Our May, 2023 poll was "My ham shack computer is a:"
67% said a desktop and 33% said a laptop.
Our April, 2023 poll was "My first amplifier was a:"
27% said it was a Heathkit. Another 27% said Other (I wonder what those were?). 13% said VHF/UHF os some
flavor.
Our March, 2023 poll was "My first transmitter/transceiver when I received my license was a"
A whopping 42% said Heathkit! 11% said homebrew, 8% (each) said Yaesu, Kenwood and Hallicrafters, 4% said
Johnson and 19% said Other.
OurFebruary, 2023 poll was "My first antenna when I received my license was a:"
64% said it was a dipole. 6% said it was a doublet and another 6% said it was a longwire. Another 6% said it
was a G5RV and another 6% said it was something else. 12% started with a vertical. The rest was split between
Alpha, Henry, Yaesu, Ameritron and "I have never owned an amplifier."
Our January, 2023 poll was "My first amateur radio license was a(n):"
80% said Novice. 13% said Technician and 7% said Conditional.
Our December, 2022 poll was "Of the amateur radio magazines to which I subscribe, I read one or more of
them online rather than the printed version."
20% said all to which they subscribe. 27% said one or more and 53% said none.
Our November,2022 poll was "I subscribe to one or more amateur radio magazines."
28% subscribe to one, 33% subscribe to two, 17% subscribe to three, 17% subscribe to more than three and 5%
don't subscribe to any.
Our October, 2022 poll was "My ham shack computer is:"
72% said shared with other tasks (I.E., email, web browsing, spreadsheets, documents, etc.). 24% said it was
dedicated to their ham radio activities. 6% said they don't have a computer in the ham shack.
Our September, 2022 poll was another two parter. "When the FCC discontinued the Morse Code requirement for
amateur radio licensees, I:" and part two was "Now that it has been many years without the Morse Code
requirement,"
44% of respondents didn't care either way. 38% disagreed with the decision. 13% were worried that amateur
radio would become like the CB channels. To the second question, 63% have no opinion either way. The other
37% think it was a good decision.
Our August, 2022 poll was a two parter. "Do you have/own an HF amplifier? If so, which brand. And, is it
a tube or solid state amp?"
50% of respondents said they have an Alpha amplifier. 30% said Elecraft. 11% said OM Power. 5% said Heathkit
and another 5% said Acom. 56% said their amp uses tubes and 33% said their amp is solid state. 11% do not have
an amplifier.
Our July, 2022 poll was "A must do contest for me is"
A whopping 30% said CQWW DX CW! 14% said Sweepstakes CW. The balance was divided equally amont the rest
of the contests lin the poll.
Our June, 2022 poll was "I will be operating Field Day this year"
39% said with a club at a park or other location away from home. Another 39% said from home said from home.
22% said they wouldn't be participating this year.
Our May, 2022 poll was "My first contest was:"
22% said the Novice Roundup. 17% each said ARRL Sweepstakes, a state QSO Party, CQWW DX, or another contest.
10% said the ARRL International DX Contest.
Our April, 2022 poll was "Your top QSOs per hour rate over a full 60 minutes is:"
47% said 61-70. 18% said 41-50 and another 18% said 81-90. 17% said 41-50.
Our March, 2022 poll was "In a single contest weekend, you have worked 100 DXCC entities."
36% said yes and 64% said no.
Our February, 2022 poll was "You are only allowed to contest on one band, the band of your choice. Which one
would it be?"
42% said 40 meters, 27% said 20 meters, 15% said 15 meters, 8% said 10 and 4% said 160. 4% said 2 meters or
above.
Our January, 2022 poll was"Continuing with last month's typing subject, for those of you that touch type,
did you learn to do so in a class, on the internet (including a typing app or program), or are you self
taught?"
50% said in a class. 19% said self taught and 31% said they use hunt and peck instead.
Our December, 2021 poll was"When using contest software, do you touch type or hunt and peck?"
61% said hunt and peck. 39% said touch type.
Our November, 2021 poll was "Have you ever owned a Heathkit Radio transmitter, receiver or transceiver?"
70% said yes, in the past. 18% said they own one or more now and 12% said no.
Our October, 2021 poll was "Have you ever owned a Collins Radio transmitter, receiver or transceiver?"
11% said yes, in the past. 17% said they own one or more now and 72% have never owned one.
Our September, 2021 poll was "I plan on purchasing at least one new station accessory in the
coming year."
80% said yes and 20% said no. Are you listening, vendors?
Our August, 2021 poll was "I plan on installing at least one new antenna in the coming year."
64% said yes and 36% said no.
Our July, 2021 poll was "The last time I visited a brick and mortar ham radio store was"
47% said in the past two to four years. 37% said in the past year. 16% said five or more years ago.
Our June, 2021 poll was "My career (or former career if retired) is/was in the electronics or
telecommunications industry."
53% said yes and 47% said no.
Our May, 2021 poll was "I have a family member who is also a licensed amateur radio operator."
44% said yes and 56% said no.
Our April, 2021 poll was "My significant other_____in contests."
60% said tolerates me participating. 15% said encourages me to participate. 10% said doesn't care if I
participate and another 10% said sometimes participates with me. 5% said they don't have a significant
other.
Our March, 2021 poll was "Keeping with the theme of last month's poll, my favorite
type of contest is:"
47% said DX. 33% said stateside. And 20% said both.
Our February, 2021 poll was "My favorite contests are (those in duration):"
28% said 48 hour contests, 11% said 30 hour contests, 5% said 24 hour contests, 17% said
10 hour contests, 5% said 4 hour contests and 5% said 1 hour contests. 22% said all of
the above! One respondent said all of the above with the exception of Field Day and
those with other complicated exchanges.
