Article Popularity Over 11 Years

I'm quite surprised to still be blogging after 11 years and to do so while sustaining the same pace of articles. This is article #580, which is an average of about one article per week. Blogging is falling by the wayside in comparison to those who have taken to YouTube and similar media. Each has its place. I don't have an audience anywhere close to that of the popular YouTube ham channels. That's not my goal yet I am always surprised to learn how many are reading my blog.

Most of the traffic comes from search engines rather than regular "subscribers". That isn't surprising. Typically we search for help when we need information or when something breaks. Let's say your Hy-Gain rotator needs work. You type in "how to repair a hy-gain tailtwister" and my blog shows up high in the results. That's how most readers end up here. However, I often find that videos rank higher than blogs in the results. 

I'm not chasing eyeballs so I stick with the medium that I prefer. There are no ads and I earn no income from the blog. I am not motivated by money or attention. I see the blog as one way I pay it back to the hobby that has done so much for me. It helps that I enjoy doing it. Words are how I best express myself.

Statistical imperfections

I have enough experience with statistical analysis and mathematics in general to be wary of simplistic interpretations of raw page views. There are many confounding factors that skew the results. The popularity of an article does not necessarily measure its quality or value.

• Bias to older articles: Articles published long ago have a higher probability of being searched for and read simply because they've been around longer.
• Blogger statistics: I am reliant on the statistics kept by the Blogger platform. They aren't very deep or informative and since Google pretty well abandonned Blogger, there are unlikely to be improvements.
• Robots skew the page hits: Like everyone on the internet, my blog is regularly plagued by robots that repeatedly hit articles, seemingly at random, that upset the statistics. A longer sampling period reduces the numerical affect of robots, since they active for only short periods and their targets shift.
• Bias to my interests: You will find no articles on my blog about VHF repeaters and handheld radios. That does not mean that the subject is unpopular! The statistics are only meaningful for subjects that I write about.
  
• External site bias: Search engines are not neutral. When a search on a subject does or does not list one of my articles near the top of the list the statistics for the article are affected because people will click on the link. That does not necessarily indicate popularity. There is a similar effect when another site links to articles on my blog. Article hits are inflated by the interests of that site's owner and that site's popularity with other hams.
  

Those are the confounding factors that came to mind when I gave it a few minute's thought. I'm sure you can think of others. Keep that in mind as you read on. This article is more of an entertainment than a valid scientific analysis due to the poor data quality.

All time top 10

Contesters love making the top ten. I first did so in Sweepstakes back in the late 1970s. Let's look at the all time top 10 articles for this blog.

1. 40 Meters 3-element Wire Yagi (2014)
   
2. Stacking HF Yagis - The Basics (2014)
   
3. 40 Meters Wire Yagi - Inverted Vee Elements (2013)
   
4. Adjust a Yagi By Pointing It Up (2016)
   
5. 40 Meters 4-element Wire Yagi (2014)
   
6. Hy-Gain Trap Repair (2019)
   
7. 3-element Coil-loaded Yagi for 40 Meters (2016)
   
8. Overhauling a Hy-gain Tailtwister Rotator (2016)
   
9. Air Core Coax Chokes: Good, Bad and Ugly (2020)
   
10. Making the Move to FT8 on 6 Meters (2018)
    

Recall what I said about statistical analysis up above before taking the list at face value. It is strongly slanted towards older articles, as we should expect. Since they've been around longer they've had more time to be searched and read, or read by following links from later articles. Nevertheless there are insights to be gained.

Notice that there are 3 articles about wire yagis for 40 meters and one for a yagi with short (loaded) elements on the same band. I've long noted their popularity. Yagis for 20 meters and up are fairly easy to buy or build, and raise. Not so for the lower bands. Most hams have no possibility of directional antennas on 80 and 160 meters, but 40 meters is often within reach, if one accepts a few compromises. 

I believe that is what motivates the interest in those articles. I wrote them for pretty well the same reason! Long ago I had a wire yagi on 40 meters and I loved it. Exploring lightweight yagis on 40 meters was of great interest to me, in the hope that I could repeat my earlier success. Of course I have moved on and I now have two large rotatable yagis for 40 meters. My interest in wire yagis has waned, but not so for many others.

I'm surprised that the article about stacking basics made it to #2. I had thought the subject to be well covered by others. My exploration of the possibilities and alternatives was more of a selfish interest. Clearly others disagree and appear to welcome my addition to the knowledge base. I hope that the information is helpful.

