Short answer: Contest Analyzer gives you full statistics for each log you upload and lets you compare them year on year with your own logs. To use this well, upload the logs of the same contest from several years, look at the same set of numbers in each, and read the differences together with your station notes: antennas, conditions, category and time on the air. The goal is not a verdict on the year, but one or two specific changes to try next time.
Why compare your own logs
A contest result in itself says little about progress. The score depends on conditions, on the other participants, on the category and on the time you spent. Your own logs from earlier years are a fairer reference, because the station, the operator and the contest are the same. When a number changes between years, you can look for the reason in your own preparation and decisions instead of in the world around you.
The idea is described in general terms in the articles on same contest, two years and on comparing contest results across years. This article shows how to do it with Contest Analyzer, using only features that the service describes on its own pages.
What to upload
For a clean comparison, use logs of the same contest, in the same mode and, if possible, in the same category. Cabrillo files from N1MM Logger+, DXLog and Win-Test are accepted, and the service supports 22 contests. Pick the contest and the year when you upload, and repeat for each earlier year you want to include. The check runs in the background, with progress shown live in My logs, so you can add several logs in a row.
Remember the rules of the service: a log can be checked only for a callsign in your account that is verified. If you changed your callsign during the years, or operated from a club station, check which callsign belongs to which log. The plans differ in the size of a log and in other points, so look at the pricing page to see what fits your logs, especially if one of your earlier logs was large. The supported contests are listed on the contests page.
Which statistics to compare
The report offers a wide set of statistics: rates, QSOs by hour and band, countries, continents, CQ and ITU zones, WPX prefixes, distance, beam heading, breaks and off time, and callsign length and structure. For a first comparison, choose a short list and use it every year. A good list has six items:
- Total QSOs and the best rate you reached.
- QSOs by band, and how the share changed.
- QSOs by hour: the shape of the weekend.
- Countries and zones: the multiplier picture.
- Continents and distance: where your signal went.
- Breaks and off time: how much you rested and when.
Writing the six answers for each year in a table gives you a one-page summary that you can read in a minute. It is better to use the same six items every time than to look at everything once and remember nothing. Add more items later if a question arises.
Reading the differences
When a number changes, ask three questions. Was it your choice? A shift in the share of a band may come from a decision to spend more time there. Was it the conditions? Propagation differs from year to year, and the article on solar flux and K index explains why a fair comparison needs this context. Was it a change at the station? A new antenna or a different power level changes the picture in a way that you can check against your notes.
Be careful with small differences. A change of a few percent in a count is within the normal variation between years, and drawing conclusions from it is risky. Look for large and consistent changes: a band that grew every year, a continent that disappeared from the log, a break that became longer. Patterns over three or four years are more convincing than a single jump.
Use the hourly picture
The hour-by-hour view is the most revealing for comparison. Place the hourly counts of two years side by side. Where were the peaks in each year? Did they move? Did the quiet hours fall at the same time? If your best hour was at the same time on the same band every year, that is a stable feature of your station, and you should plan for it. If it moved, find out whether it was a matter of propagation or of your own choice. Our article on hour-by-hour analysis shows how to read gaps and peaks.
Also compare the breaks. If you took a long break in the same hours each year, check whether the rate before and after it supports the decision. If you took less rest and the error rate was higher, that is useful to know.
Combine numbers with notes
Statistics cannot explain themselves. A station notebook, with a few lines per contest, turns them into knowledge. Write down the antennas, the power, the category, any technical problems, the weather, the operator and the hours of operation. Add a sentence about what you tried. A year later, when you see that the 15-metre share fell, the note about a damaged antenna that week will explain it. See a station notebook for a simple format.
Teams and clubs can use the same approach. Team and club members can add their logs to the same contest, which makes it possible to compare members side by side, or the same club across years. In a club, agree on a common list of items to compare, so that the discussion afterwards is about the same numbers.
Turn the comparison into a plan
At the end of the comparison, write down at most three changes for next year. Make each specific and testable: for example, spend the first two hours on one band, move the main rest period to an earlier hour, or check the antenna for a band with a falling share. Limit the number of changes, because if you change everything, you will not know which change helped. The article on turning this year’s log into goals for next year gives more guidance.
After the next contest, repeat the comparison and add the new year to the table. Over time, you will see which changes worked. This is the real value of a series of logs: it is a record of experiments, and the best contesters treat their results this way.
Keep the check in the loop
A comparison is only as good as the logs behind it. An error in a callsign or a zone changes the countries and zones that you count. When you upload, the service checks every callsign and every zone against official license databases and several independent reference sources and shows the few QSOs worth a second look. You can edit callsigns, zones, time and frequency in the report and download a corrected Cabrillo file. Correcting the log before you compare makes the statistics more reliable. Serial numbers are not checked, and dupes are not errors.
A sample yearly summary
To make the idea concrete, imagine a small table with one row per year and one column per item. In the first row, you write the year, the total QSOs, the best rate, the band with the largest share, the number of countries and zones, the longest break and one line of notes. After three contests, the table has three rows and tells a story at a glance: the total rose, the share of the low bands fell, the longest break moved from the afternoon to the night. Each of these facts raises a question that you can answer from the notebook.
The numbers in such a table are your own, and nobody else needs to see them. That is the strength of the approach: you compete with your earlier self, in your own conditions, and you do not need a perfect score to make progress. A modest improvement in accuracy and a better use of the best hours often give more than a new antenna.
When you share the table with a friend or a club, take care to explain the context. A fall in the number of QSOs may have been intentional, for example when you tried a different category or a lower power level. Without the explanation, the number looks like a failure; with it, the number is part of an experiment. Whenever you read someone else’s statistics, ask for the context first, and do the same for your own.
If you ever restart the series with a new callsign, new antennas or a new location, note the change and consider the earlier years as a different series. A fair comparison needs a stable base, and it is better to have two short, clean series than one long, mixed series that no conclusion can be drawn from.
Related reading
- Setting Realistic Contest Goals from Last Year’s Stats
- Judging an Antenna Change with Your Contest Statistics
- After the Results: What to Compare With Your Claimed Score
The bottom line
Comparing your own logs year to year is the fairest way to see progress. Upload the same contest from several years, compare the same short list of statistics each time, read the differences with your notes and the conditions in mind, and turn them into a few specific changes. Check the logs first, so that the numbers are reliable.
FAQ
Can I compare logs from different contests?
You can, but the comparison is most meaningful for the same contest, mode and category, because the rules and conditions then match.
How many years should I compare?
Two years show a change; three or four years show a pattern. Small differences from a single year can be noise.
Do I need a verified callsign?
Yes. A log can be checked only for a callsign in your account that is verified, so accounts are not shared.
Can my club compare logs?
Team and club members can add their logs to the same contest, so you can compare members and years together.
