2021 Statistics

Another busy year of HF operation with frequent contacts, often daily.  2021 was more like 2019– mostly FT8 digital mode work but this year I added many states by phone (SSB), whereas 2019 added many CW contacts.  Band conditions have been fair most of the year but managed to make quite a few non-FT8 contacts.  Solar cycle 25 is showing signs of life with a few good propagation days already in 2021 so signs of hope for 2022 for more phone and CW contacts.  Here is the cumulative summary of achievements (2016 thru 2021)…

On the DX front, confirmed countries year over year as follows:

  2021

  2020

The grand total at end of the year is 133 countries with one on 60m that doesn’t count towards DXCC (Cape Verde).

Domestically I added the 12m  and 10m bands to Worked All States (WAS) award (confirmed via LoTW on all 50 states), largely digital mode.  Stuck at 46 states on 80m since 2018.   The state tally of all bands and all modes looks like this, year over year:

2021

  2020

WAS on 80m remains elusive; I got a better (longer– 63ft) antenna up in 2021, but 80m performance hasn’t been notably better than the older 32ft antenna.  That may be due to propagation on lower frequencies being somewhat diminished.

On CW (Morse Code) I have 49 states confirmed on QRZ out of 49 logged (painfully close; need only Alaska):

2021: 49/49 (+4)

2020: 45/46 (+5)

2021 was a banner year for phone work where I now have 43 states confirmed in QRZ out of 43 worked:

2021: 43/43 (+33)

  2020: 10/11 (+1)

Both maps should improve somewhat next year as I hope to do more CW and phone work in 2022, although there is not much more to do to reach the big long-term goal of working and confirming all 50 states in LoTW to achieve the Triple Play Award (confirmed all states in CW, phone, and Digital modes).  At year’s end I have triple play on 43 states, 49 in CW, 43 in SSB, and 50 digital mode (digital mode WAS on 7 bands).

My color-coded LoTW state map shows gray for digital mode only, yellow for digital+CW, and green for all three modes (triple play):

2021 (+33 Triple Play)

2020 (+2 Triple Play)

Because I made a lot of progress towards Triple Play and because the higher frequencies opened up a bit, I started posting states by band and mode chart on my QRZ page:

2021 was once again good for hunting US counties.  My year-end total is 2102 confirmed out of 3137 counties (67.0%).   My 2020 tally was 1954/3137 counties (62.3%).  Net for 2021 is +148 or 2.846/week on average; this rate will decrease in 2022 as my pool of active remaining counties drops off.   +2 states to the list of all counties confirmed to equal 9 (AZ,CT,DE,HI,MA,MD,NJ,NH,RI) with ME in striking distance.  CA and VT have one county where there are no HF-active hams who could give QRZ or LoTW QSLs so those two states will remain painfully shy of completion until something changes.  FL and LA have one or two counties with no active hams as well so I’m not optimistic about completing them, either.

The percentages are shown below:

State	Tally	%	Poss	Rem	QRZ	Card	eQSL	LoTW	email	Total
Alabama	51/67	76%	67	16	51					51
Alaska	8/27	30%	27	19	8					8
Arizona	15/15	100%	15	0	15					15
Arkansas	46/75	61%	75	29	46					46
California	54/58	93%	58	4	54					54
Colorado	37/64	58%	64	27	37					37
Connecticut	8/8	100%	8	0	8					8
Delaware	3/3	100%	3	0	3					3
Florida	59/67	88%	67	8	59					59
Georgia	93/159	58%	159	66	93					93
Hawaii	4/4	100%	4	0	4					4
Idaho	27/44	61%	44	17	27					27
Illinois	75/102	73%	102	28	74	1				75
Indiana	70/92	76%	92	22	70					70
Iowa	55/99	56%	99	44	55					55
Kansas	49/105	47%	105	56	49					49
Kentucky	64/120	53%	120	56	64					64
Louisiana	42/64	66%	64	22	42					42
Maine	15/16	94%	16	1	15					15
Maryland	24/24	100%	24	0	24					24
Massachusetts	14/14	100%	14	0	14					14
Michigan	66/83	80%	83	17	66					66
Minnesota	53/87	61%	87	34	53					53
Mississippi	43/82	52%	82	39	43					43
Missouri	74/115	64%	115	41	74					74
Montana	24/56	43%	56	32	24					24
Nebraska	34/93	37%	93	59	34					34
Nevada	12/17	71%	17	5	12					12
New Hampshire	10/10	100%	10	0	10					10
New Jersey	21/21	100%	21	0	21					21
New Mexico	25/33	76%	33	8	25					25
New York	56/62	90%	62	6	56					56
North Carolina	81/100	81%	100	19	81					81
North Dakota	25/53	45%	53	29	24			1		25
Ohio	81/88	92%	88	7	81					81
Oklahoma	52/77	68%	77	25	52					52
Oregon	30/36	83%	36	6	30					30
Pennsylvania	62/67	93%	67	5	62					62
Rhode Island	5/5	100%	5	0	5					5
South Carolina	32/46	70%	46	14	32					32
South Dakota	18/66	27%	66	48	18					18
Tennessee	73/95	76%	95	23	72	1				73
Texas	143/254	56%	254	111	143					143
Utah	23/29	79%	29	6	23					23
Vermont	12/14	86%	14	2	12					12
Virginia	93/132	67%	132	43	89	3		1		93	KC2RXS
Washington	35/39	90%	39	4	35					35
West Virginia	34/55	62%	55	21	34					34
Wisconsin	56/72	78%	72	16	56					56
Wyoming	16/23	70%	23	7	16					16
Total	2102/3137	67.0%	3137	1042	2095	5	0	2	0	2102	Total
	States Completed	9								2102
	States >50%	18					prev count
	States >75%	17
			States <6	6

At only 27%, SD is my weakest state and is likely to remain so for a long time; not too many hams there.  Texas is notable at 143 counties of 254.

My custom color-coded map shows different shades of confirmation:  green as confirmed QRZ or LoTW, orange as worked but unconfirmed, purple as confirmed via eQSL,  teal as confirmed by card, alt green confirmed by LoTW but not QRZ (location mis-match), and black as home county (confirmed):

2021 (+148x)

2020