4DXA 63,885
80m 4 DL3DTH 54,162
80m 5 DR4W 51,626
80m 6 SM6FMB 48,184
80m 7 LZ7AA 45,539
80m 8 DE1LON 42,187
80m 9 SM7IUN 41,695
80m 10 HB9BXE 41,349


Band Position Call Value
160m 1 OK2EW 105,478
160m 2 HA1VHF 100,279
160m 3 DL3DTH 38,666
160m 4 DO4DXA 28,590
160m 5 AC0C 27,544
160m 6 OH6BG 20,963
160m 7 OE9GHV 19,965
160m 8 VE6JY 19,006
160m 9 KM3T 18,945
160m 10 UA4M 18,240




2021-03-22

HF Beacons and the Reverse Beacon Network, 2020

Here is  a table of the twenty fixed-frequency stations most often posted by the RBN in 2020:

Position Station Frequency (kHz) Number of Posts
1 CS3B
14100 113,851
2 YV5B
14100 98,980
3 YU7QF
14017
85,288
4 I1MMR
7026
83,120
5 AA1K 1821 81,490
6 OH2B
14100 63,044
7 W6WX
14100 62,000
8 OP5K
7017 55,551
9 HB4FV/B 10134
48,303
10 UA3KW 14006
47,479
11 SP3CW 3565 45,430
12 4X6TU 18110
45,235
13 DK5JPL 3541
43,544
14 EW7LO 7008
42,240
15 OP5K 7018
40,034
16 CS3B 18110
39,162
17 4X6TU 14100 38,866
18 DK4AN 3569
37,837
19 SQ6JAN 3565 37,424
20 DJ6UX
7039
35,894

Notes:
  1. Frequencies are rounded to the nearest kHz;
  2. I am unsure how the U.S. stations in the list can be legal, since the FCC's regulations appear to limit [unattended] HF beacons to a portion of 10m;
  3. It is my memory that the original HF beacons were all located on 28 MHz, so that listeners could be made aware of an opening. It is noticeable that not a single one of the stations on the list above is on 10m: the vast majority are on bands that can reasonably be expected to support some kind of non-local propagation at almost all times (which is probably the very reason that they are posted by the RBN so often -- but one does wonder what the putative purpose of such a beacon is);
  4. The two entries for OP5K probably reflect errors in the reporting of frequency by the RBN stations; the actual frequency was probably at or close to 7017.5 kHz
Below are figures showing, for each of the stations in the table above, the signal strength as reported by the ten RBN stations that most frequently posted each individual beacon station.

In the following figures:
  1. The ordinate for each of the strip charts ranges between 0 dB and the value shown as FSD (i.e., full scale deflection) near the bottom right-hand corner; in this case, the maximum value of each strip is therefore 80 dB.
  2. The value plotted in this manner is the value denoted SNR by the RBN.  Remember that the RBN has an odd definition of SNR.
  3. The abscissa is divided into a number of bins of equal duration. On each plot there are 100 such bins; because the duration covered by each plot is one year, each bin therefore covers about 3½ days.
  4. At the bottom of each strip chart is a coloured bar. Each bin in these bars is coloured so as to represent the total number of times that the RBN station spotted the beacon in the period covered by the bin.The colour legend for each figure is to the right of the figure.
  5. For the period covered by each 3½-day bin, the lower quartile of SNR readings is coloured grey, the upper quartile is coloured white, and the middle two quartiles are coloured blue.
  6. The vertical order of the various RBN stations is determined solely by the chronological order in which each station first spotted the beacon.






















2021-03-15

Summary File for RBN data, 2009 to 2020

The complete set of RBN data for 2009 to the end of 2020, after uncompression, exceeds 100GB in size. As not all analyses need the complete dataset, I have constructed a summary file (rbn-summary-data.xz) that contains an overview of the data and which is sufficient for many kinds of analysis that do not depend on the details of individual posts to the RBN. (The basic script used to generate this summary file may be found here; the actual summary file is created by running this basic script for each individual year from 2009 to 2020 and concatenating the results after removing the header line from all except the first year.)