Our January, 2021 poll was "Do you prefer hard copy QSLs or electronic ones?"
19% said they prefer hard copy (paper) QSLs, 50% said they prefer electronic QSLs (IE, LOTW,
eQSL, QRZ, etc.), 25% said they had no preference, and 6% said they do not QSL at all.
Our December, 2020 poll was "I sometimes have conflicts between contest events and
family events on holiday weekends preventing me from as much participation in one or
both of them as I'd like.
17% said often, 56% said occasionally, 22% said contesting always wins out, and 5% said
family events always win out.
Our November, 2020 poll asked "Is your antenna system mostly:"
42% answered less than 5 years old. 16% each answered 5-10 years old, 11-15 years old
or 16-20 years old. 10% answered more than 20 years old.
Our October, 2020 poll asked "Is your current primary transciever:"
43% answered 5-10 years old. 30% said less than 5 years old. 17% said 11-15 years old and
10% said more than 20 years old.
Our September, 2020 poll was two parts. "Are you an ARRL member?"
87% said yes and 13% said no.
Are you a paid member of any other club other than ARRL?
73% said yes and 27% said no.
Our July, 2020 poll was "Where do you typically operate Field Day from?
23% said from home, 6% said portable by themselves, 59% said with a club and 12% said they
don't typically operate Field Day.
Our June, 2020 poll was "Did you discover amateur radio on your own?
35% said yes, 35% said that they discovered it via a family member and 30% said that they
discovered it via a friend.
Our May, 2020 poll was "Have you ever built and/or used Heathkit amateur radio equipment?"
65% said they have both built and used Heathkits. 20% said they have used but not built them
and 15% have neither built nor used a Heathkit.
Our April, 2020 poll was "Did you participate in the National Traffic System (NTS)?"
25% said yes and 75% said no.
Our February, 2020 poll was "What is your thought on the new digital modes as it pertains
to contesting?"
27% said great! And another 27% said "not for me." 21% said "they are poisoning amateur radio
contesting." Wow, brutal. 14% said they haven't tried them. 8% said "not bad" and 3% said
"unsure / too early to day."
Our January, 2020 poll was "Have you ever operated in a RTTY contest?"
86% said yes and 14% said no.
Our December, 2019 poll was "Have you ever operated in a VHF contest?"
86% said yes and 14% said no.
Our November, 2019 poll was "Do you operate in very many contests just to have some
fun / hand out some contacts?"
86% said yes and 14% said a few.
Our October, 2019 poll was "LOTW has revolutionized QSLing. How do you respond to
hard copy QSLs that you receive after a contest?
87% said they send a return QSL the same way the incoming card was received (direct or via
the Bureau). 13% said they send electronic QSLs only (IE, LOTW, eQSL, QRZ and/or other).
Our September, 2019 poll was "If you could go or are going on a Contest Dxpedition
next year, where would you go?"
75% said to the Caribbean! 25% said somewhere in the Pacific.
Our August, 2019 poll was a two parter. "Do you miss (or wish we had) SCCC pizza meetings?"
20% said Yes, I really miss them. Another 20% said Yes, I hear they were a good time.
10% said I could take them or leave them. Another 10% said No, I'm not that interested in
attending meetings at this time. 60% said I probably wouldn't be able to attend many of them
due to distance or other reason.
The second question was "If we had SCCC meetings, I would..."
10% said Attend as many as possible. 20% said Attend them if they were less than an hour's
drive. 40% said Attend now and then. 20% said Might attend some of them, and 10% said Probably
wouldn't attend any of them.
Our July, 2019 poll was "When was your first contest?"
16% said 2010 or later. 5% said 2000-2009 and another 5% said 1990-1999. 32% said 1970-1979.
26% said 160-1969 and 16% said 1950-1959.
Our June, 2019 poll was "Have you ever operated a Dxpedition in a contest?"
25% said yes, as part of a multi-op DXpedition. 25% said no. 20% said yes, as a single op.
Another 20% said no, but I would like to! And 10% said yes, both as a multi-op and as a single-op.
Our May, 2019 poll was "Have you ever operated mobile or portable in a contest
(not a DXpedition)?
35% said both, 35% said no, 20% said portable and 10% said mobile.
Our April, 2019 poll was "For manual CW sending, what do you use?"
65% of our respondents said a keyer. 35% said contest software. 12% said a straight key and
5% said a bug. 8% said other.
Our March, 2019 poll was "What logging software do you use in contests?"
75% of our respondents said N1MM+. 10% said Writelog and another 10% said N3FJP. 5% each said
TRLog/TR4W, Win-test or other.
Our February, 2019 poll was "Do you use high, low or QRP power in contests?"
56% of our respondents said high power. 21% said low power and 13% said QRP.
Our January, 2019 poll was "What brand of radio to you use primarily in contests?"
25% of our respondents said Yaesu. 18.75% said Kenwood. 12.5% said Icom. 6.25% said Flex, and
43.75% said Other. We should have included Elecraft!
Our December, 2018 poll was "Have you ever hosted a guest operator at your station?"
11% of our respondents said yes. 89% said no.
Our November, 2018 poll was "Have you ever operated multi-op in a contest (home or away)?"
80% of our respondents said yes. 20% said no.
Our October, 2018 poll was "What is your favorite contest mode?"
76% of our respondents favored CW. 12% favored SSB and 6% favored RTTY. 6% had no favorite mode.
Our September, 2018 poll was "What is your favorite contest?"
CQP took the top spot. CQWW DX, WPX, NA Sprint and Sweepstakes all tied for second.
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