CQ WW CW public logs for 2018

The logs for the 2018 running of the CQ WW CW contest have been made available by CQ.

In addition to the files made available by CQ (one log per file), the same logs can be downloaded from here in the form of a compressed archive that contains all the logs in a single file (~20MB).

Zones and Distance in CQ WW: 2005

Using the data from the CQ WW public logs, we can examine the distribution of distance for QSOs as a function of zone.

Below is a series of figures showing this distribution integrated over all bands and, separately, band by band for the CQ WW SSB and CQ WW CW contests for 2005.

Each plot shows a colour-coded distribution of the distance of QSOs for each zone, with the data for SSB appearing above the data for CW within each zone.

For every half-QSO in a given zone, the distance of the QSO is calculated; in ths way, the total  number of half-QSOs in bins of width 500 km is accumulated. Once all the QSOs for a particular contest have been binned in this manner, the distribution for each zone is normalised to total 100% and the result coded by colour and plotted. The mean distance for each zone and mode is denoted by a small white rectangle added to the underlying distance distribution.

As usual, only QSOs for which logs have been provided by both parties, and which show no bust of either callsign or zone number are included. Bins coloured black are those for which no QSOs are present at the relevant distance.

The resulting plots are reproduced below. I find that they display in a compact format a wealth of data that is informative and often unexpected.

HF Beacons and the Reverse Beacon Network, 2017

Below is  a table of the twenty fixed-frequency stations most often posted by the RBN in 2017.

Position	Station	Frequency (kHz)	Number of Posts
1	W0ERE/B	10129	57,379
2	AA1K	1821	55,549
3	HB4FV/B	10134	53,240
4	4U1UN	14100	52,603
5	W6WX	14100	50,622
6	I1MMR	7026	50,212
7	N4BP	14022	43,144
8	EW7LO	7008	42,805
9	4X6TU	14100	41,937
10	4X6TU	18110	38,256
11	IT9SSI	14030	32,998
12	YV5DRN	7011	31,958
13	EA9HU	14016	30,811
14	4X6TU	21150	29,781
15	OK0EV	1854	29,459
16	RR9O	14100	29,328
17	DJ6UX	7039	29,114
18	YV5B	14100	27,900
19	CS3B	14100	26,682
20	KH6RS	14100	26,590

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. FCC regulations also appear to disallow the use of the "/B" indicator as used by station number 1, as the B series is allocated to China.
4. 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);

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.

2018 RBN data

All the postings to the Reverse Beacon Network in 2018, along with the postings from prior years, are now available in this directory.

Some simple annual statistics for the period 2009 to 2018 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
2018:  131,930,432

 Total posting stations:

2009: 151
2010: 265
2011: 320
2012: 420
2013: 473
2014: 515
2015: 511
2016: 590
2017: 625
2018: 550

 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
2018: 361,058

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.

Long-Term RBN Reception of HF Beacons, 2009 to 2017

This post brings this one up to the end of 2017, based on the beacon stations listed here.

Below are figures similar to the ones in that post. Here is the description copied from that post, with minor emendations as necessary (mostly to allow for a slight change in the way that the data are displayed):

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 nine years, each bin therefore covers a little less than one month.
4. At the bottom of each strip chart is a coloured bar. Each bin 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. Thus, in the first plot below,  the short red bar towards the bottom right-hand corner indicates that WZ7I spotted the 7026 kHz I1MMR beacon about 600 times in the course of a period slightly longer than one month.
5. For the period covered by each 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.

HF Beacons and the Reverse Beacon Network, 2009 to 2017

I initially posted about the RBN and HF beacon stations here.

As I did there, I here include a table of the twenty fixed-frequency stations most often posted by the RBN, this time extending the period covered to the period between the inception of the RBN (in 2009) to the end of 2017.

Position	Station	Frequency (kHz)	Number of Posts	Earliest Post	Latest Post
1	I1MMR	7026	295,176	20090409	20171231
2	4U1UN	14100	219,963	20140618	20171231
3	AA1K	1821	211,640	20090221	20171231
4	I1MMR	7027	205,788	20090308	20171231
5	W0ERE/B	10129	198,641	20111002	20171231
6	4X6TU	14100	188,898	20110215	20171231
7	EW7LO	7008	173,511	20090221	20171227
8	W9ZN	7034	167,343	20090225	20171231
9	DK0WCY	10144	157,182	20100601	20171231
10	SK6RUD	10133	156,067	20100720	20160421
11	4X6TU	21150	148,571	20110303	20171231
12	W0ERE	10129	135,752	20100308	20170903
13	YV5B	14100	135,464	20131228	20171231
14	4X6TU	18110	131,123	20120127	20171231
15	W6WX	14100	125,519	20111116	20171231
16	RR9O	14100	117,224	20111221	20171231
17	IK1HGI/B	7039	114,336	20120516	20170616
18	N4BP	14022	111,417	20090225	20171230
19	DK0WCY	3579	110,816	20111027	20171231
20	4U1UN	18110	109,522	20140618	20171231

Notes:

1. Frequencies are rounded to the nearest kHz;
2. The first and fourth positions are occupied by what is really the same station, which appears to transmit on 7026.5 kHz;
3. Positions 5 and 12 appear to be occupied by a single station, using alternative versions of a single callsign;
4. 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;
5. FCC regulations also appear to disallow the use of the "/B" indicator as used by station number 5, as the B series is allocated to China.
6. 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);
7. Of the twenty stations in the list, all but one were still active as of (or close to) the end of 2017.

Video Maps of CQ WW SSB QSOs, 2005 to 2018

I have updated the set of CQ WW video maps on my youtube channel (channel N7DR) to include the logs from the 2018 running of CQ WW SSB. These video maps cover all the years for which public logs are currently available (2005 to 2018).

To access individual videos directly:

• 160m
• 80m
• 40m
• 20m
• 15m
• 10m