The summary file, after being uncompressed, comprises a single large table of values separated by white space. The name of each column (there are twelve columns in all) is on the first row. The columns are:

  1. band: a string that identifies the band pertaining to this row. Typical values are "15m" or "160m"; if a row contains data that are not distinguished by band, then the characters "NA" are used.
  2. mode: a string that identifies the mode pertaining to this row. Typical values are "CW" or "RTTY"; if a row contains data that are not distinguished by mode, then the characters "NA" are used.
  3. type: a single character that identifies whether the data on this row are for a period of a year ("A"), a month ("M") or a day ("D").
  4. year: the numeric four-digit value of the year to which the current row pertains.
  5. month: the numeric value of the month (January = 1, etc.) of the data in this row. If the data are of type A or D, then this element has the value "NA".
  6. doy: the numeric value of the day number of the year (January 1st = 1, etc.). The maximum value in each year is 366 (even if the year is not a leap year). In the event that the year is not a leap year, the data in columns 7, 8 and 9 will be set to 0 when doy is 366. If the data are of type A or M, then this element has the value "NA".
  7. posts: the total number of posts recorded by the RBN for the band, mode and period identified by the first six columns. 
  8. calls: the total number of distinguishable calls recorded by the RBN for the band, mode and period identified by the first six columns. 
  9. posters: the total number of distinguishable posters recorded by the RBN for the band, mode and period identified by the first six columns. 
  10. scatter: the value of a scatter metric that characterises the geography of the RBN for the band, mode and period identified by the first six columns. The scatter metric is the sum of all possible distance pairs of good posters (measure in km), divided by the number of distance pairs.
  11. good posters: the total number of distinguishable posters recorded by the RBN for the band, mode and period identified by the first six columns, and for which location data are available from the RBN.
  12.  grid metric: the total number of G(15, 100) grid cells that contain good posters.
For example, the first two lines of the summary file are (presented here as a table, in order to make it easier to view on mobile devices):

band NA
mode NA
type A
year 2009
month NA
doy NA
posts 5007040
calls 143724
posters 151
scatter 5541
good_posters 150
grid_metric 22


This tells us that the first line of actual data in the file comprises annual data for the year 2009, with no separation by band or mode. In 2009, we see that there were 50,007,040 posts of 143,724 callsigns by 151 posters; the scatter metric, which is a measure of the geographic dispersion of the posters on the RBN., was 5,541; 150 different posters contributed the data, spread across 22 distinct G(15, 100) grid cells.

The summary file allows rather rapid analysis of many RBN overview statistics. For example, a plot of the daily number of posts covering the period from the inception of the RBN to the end of 2020 --  

-- can be generated on an ordinary desktop PC in a few seconds. From this plot, for example, we can immediately see that the largest number of daily posts occurred during the 2020 running of the CQ WW CW contest in late November (the second-highest cluster of peaks is for the CQ WPX contest, and the third is for the ARRL DX CW contest); also, the burst of activity that coincides with weekends is unmistakable.

For what it's worth, this is the code I used to generate the above plot (I apologise for the awful layout caused by the wrapping of long lines as they are forced into the narrow format used by blogger.com):

#!/usr/bin/Rscript

# generate a plot of the diurnal number of posts by the RBN, stacked by year

MIN_YEAR <- 2009
MAX_YEAR <- 2020

filename <- "/zd1/rbn/rbn-summary-data"  # the local location of the RBN summary data file

# first two lines of the file:
#band          mode          type          year         month           doy         posts         calls       posters       scatter  good_posters   grid_metric
#NA            NA             A          2009            NA            NA       5007040        143724           151          5541           150            22

# rounding function
round_n <- function(x, n) { return ( ( as.integer( (x - 1) / n) +1 ) * n ) }    # function to return next higher integral multiple of n, unless value is already such a multiple

data <- read.table(filename, header=TRUE)

