2009 JART RTTY Contest Age Analysis

Contests

I did some quick analysis on the contacts I made in the 2009 JARTS RTTY contest this past weekend. Because the contest exchange is the age of the operator, and assuming the age provided in the exchange is accurate, you can do some simple calculations on that age. There are 2 exceptions to the age sent and they are 00 for YLs/XYLs and 99 for multi-op stations. I excluded those values from the below calculations.

There were 348 total contacts  with 306 unique stations.  Of those 306 unique stations, 7 had an age of 00 and 6 had an age of 99 and weren’t counted in the below stats. As for myself, I’m 46 years old.

All (306 unique contacts):
Average Age:   57.9
Median Age: 59
Youngest Age: 30 (2)
Oldest Age: 84 (2)

US Only (119 unique contacts):
Average Age: 60.0
Median Age: 61
Youngest Age: 34
Oldest Age: 84

Non-US Only (132 unique contacts):
Average Age: 54.3
Median Age: 53
Youngest Age: 30
Oldest Age: 78

Canadian Only (16 unique contacts):
Average Age: 53.5
Median Age: 64
Youngest Age: 44
Oldest Age: 76

Here is a chart of the distribution of contacts by age:
2009_JARTS_RTTY_Age_Distribution

73,
K2DSL

348 contacts / 7 zero age / 6 ninety-nie age /
All (335 contacts)
Average without 0/99: 57.94242
Median without 0/00: 59
Youngest30 (2)
Oldest84 (2)
US Only (137 contacts):
Average without 0/99: 60.05224
Median without 0/00: 61
Youngest34
Oldest84
Non-US Only (151 contacts):
Average without 0/99: 54.35099
Median without 0/00: 53
Youngest30
Oldest78

6 thoughts on “2009 JART RTTY Contest Age Analysis”

  1. This points out why school clubs and Boy Scout radio activities are so important. The hobby will go away by all of us dying unless we keep encouraging and promoting ourselves to whoever and whenever we can.

    73,
    Jim Douglass ACØE
    Garden City, Kansas
    USA

  2. Thanks for the analysis. I was thinking of doing something like it myself, but you saved me the work!
    My guess was close to your final result for the contacts I made.

    73,
    Bob Farrell, WB2COY
    Poughkeepsie, NY
    USA

  3. Someone is always disparaging about the age of the ham population, and how ham radio is going to die out. It doesn’t matter how old the ham is, as long as we have them. Younger people will just be hams longer, hi.

  4. Thanks for the analysis David. It shows that each year we as a group are getting older and that we are not getting more young people as involved as we should.

    All of us need to work harder to recruit younger people or the hobby will simply fade away.

    73, Don AA5AU
    P.S. – Sorry, forgot to tell you great post!

  5. A nice snap shot analysis suggesting a near bell shaped curve with median age at 59.0 years whereas youth falls near 1st or 2nd deviation from the norm. Likewise, just with your (n = 306) your graph suggests bi-modal qualities as well. Good job with your quick analysis of the event.

    73
    KA3DRR

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