Polls
(#111-120 October 2008-August 2009)
#120 - In what situation(s) would you use QRO over QRP?
Date: 7/15/09-8/14/09 - Voters: 113
When Nr %
In an emergency situation 58 51
I normally use both for all my operating 36 32
To grab rare DX, new state, new zone, etc. 31 27
I only operate QRP - period 19 17
For a Special Event operation 17 15
During contests 15 13
In traffic nets 12 11
To answer a repeated QRL? 11 10
For Field Day 9 8
When someone QRM's my QRP signal 9 8
To finish a QSO started with QRP 7 6
Other - email me with your reason 1 1
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Another good poll suggested by Mike KC2EGL. Fantastic - the one "Other" actually emailed me. Jack PA1W says, "I use solar energy to operate my QRP equipment. I own a K2, K3 and lots of homemade gear.... To keep my rechargeable batteries in a proper condition they must be uncharged time by time. Then I use QRO over QRP in a (non QRP) contest." Thanks Jack. That's interesting. Otherwise, I'm amazed (shocked?) that only about half of the voters would use QRO in an emergency. With my complete dedication to QRP operation, if it meant saving someone's life or property, I'd immediately go QRO. If I answer C to a QRL?, and it continues, I'd up the power to send C again, and have done so a couple times. Most of the answers fit into the expected range.
#119 - If you operated CW outside ham radio, how?
Date: 6/15/09-7/14/09 - Voters: 94
How Nr %
Only in ham radio 54 57
Armed Services 22 23
Aboard ship 8 9
Aircraft or Airport 7 7
Coastal station 4 4
Railroad 0 0
Western Union 0 0
PTP Commercial station 0 0
Other 13 14
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Hey, some folks actually emailed me what their 'Other' vote stood for. I'm amazed! Here's a short synopsis of what they said. I wish I had space to tell their whole stories which were extremely interesting, but I've got to watch my bandwidth.
Bruce WY7N - Listening to airport beacons.
Bob WA6GFR - Using a buzzer box with a neighbor as a kid.
Larry W2LJ - Boy Scouts and other educational uses.
Dave W0CH - Microwave and radio tech on Ohio Turnpike.
Bill N2CF - Boy Scouts.
Tim AC5SH - Blowing truck horn in CW at cars looking like belonging to hams.
Thanks to the above for sharing. Otherwise I find it interesting to see no votes for Railroad, Western Union, or PTP stations. I guess those uses for Morse code expired long enough ago now that very few who did operate that way are gone now.
#118 - Which of the following HF antennas do you use currently?
Date: 5/15/09-6/14/09 - Voters: 164
Antenna Nr %
Dipole 70 40
Vertical 62 38
EF Long or Random wire 33 20
Inverted V 29 18
G5RV 25 15
Yagi or LP 13 8
Inverted L 12 7
Horizontal Loop 11 7
Whip 10 6
Vertical Loop 7 4
Phased verticals 3 2
Mini-loop 2 1
Stacked Beams 1 1
Quad 0 0
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I would say of all the polls I've run, this one came out the closest to what I expected as the results pretty much track with the antennas of folks I work on the air.
#117 - What source did you use to come to my web site just now?
Date: 4/15/09-5/14/09 - Voters: 122
Source Nr %
Favorites or Bookmarks 44 36
NAQCC web site 25 20
AC6V web site 13 11
Windows Live, MSN or other search engine 10 8
Link on some other web site 8 7
FISTS web site or Keynote 5 4
The home page on your computer 4 3
ARRL web site or QST 2 2
W2LJ blog 2 2
An email 2 2
Buckmaster web site 1 1
RAC web site 1 1
QRZ.com 0 0
Other 5 4
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Thanks for the info. It is useful to me in determining what steps need to be taken in the wake of the Alltel/Windstream changeover.
#116 - Tell us about your logging habits - what you keep in your log.
Date: 3/15/09-4/14/09 - Voters: 105
Habit Nr %
I log every one of my QSO's, but no on-air testing 61 59
I log every one of my QSO's and any on-air testing 28 27
I do not log any of my QSO's 7 7
DX QSO's 18 17
Rag chew QSO's 15 15
CW QSO's 15 15
Contest and/or Sprint QSO's 14 14
Especially interesting QSO's 13 13
QSO's I plan to QSL 12 12
QSO's which I need to claim an award 12 12
Completed QSO's 9 9
Net check-in QSO's 8 8
QSO's in which I handle traffic 3 3
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Again some folks did not read or understand the instructions. Some of those who voted for one of the first three choices also voted for one or more of the last ten choices. None of the last ten choices should have had more than 9 votes since 94 of the 103 voters cast their vote for one of the first three choices. Anyway it was an interesting poll and encouraging that so many folks (85%) still keep complete logs of at least all their QSO's. Only a handful have dumbed down their logging after the FCC stupidly eliminated keeping a complete log from the Amateur Radio Rules and Regulations. I remember how back in the 60's when I was first licensed, you had to log EVERYTHING that you transmitted, be it making a QSO, calling CQ, testing your rig, and any other situation you sent out a bit of RF. It's a shame that is still not in effect, but like everything in society, it seems things have to be dumbed down to serve an increasingly lazy population.