# select diurnal data
diurnal_data <- subset(data, type=='D')

# drop the per-band and per-mode data
diurnal_all_bands_and_modes_data <- subset(diurnal_data, is.na(band) & is.na(mode))

# drop a bunch of columns that we don't want from the summary file
diurnal_all_bands_and_modes_data\$band <- NULL
diurnal_all_bands_and_modes_data\$mode <- NULL
diurnal_all_bands_and_modes_data\$type <- NULL
diurnal_all_bands_and_modes_data\$month <- NULL
diurnal_all_bands_and_modes_data\$calls <- NULL
diurnal_all_bands_and_modes_data\$posters <- NULL
diurnal_all_bands_and_modes_data\$scatter <- NULL
diurnal_all_bands_and_modes_data\$good_posters <- NULL
diurnal_all_bands_and_modes_data\$grid_metric <- NULL

# get ready to start to plot
graphics.off()

png(filename=paste(sep="", "/tmp/rbn-posts-from-summary.png"),  width=800, height=600)

x_lab <- 'DOY'

#            2009   2010                2011      2012     2013    2014      2015               2016      2017             2018     2019   2020
clrs <- c("black", "red", rgb(0.1, 0.1, 0.5), "yellow", "green", "blue", "violet", rgb(0.6, 0.2, 0.2), "white", "cornflowerblue", "gold1", "darkorange")

# create a frame to map between year and days in the year
days_in_year <- data.frame(seq(MIN_YEAR, MAX_YEAR), 365)
names(days_in_year) <- c("year", "days")

days_in_year\$days[days_in_year\$year %% 4 == 0] <- 366

# set boundaries
plot(0, 0, xlim = c(0.5, 366.5), ylim = c(0, round_n(max(diurnal_all_bands_and_modes_data\$posts), 1000000)), xaxt = "n", yaxt = "n", xlab = x_lab, ylab = "", type = 'n', yaxs="i")         # define the plotting region, but don't actually plot anything
rect(par("usr")[1], par("usr")[3], par("usr")[2], par("usr")[4], col = 'grey')

# now generate the plot, superimposing each year
for (this_year in seq(MIN_YEAR, MAX_YEAR))
{ this_years_data <- subset(diurnal_all_bands_and_modes_data, year==this_year)
  max_element <- days_in_year\$days[this_year - MIN_YEAR + 1]
 
# set up so that this_years_data\$id_365[365] = this_years_data\$id_366[366] = 366, so either column can be used as a vector of abscissæ,
# depending on whether there are 365 or 366 ordinate values
  this_years_data\$id_366<-seq.int(nrow(this_years_data))
  this_years_data\$id_365<-((this_years_data\$id_366 - 1) * 365.0 / 364.0) + 1

# remove a couple of columns that we no longer need
  this_years_data\$doy <- NULL
  this_years_data\$year <- NULL

# move the two new columns of days to the left of the frame: 365, then 366
  this_years_data <- (this_years_data[ c(ncol(this_years_data), ncol(this_years_data) - 1, 1:(ncol(this_years_data)-2))])


  lines(this_years_data[,(max_element-364)][1:max_element], this_years_data\$posts[1:max_element], type = 'l', col = clrs[this_year - MIN_YEAR + 1], lwd = 1) 
}

title_str <- paste(sep="", 'RBN POSTS PER DAY')
title(title_str)

title(ylab = '# OF POSTS (m)', line = 2.1, cex.lab = 1.0)

x_ticks_at <- c(1, 31, 61, 91, 121, 151, 181, 211, 241, 271, 301, 331, 361)
x_labels_at <- x_ticks_at
x_tick_labels <- x_ticks_at

axis(side = 1, at = x_ticks_at, labels = FALSE )    # ticks on x axis
axis(side = 1, at = x_labels_at, labels = x_tick_labels, tick = FALSE )

y_ticks_at <- seq(0, round_n(max(diurnal_all_bands_and_modes_data\$posts), 1000000), 100000)
y_labels_at <- seq(0, round_n(max(diurnal_all_bands_and_modes_data\$posts), 1000000), 1000000)
y_tick_labels <- seq(0, round_n(max(diurnal_all_bands_and_modes_data\$posts), 1000000) / 1000000, 1)

