What's the Best Zone For Ending Up in the Top Ten of CQ WW SSB? The Answers Might Surprise You

By Jamie Dupree NS3T  radio-sport.net 
Posted October 22, 2011

When you are sitting down trying to figure out who might win the 2011 CQ WW DX Contest, taking a look back at the Top Ten from recent years shows that two of the most populous areas in the world - the East Coast of North America and Western Europe - also find their way into the Top Ten most often.

But if you are looking to win this contest in the Single Operator High Power category, then the best places to be would be Zone 8 in the Caribbean and Zone 33 in northern Africa.

Last year's CQ WW DX SSB Contest brought the first overall winner from Europe since 1958, as Jeff Steinman N5TJ piloted the CR2X station to a claimed score of over 15 million points - well short of the Steinman's record of over 25 million points.

Steinman's win broke a five year period in which the winner either came from South America or the Carribean, a statistic that maybe runs against the conventional wisdom that northern African stations often have a big advantage in these type of DX contests.

"The competition keeps getting better," said John Crovelli W2GD/P40W, who told radio-sport.net that he was expecting "big scores from 8P, FY, CN, CR2, CT3 and probably several other places we don't even know about yet."

"Adjusted for population, your study corroborates the contention that the places to be are Caribbean and North Africa," said Rick Tavan N6XI.

Among the pre-contest favorites would have to be Jim Sullivan W7EJ, who will again be back at his CN2R contest station in Morocco. Since N5TJ set the CQ WW SSB record in 1998, Sullivan is one of only two other operators who have broken the 20 million point barrier in this contest.

Others to watch include Tom Georgens W2SC, who goes back to 8P5A in Barbados, where last year his SSB bid ended after just seven hours because of storms spawned by Hurricane Tomas.

Obviously the quality of the operator is a big part of who finishes in the Top Ten of CQ WW, but what do the statistics of this contest show in recent years?

A radio-sport.net review of the last ten years of the CQ WW SSB test for Single Operator High Power has some interesting numbers as to where to go to have the best chance to make the Top Ten:

Zone 5 -- 22 Top Tens (0 wins)

Zone 8 -- 13 Top Tens (4 wins)

Zone 33 -- 12 Top Tens (1 win)

Zone 14 -- 9 Top Tens (1 wins)

Zone 9 -- 8 Top Tens (1 win)

Zone 15 -- 7 Top Tens (0 wins)

Zone 20 -- 6 Top Tens (0 wins)

Zone 10 -- 4 Top Tens (2 wins)

Zone 21 -- 4 Top Ten (0 wins)

Zone 35 -- 4 Top Tens (1 win)

Zone 2 -- 3 Top Tens (0 wins)

Zone 31 -- 2 Top Ten (0 wins)

Zone 11 -- 2 Top Tens (0 wins)

Zone 7 -- 1 Top Ten (0 wins)

Zone 36 -- 1 Top Ten (0 wins)

Zone 13 -- 1 Top Ten (0 wins)

Zone 17 -- 1 Top Ten (0 wins)

Oddly enough, Zone 5 in the US and Canada has been by far the best when it comes to placing in the Top Ten, though no one has won CQ WW DX.