Polls
(#61-70 July 2004-May 2005)
#70 - In which of the following NAQCC activities are you participating?
Date: 4/15/05-5/14/05 --- Votes: 51
Activity Nr %
Monthly sprints 8 16
1000 MPW simple wire antenna award 6 12
WAS simple wire antenna award 5 10
Monthly events 4 8
WAC simple wire antenna award 4 8
DXCC simple wire antenna award 4 8
All 3 6
QSO-A-Day award 2 4
Worked Members Award 2 4
None (Why not???) 13 25
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It amazes and disappoints me that there were so few responses to this poll. The NAQCC has just under 900 members now and only a very small percentage seem to be interested in the activities of the club. Many hours of effort are being put into the club by its officers, and this is what is being shown for that effort?
#69 - Of how many QRP clubs are you a member?:
Date: 3/15/05-4/14/05 --- Voters: 212
How many Nr %
1 32 16
2 43 20
3 35 17
4 19 9
5 12 5
6 6 3
7 5 3
8 0 0
9 or more 7 4
None 53 25
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Sorted by answer. It's nice to know that even QRO folks seem to appreciate the info offered here on my web site. Or perhaps those who don't belong to any QRP clubs are just non-joiners. I hope that all who are members of at least one club are members of the new NAQCC. It's really a unique organization among the multitude of QRP clubs that now exist.
#68 - In which "major" contest(s) have you participated using QRP?:
Date: 2/15/05-3/14/05 --- Votes: 203
Contest Nr %
ARRL DX 35 17
FD 30 15
CQWW DX 27 13
SS 24 12
CQWPX 18 9
I only contest with QRO 13 6
ARRL 10M 11 5
ARRL 160M 11 5
CQ 160M 11 5
I'm not a contester 23 11
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It's sad to think of so many hams who do not know the fun of contesting or who don't know the thrill and satisfaction of QRP contesting. Perhaps those hams should think about trying one of the NAQCC short sprint contests to get their feet wet in contesting or QRP contesting. They are nice low key affairs designed just for introducing hams to contesting and promoting CW operation on the bands.
#67 - Have you ever operated?:
Date: 1/15/05-2/14/05 --- Votes: 638
How Nr %
Portable 159 25
Mobile 149 23
Out in the field on FD 138 22
As a member of a multi-op contest effort 71 11
From a foreign country 58 9
Maritime Mobile 21 3
Aeronautical Mobile 17 3
On a DXpedition 16 3
None of the above 9 1
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I'm amazed at the 17 Aeronautical Mobile responses. I can only recall hearing one /AM station in my 41 years of hamming. Apparently virtually 100% of /AM operation is done other than CW or I just have never been there at the right time and frequency. The other choices went pretty much as I expected.
#66 - How many QSL cards have you collected?
Date: 12/15/04-1/14/05 --- Voters: 122
How many Nr %
1 - 200 36 30
201 - 500 25 20
501 - 1,000 23 19
1,001 - 2,000 9 7
2,001 - 5,000 11 9
5,001 - 10,000 8 7
10,001 - 30,000 3 2
30,001 - 50,000 0 0
Over 50,000 2 2
None 5 4
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Sorted by answer. Nothing to prove with this poll. Just a fun little poll, I thought. I'm impressed with the two hams who have over 50,000 QSL's. I imagine a lot of those QSL's were collected a long time ago when QSLing wasn't so expensive.
#65 - Are you planning to work for the new NAQCC awards?
Date: 11/15/04-12/14/04 --- Voters: 39
Y/N Nr %
Yes, the qualifications make them a good challenge 14 36
Yes, I want to show what can be done with my simple station 12 31
Yes, they are much less expensive than most awards 1 3
Yes (another reason - let K3WWP or KB3LFC know what, please) 1 3
No, I'm not interested in any ham radio awards 10 26
No (another reason - let K3WWP or KB3LFC know what, please) 1 3
No, I can't afford them even at the low cost 0 0
No, they sound too difficult for me 0 0
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Although not many folks took the poll this time, the results are interesting and helpful. No one thought the awards were too difficult nor too expensive. The only negative votes came from those who are just not interested in any ham radio awards. So Tom and I will be looking forward to the award applications arriving over the coming months. In fact we issued our first award other than to me and Tom just today (12/14) to K4CHT.
#64 - Are you planning to join the new NAQCC or have you already joined?
Date: 10/15/04-11/14/04 --- Voters: 100
Y/N Nr %
Yes, I like the emphasis on CW 53 53
Yes, I like all the unique aspects of the club 26 26
Yes, it's free 5 5
Yes, other reason (explain to me via email) 2 2
No, there are too many QRP Clubs already 7 7
No, I'm not a QRPer 5 5
No, other reason (explain to me via email) 2 2
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Wow, it looks like the premise of the NAQCC is very exciting to many hams. As I write this just one month and one day after the club made its debut, 254 hams have already joined up. Although I don't have the stats, I'm sure that's right up there near the top as far as a QRP club getting a lot of members very quickly. If you're one of the few who claim the NAQCC is "just another QRP club", I beg to differ. Take a good look at the club website and see the things we have planned that no other QRP club has done before. You'll see it's a QRP club with a DIFFERENCE.
#63 - How many CW QRP QSO's have you made during your ham career?
Date: 9/15/04-10/14/04 --- Voters: 116
How many Nr %
1 - 200 47 41
201 - 500 14 12
501 - 1,000 8 7
1,001 - 2,000 11 9
2,001 - 5,000 11 9
5,001 - 10,000 2 2
10,001 - 30,000 3 3
30,001 - 50,000 2 2
Over 50,000 1 1
None 17 15
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Sorted by answer. There have been a lot of QRP QSO's bouncing off the ionosphere over the years. Nowadays QRP seems more popular than ever as hams age and move into apartments where it is hard to run high power without interfering with some kind of electronic equipment. That plus the simple joy of doing more with less, along with other reasons accounts for the increase in popularity which should continue over the coming years. I suspect this same poll taken a few years from now will show even more QRP QSO's.
#62 - What would you do if there were no longer any Morse code in ham radio?
Date: 8/15/04-9/14/04 --- Voters: 149
What Nr %
Switch to PSK 47 32
Give up ham radio for some other hobby 36 24
Switch to SSB 36 24
Switch to some other mode 24 16
Switch to RTTY 6 4
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Those of you who visit my site regularly know my answer - I'd give up ham radio. Oh, I might keep my ticket just in case, but I definitely would not be active on any of the non-Morse code modes. They just hold no appeal for me at all. I see that quite a few other hams feel the same as I do. I'm pleased with that.
#61 - Which of the following do you belong to or use?
Date: 7/15/04-8/14/04 --- Votes: 432
Which Nr %
National Ham Organization (ARRL, RAC, etc.) 113 26
Local Radio Club 69 16
CW Club (FISTS, HSC, etc.) 61 14
Magazine Subscription (CQ, Ham Radio, etc.) 60 14
QRP Club (QRP ARCI, American QRP, etc.) 54 13
Maillist (QRP-L, CT-User, etc.) 41 9
Contest Club (YCCC, PVRC, etc.) 15 3
DX Club (NCDXC, CIDX, etc.) 9 2
CW Traffic Net 5 1
None 5 1
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Not much to comment on for this poll. It does seem to show that most of my visitors, as expected, are CW/QRP fans. It also shows that CW traffic nets, and probably other modes traffic nets as well are dying. This is undoubtedly because of the Internet, email, cell phones, and the like.