axis(side = 2, at = y_ticks_at, labels = FALSE )
axis(side = 2, at = y_labels_at, labels = y_tick_labels, tick = FALSE )

minx <- par("usr")[1]
maxx <- par("usr")[2]
miny <- par("usr")[3]
maxy <- par("usr")[4]

xrange <- maxx - minx
yrange <- maxy - miny

xpos <- minx + 0.025 * xrange
ypos <- miny + 0.975 * yrange

par(xpd=T, mar=c(0,0,4,0))

legend(x = xpos, y = ypos, legend = seq(MIN_YEAR, MAX_YEAR),
       lty=c(1, 1), lwd=c(2,2), col = clrs,
       bty = 'n', text.col = 'black')

graphics.off()

 

Of course, many other insights may be gleaned rather rapidly from the summary file.

2021-03-08

Reverse NILs in CQ WW: 2020; 2011 to 2020

The basic notion of reverse NILs (rNILs; or, I suppose, RNILs) is described here, along with a description of a simple script for calculating rNILs for CQ WW contests and the result of applying that code to the contests for 2005. See also the comments at the end of that post. I would be delighted if anyone who spots any errors in the script would inform me.

We can also look at the results for periods of ten years at a time; the only difference in the way that these decadal tables are calculated is that the minimum number of rQSOs is raised from 50 to 250 for tables pertaining to all QSOs and from 25 to 125 for those pertaining to intra-W QSOs. (That is, the value of the variable MIN_QSOs is changed from 50 to 250.)

Here are the results for 2020 and for the period from 2011 to 2020. As usual, I refrain (with, it must be admitted, ever-increasing difficulty) from making some pointed comments about these tables. I have also added some additional columns to the W tables; I trust that these are self-explanatory.

2020 SSB:

Callsign Total rQSOs Total rNILs
3Z1K 1509 662
DX1CC 558 230
M0MNM 228 227
HC2AO 2830 219
US5AT 258 218
ZF1A 5260 145
YT5A 9571 135
LZ9W 9992 130
XE1CQ 1961 130
EA8RM 6984 122


Callsign Total rQSOs Total rNILs % rNILs
M0MNM 228 227 99.6
M6RVA 51 47 92.2
US5AT 258 218 84.5
F5IND 113 75 66.4
W6BRY 110 71 64.5
KL7EX 61 39 63.9
HB9IQB 99 62 62.6
JF2WXS 92 48 52.2
HB3XUC 241 116 48.1
CS7AMN 133 60 45.1


Callsign Total rQSOs with Ws rNILs against Ws Total rQSOs with non-Ws rNILs against non-Ws
KV0Q 113 72 640 10
N7DD 65 43 625 8
W6KW 39 38 311 5
KV2K 43 34 1628 27
W3KL 33 33 1066 8
K3EST 260 23 1831 27
NY6DX 31 22 449 14
K5TR 452 16 2120 39
K7ZS 259 12 1065 13
N2IC 90 12 1134 10


Callsign Total rQSOs with Ws Total rNILs against Ws % rNILs against Ws Total rQSOs with non-Ws rNILs against non-Ws % rNILs against non-Ws
W3KL 33 33 100.0 1066 8 0.8
W6KW 39 38 97.4 311 5 1.6
KV2K 43 34 79.1 1628 27 1.7
NY6DX 31 22 71.0 449 14 3.1
N7DD 65 43 66.2 625 8 1.3
KV0Q 113 72 63.7 640 10 1.6
N1PGA 25 7 28.0 1104 6 0.5
N1LN 25 5 20.0 672 1 0.1
N7TU 77 11 14.3 666 12 1.8
N2IC 90 12 13.3 1134 10 0.9



