Contest Logs¶
Major HF contests (CQ WW, CQ WPX, ARRL DX, and others) generate hundreds of thousands of Cabrillo log submissions. Each log entry is a confirmed two-way QSO: both stations copied each other's callsign, signal report, and exchange. A logged QSO means the path was workable at contest-grade power — typically 100 W to 1500 W on SSB, RTTY, or CW.
Contest logs are the only SSB ground truth in the dataset. PSK Reporter cannot hear voice. WSPR and RBN are digital-only. If you want to know whether a path supports voice communication, contest logs are the answer.
Logged contacts are assigned an SNR anchor: +10 dB (QSO completed, workable), 0 dB (marginal exchange, edge case). This anchors the upper end of the SNR scale for IONIS model training.
Dataset Statistics¶
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
Total QSOs (contest.bronze) |
234.3M |
| Unique Log Files | 407K |
| Contests Covered | 15 |
| Date Range | 1970-01-01 to 2088-11-30 |
| Unique Callsigns | 1.5M |
| Unique Grid Pairs | 613K |
| Modes | SSB, RTTY, CW |
Data Quality Notes¶
- Cabrillo log format varies across operators and logging software. The ingestor normalizes callsigns, bands, modes, and timestamps.
- Contest exchanges are point-in-time: the timestamp is the UTC time of the logged QSO. Solar conditions are joined at 3-hour Kp resolution.
- 5.7M rows promoted to
contest.signaturesafter quality filtering and solar joining. - DXpedition contacts identified from
dxpedition.catalogand handled separately viarbn.dxpedition_signatureswith 50x upsampling weight due to rarity.