2019 State of the Hobby Survey

Get ready operators - the 2019 State of the Hobby Survey is here!

I first want to take a moment to sincerely thank everyone for the fantastic participation in 2018. Our inaugural survey in 2017 found around 600 responses but 2018 came booming in with nearly 3,000 responses, voicing their opinions! A huge shout out to the blog / websites owners, podcast producers and large clubs for taking the time to promote the survey within their respective audiences - I could not have done this without you!

If you have not had a chance to see the results from previous years, they are listed here:
The survey started out in 2017 as simple curiosity. While browsing Reddit I began to notice several users posting surveys for highly specific topics. I made sure to participate yet often wondered what the results were. I then decided to host my own survey, to collect the opinions from the community on a variety of topics for comparison over the years. I wanted to ensure I made the results widely available for anyone to consume for whatever reason.

Thanks to feedback and inquiry from hundreds of participants, I've made a few minor changes to the survey. This year I've included some questions specific to 2019, which of course will change year to year. I hope to keep the core portion of the survey mainly intact (for that comparison) and continue to modify the annual section as deemed fit.

As always, please subscribe to my blog for email alerts on future survey and result activities.

2019 State of the Hobby Survey


*** Privacy Notice *** I am not affiliated with a company or organization, I am merely an individual conducting a survey for myself and others to learn more about the state of the hobby. Just a guy in Michigan. Any demographic questions are optional and are fairly standard for surveys. No data will be sold or given to anyone - it's to be used by me personally for the survey results only. No personal information will be associated with specific responses, including call signs.

Editors Note - The 2019 survey is complete and the results have been posted.

Comments

  1. The question "In the last 12 months, what new repeaters have gone operational in your area?" should have included an "other" field. In my area there is a new 33cm repeater. No way to notate that in the survey.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jon, I'll be sure to include that for next year. In terms of the "other" field, I try and limit those as much as possible. People tend to use those even if their option is available for selection. It might say 70cm but participants will write in 440MHz for some reason. Sure, this is technically correct but I'm one guy going all the data cleansing and analysis. My goal is to get the survey results out within 2 to 3 weeks after the window closes, so I like to tighten it up where I can. Thanks for checking it out!

      Delete
  2. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I did most of the survey then got stuck and cannot participate. I cannot answer "Strongly agree / Disagree" questions about activities I don't engage in.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for the feedback. Typically on a 5 point Likert scale question, the middle chevron represents no opinion. You don't feel strongly about it one way or another! This could mean you don't participate or that you simply don't care enough - I hope that helps!

      Delete
  4. regarding cswenngsen's point - it's valid, and it would be better to give a "not applicable choice" than to assume the mid-point of a Likert-type scale means the respondent doesn't participate or doesn't care enough. Golden rule with survey questions is to make them such that the surveyor doesn't have to interpret/assume what the respondents mean.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I can certainly see the merit in that - sadly I'm also bound by the platform (being Google) for that. I would love to have the 5 point scale and then an N/A option at the end. Perhaps in future years I'll see about another platform for the survey itself (SurveyMonkey, SoGoSurvey, etc) to solve that issue. Thanks for stopping by!

      Delete
  5. I like that the low-ends of the bands are (for the most part) CW only. 100 KC is enough room for CW on VHF, and the HF bands allow for plenty of CW-only frequencies. Of course, CW is still allowed on all Amateur Radio frequencies, but courtesy dictates that SSB/FM/AM allocations should mostly be used for those modes. Amateur Radio is in excellent shape, and the influx of younger Ops is a blessing....

    ReplyDelete
  6. I'd like to promote your survey to our club members, but I cannot see a close-off date. Please advise, and thanks for doing this.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The survey is open the entire month of March. Thank you for the promotion!

      Delete
  7. Nice survey, well written, and I was filling it out, but there needs to be a N/A on some of the answers. They don't affect me, so I can't answer positive or negative, yet the survey wants an answer. Thus, your results will be skewed.

    ReplyDelete
  8. When what logging program is used, both DXLab & DXKeeper are listed. They are one in the same.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I use multiple operating systems, i put down the one i use most because it only allowed one choice. If there was a way to enter additional info i would have done so. Such as assigning a 1 to the primary and 2 to second most used etc. Then you might have good data on use of linux.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I don't see any survey, is it closed now?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I found it hard to find. The red "2019 State of the Hobby Survey" above is not just a heading but is an actual Hyperlink taking you to the survey. Wonder how many others missed this as its not an obvious link.

      Delete
  11. I wonder if your survey will include how hard it is to get hams to simply answer the survey? It reminds me of the joke about the Engineer and the Guillotine.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I do not see a survey
    Maybe that is why your numbers are down ?
    A defined link High Lighted and a Poll or is it just add comments here ?
    KG5VK

    ReplyDelete
  13. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  14. I cant find where ti access the poll either.

    ReplyDelete
  15. I had to hunt for the link to the survey. It is the RED text above. It SHOULD BE UNDELINED like most hyperlinks so people can see where to click. Or add text to it that says "Click HERE"!

    ReplyDelete
  16. If you can get the word out more to get a wider participation, I would like to see some stats on CW (Morse Code).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This year was the first time I've included a section on code - I've already received some great feedback on how to improve this section so it will return for 2020 in a (hopefully) improved form. Thanks for checking it out!

      Delete
  17. Until you get the criminal GARBAGE like K9RSY and W4AMP, both convicted felons, the hobby is finished and ready for the dumpster!

    ReplyDelete
  18. How nice! Making money online is not that easy to achieve but if you have a system and a method, it can help you decreased the failure percentage. I’ve been taking paid surveys online. I know that might seem hard to believe, but it is 100% true and verified. Large multi-billion dollar corporations need your feedback and suggestions about their products and are willing to pay huge sums of money to get it. Make money taking surveys

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

2020 State of the Hobby Survey

2019 State of the Hobby Results