2020 CW:

Callsign Total rQSOs Total rNILs
PI4DX 928 813
LY2ZO 2912 807
YU7XX 3303 590
DL9DBZ 405 356
EA6FO 7178 352
OK1TC 684 350
SP5SR 352 350
RU1A 6748 298
S57T 304 295
K3UA 1792 282


Callsign Total rQSOs Total rNILs % rNILs
SP5SR 352 350 99.4
A65BB 133 131 98.5
S57T 304 295 97.0
JM2LEI 184 173 94.0
LZ3BB 308 280 90.9
DL9DBZ 405 356 87.9
PI4DX 928 813 87.6
W1OHM 70 61 87.1
N0IJ 206 167 81.1
JA7AKH 129 101 78.3


Callsign Total rQSOs with Ws rNILs against Ws Total rQSOs with non-Ws rNILs against non-Ws
N9EZ 113 69 86 48
K3UA 103 34 1689 248
KV2K 48 22 2206 41
NR5M 77 18 1384 11
W5ZN 54 17 1482 19
KC1XX 445 14 7745 115
K1TTT 301 14 5391 99
N7DD 26 14 909 17
NE3F 30 14 1462 26
K0RF 339 13 3501 38


Callsign Total rQSOs with Ws Total rNILs against Ws % rNILs against Ws Total rQSOs with non-Ws rNILs against non-Ws % rNILs against non-Ws
N9EZ 113 69 61.1 86 48 55.8
N7DD 26 14 53.8 909 17 1.9
NE3F 30 14 46.7 1462 26 1.8
KV2K 48 22 45.8 2206 41 1.9
K3UA 103 34 33.0 1689 248 14.7
W5ZN 54 17 31.5 1482 19 1.3
NA3M 26 8 30.8 2141 15 0.7
KB1W 25 7 28.0 1128 21 1.9
NR5M 77 18 23.4 1384 11 0.8
W1WEF 49 11 22.4 2222 24 1.1


As I write this, the results for the 2020 contests are yet to be announced. I shall make a prediction based on the past many years of data that none of the people in the final table of each group whose rNIL rate against Ws exceeds 50% will be disqualified for unsportsmanlike conduct. In fact, I predict that none of them will even be investigated in order to determine the reason for what appears on its face to be an excessive rNIL rate against Ws.

(I do note that rNILs do occur naturally when one of the two operators is a bit sloppy, and a rate that is higher against Ws than against non-Ws could [possibly] be explained as a natural occurrence: for example, the running W operator hears two callers, one W and one DX, and the running station would normally go back to and work the DX station if he can, while the W caller might sloppily believe that he was being worked. What is concerning, though, and should reasonably be a cause for further investigation, is when the rNIL rate against Ws greatly exceeds the rate against non-Ws.)

2011 to 2020 SSB:

Callsign Total rQSOs Total rNILs
EA2DMH 4192 1636
CN3A 82248 1573
JR4GPA 3423 1513
OT5A 65066 1400
LZ9W 89914 1385
OK1KZ 1814 1307
A73A 63222 1284
PJ2T 67287 1224
JE5JHZ 1660 1184
OG5B 1173 1171


Callsign Total rQSOs Total rNILs % rNILs
OG5B 1173 1171 99.8
YL2014W 1105 1098 99.4
VU2SWS 261 259 99.2
YY4HAH 493 489 99.2
LY1G 666 659 98.9
CU4AT 274 270 98.5
KP4ROS 664 653 98.3
ZZ5Z 297 292 98.3
PY2ASS 312 296 94.9
YU1IZ 283 266 94.0


Callsign Total rQSOs with Ws rNILs against Ws Total rQSOs with non-Ws rNILs against non-Ws
KV0Q 733 382 8205 135
N7DD 609 373 9493 184
N9RV 785 138 11925 130
N2IC 730 102 13810 101
K3LR 4471 96 62913 827
W3LPL 2786 84 49945 737
NR5M 642 79 8502 120
K5TR 2355 68 20873 366
W4QNW 148 60 898 23
W0AIH 1468 53 18423 594