#115 - If you have ever spontaneously dropped out of a CW QSO, what were the reasons?
Date: 2/15/09-3/14/09 - Voters: 137
Reason Nr %
I lost the other station in QRM-QRN-QSB. 87 64
The other op was too fast, and refused to QRS. 36 26
I accidently knocked the rig off frequency, losing the QSO. 28 20
My radio or key malfunctioned. 28 20
The other op's CW was too sloppy to copy anything. 25 18
My shack lost power. 15 11
I received an emergency phone call. 12 9
I never did so. 9 7
Nature called. 7 5
My wife or husband insisted. 6 4
The content of the QSO became objectionable to me. 6 4
I became ill. 0 0
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Reading the results should give everyone something to think about. Especially it is very important to QRS when someone requests you do so. Also if your CW is too sloppy, you will have trouble making and holding QSO's. I'm glad that objectionable material got such a low number of votes. I believe that would have been much higher if this had been a poll dealing with SSB. The vast overwhelming majority of CW operators are very gentlemanly or gentlewomanly. On CW there are virtually none of the objectionable things that are heard often on SSB. All of the other reasons listed and voted on are things that are accidental over which we have no control.
#114 - When were you first licensed and how old were you then?
Date: 1/15/09-2/14/09 - Voters: 322
When-Age Nr %
2000-present - over 50 29 9
2000-present - 30-50 26 8
2000-present - 20-29 5 2
2000-present - under 20 4 1
1980-1999 - 30-50 51 16
1980-1999 - 20-29 19 6
1980-1999 - under 20 12 4
1980-1999 - over 50 7 2
1960-1979 - under 20 77 24
1960-1979 - 20-29 23 7
1960-1979 - 30-50 16 5
1960-1979 - over 50 11 3
Before 1960 - under 20 24 7
Before 1960 - over 50 13 4
Before 1960 - 20-29 3 1
Before 1960 - 30-50 2 1
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I believe it is very obvious there is something wrong with the last choice in the poll. I don't think 13 hams 99 years of age or older actually voted. There may not even be that many hams 99 years of age or older in the entire World. Even with the clear wording of the question and the answers, I guess some still managed to misunderstand or were just screwing around. Otherwise I thought it turned out to be one of my most fascinating of all the 114 polls I've done. It shows very clearly a couple of things. First the ham population (at least those who understand and use CW and are most likely to be visiting my site in the first place) is a very old population. Second there are virtually no teenagers becoming hams lately. We've all known that, but this poll tends to confirm it, even though there are obviously not enough votes to be an accurate representation of the ham population as a whole, even the CW ham population.
#113 - On which bands have you made a QRP/CW QSO since 12-31-2004?
Date: 12/15/08-1/14/09 - Voters: 111
Band Nr %
40 88 79
20 60 54
80 58 52
30 43 39
15 24 22
17 23 21
10 21 19
160 20 18
2 14 13
12 10 9
6 10 9
Other VHF/UHF Band 5 5
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Not many surprises here except that 2 meters beat out 6 meters. I have no explanation for that. Do you? Not surprising, but discouraging is the poor showing of the WARC bands. Perhaps because of contesting not being allowed on these bands?
#112 - Which of the following have you built from a kit?
Date: 11/15/08-12/14/08 - Voters: 187
Which Nr %
Transceiver 115 61
Code Practice Oscillator 88 47
Receiver 75 40
Keyer 72 39
Transmitter 69 37
Antenna Tuner 55 29
Voltmeter 55 29
Oscilloscope 21 11
None of the above 13 7
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This new poll provider gives a more accurate representation of percentages than my old provider did. Instead of adding up all the individual vote totals for a grand total, it gives the grand total of how many people voted in the poll no matter if they only chose 1 answer or 10 answers. So it is easy to tell now what percentage of those who voted built a transceiver, for example. As far as actual results go, probably no surprises. I am pleased that so many folks have built CPO's since that shows a real desire to learn CW.
#111 - When operating mobile, do you:
Date: 10/15/08-11/14/08 - Voters: 275
What Nr %
I never operate mobile CW 61 22
Use QRP 42 15
Use a keyer 37 13
Use a straight key 29 11
Use headphones 29 11
Use break-in 28 10
Operate in motion 19 7
Use a manual transmission 14 5
Operate in contests 10 4
Use a bug 6 2
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Since I don't operate mobile in any shape or form, I can't really comment on the results of this poll, but I'm sure it proved interesting for those who do operate mobile CW. Thanks to Chuck W8LQ for suggesting it.