Callsign Total rQSOs with Ws Total rNILs against Ws % rNILs against Ws Total rQSOs with non-Ws rNILs against non-Ws % rNILs against non-Ws
N7DD 609 373 61.2 9493 184 1.9
KV0Q 733 382 52.1 8205 135 1.6
W4QNW 148 60 40.5 898 23 2.6
N9RV 785 138 17.6 11925 130 1.1
N2IC 730 102 14.0 13810 101 0.7
AB4B 171 22 12.9 6613 97 1.5
N3AD 177 22 12.4 11580 169 1.5
NR5M 642 79 12.3 8502 120 1.4
WA2HIP 145 17 11.7 935 39 4.2
K3UL 174 18 10.3 8721 155 1.8

CW 2011 to 2020:

Callsign Total rQSOs Total rNILs
OK1KZ 2119 1735
LZ9W 103845 1436
JR4GPA 6542 1361
PJ2T 88647 1348
D4C 59818 1256
9A1A 97854 1243
UA1CEC 4539 1172
PI4DX 18696 1100
PJ4A 67987 1096
P33W 79131 1095


Callsign Total rQSOs Total rNILs % rNILs
RA3ATE 908 903 99.4
I1XSG 534 527 98.7
OK1KZ 2119 1735 81.9
WB0CFF 432 313 72.5
UA4CNZ 788 562 71.3
RA9KY 797 461 57.8
AB3UM 276 153 55.4
4S7KM 378 209 55.3
XF1IM 702 385 54.8
JA3AA 338 170 50.3


Callsign Total rQSOs with Ws rNILs against Ws Total rQSOs with non-Ws rNILs against non-Ws
NR5M 1615 247 22774 211
N7DD 302 178 7957 218
N9RV 637 131 18040 217
K0RF 2227 123 33855 454
KV2K 331 97 18376 286
N0NI 1061 79 28321 229
W3LPL 2970 75 72355 650
N7AT 1630 69 26173 216
NE3F 245 65 17325 297
NR4M 1800 64 49835 522


Callsign Total rQSOs with Ws Total rNILs against Ws % rNILs against Ws Total rQSOs with non-Ws rNILs against non-Ws % rNILs against non-Ws
N7DD 302 178 58.9 7957 218 2.7
W1IE 135 63 46.7 2990 126 4.2
KV2K 331 97 29.3 18376 286 1.6
KV0Q 224 60 26.8 2679 77 2.9
NE3F 245 65 26.5 17325 297 1.7
KZ5D 198 51 25.8 8850 109 1.2
W0ZA 125 28 22.4 4680 33 0.7
N9RV 637 131 20.6 18040 217 1.2
NR5M 1615 247 15.3 22774 211 0.9
NA3M 142 21 14.8 11028 93 0.8

 

2021-03-03

Unofficial Station Reports, CQ WW SSB and CW, 2005 to 2020

Using the public logs, it is rather easy to generate unofficial station-by-station reports for the entrants in the CQ WW contests.

The contest committee generates official reports and generally sends these reports individually to each entrant. But these are typically not made public (although there are some exceptions). The unofficial reports, while not necessarily identical to the official ones, may hold some interest.

The unofficial reports may differ from the official ones because the contest committee has access to checklogs, which are not made public. Also, there are various pathological occurrences in logs that require a decision to be made as to how to classify one or more QSOs; the rules by which such decisions are made are not public, so the decisions that I made when constructing the unofficial reports may well be different from those made by the contest committee. Nevertheless, pathological logs (or pathological QSOs within a log) are relatively rare, so these decisions should affect a relatively small percentage of logs and QSOs. (Typical examples [there are many more] of circumstances in which decisions must made be are: by how much may clocks be skewed and a QSO still be considered valid? what to do if the transmitted callsign changes for some number of QSOs in the contest? what do to if more than one entrant claims to have used the same transmitted callsign?)

The complete set of unofficial reports for the CW and SSB versions of the CQ WW contest for the years 2005 to 2020 may be found in appropriately named files in this directory.