The two articles on repairing Hy-Gain products is worth a chuckle. Again, the statistics have to be considered in context. It might be that Hy-Gain products are prone to fail. On the other hand, more may fail or need maintenance simply because they have a large market share. A product with 10% of their sales would, all things being equal, have just 10% of the interest in similar articles. For example, I've written several articles on prop pitch motor repair that are not very popular, and that may be for no other reason beyond the fact that few hams use them as rotators. Hy-Gain is dominant in the rotator market for ham antennas.

#9 and #10 are different. Common mode chokes are poorly understood by many hams. Coax chokes are inexpensive and commonly used despite their limitations. I thought it worth a few words on their proper selection and use, and apparently others agree. There is ample high quality information out there (and referenced in the article) on common mode chokes. Is that information too esoteric for many so they come here? Perhaps, but I have no way of knowing.

The popularity of digital modes is undeniable, whether or not you are a fan. My use of FT8 and similar modes is limited. I reluctantly began to use WSJT-X on 6 meters several years ago when activity migrated to FT8. Since then I've become an enthusiastic digital operator on 6 meters. My reason is the many advantages it has for DXing on the magic band. I have given talks on the subject to various clubs as well. The interest is there and I believe that's a good thing.

2023 (12-month) top 10

Change is inevitable. Whether it is the march of technology or the operating interests of the amateur radio community, the hobby is changing. You can be a curmudgeon about it but that only serves to isolate yourself from others. That includes technology as diverse as digital modes, tubes vs solid state equipment, software vs hardware, and much more. 

It was therefore of interest to me to compare the recent popularity of articles to that from the past 11 years. Again, the statistical factors at play skew the results. By restricting the measurement period to the recent past there is less skewing towards older articles. Only articles published late in 2023 are disadvantaged by the shorter sampling period. 

I have only provided links for articles that do not appear in the previous list. That also helps to highlight the differences between the two sampling periods.

1. 40 Meters 3-element Wire Yagi
2. Hy-Gain Trap Repair
3. Air Core Coax Chokes: Good, Bad and Ugly
4. Stacking HF Yagis - The Basics
5. Reversible RG6 Beverage Antenna (2020)
   
6. Notes on Gin Pole Mechanics (2014)
7. 160 Meter Shunt Fed Tower (2020)
   
8. Overhauling a Hy-gain Tailtwister Rotator
9. Adjust a Yagi By Pointing It Up
10. CW Switching With PTT (2016)
    

There is a large overlap, especially at the top. Many older articles are of greater current interest while others are read less. While that's expected, the specifics are what interest me.

Only one of the 40 meter wire yagi articles remains in the top ten. However it remains at #1. The interest in achievable 40 meter gain antennas continues. Coil-loaded yagis and wire yagis with more elements are certainly less practical. On the other hand, the articles contain information of value to anyone considering these types of antennas. Perhaps more hams prefer construction articles than discussion about theory and models.

Hy-Gain antenna trap repair has moved up to #2. I suspect this is due to the article being relatively recent and not due to increased interest. I doubt that trap yagis have suddenly starting falling apart in 2023.

Low band antenna articles fill two of the top ten slots. Again, this may be due to their recency. I began my focus on low band receive and transmit antennas in 2017 soon after I moved to this rural QTH. It was then that the blog content shifted from small station antennas to big station antennas. I have written little about small station antennas for the past 7 years. The blog reflects my current interests.

The rankings of articles about gin poles and CW switching are unexpected. In the latter case it appears to be due in large part to a robot that was hammering that article for a while. However there has been a steady trickle of interest in both of those articles. I guess that the trickle of interest adds up over time.

I'll finish my commentary with a cautionary note about the article adjusting yagis by pointing them up. I don't do it that way any more. Big HF yagis are difficult to stand upright high enough for the tuning to be accurate. It is also quite difficult to access the feed point when the yagi is in that position. It is also easy to confound tuning due to interactions with towers, antennas and other obstacles. I now prefer to raise them horizontally to a modest height that is sufficient to stabilize the feed point impedance. Of course VHF and UHF antennas have always been tuned this way since even head height can be indistinguishable from free space.

Wrap up

I decided to ease into 2024 with this lightweight article. Hopefully some readers will find it of interest. There are several technical articles in the pipeline that should be published in the coming weeks. But I needed a break, hence this article.

I can't promise that every article will be of interest to every reader. I speak to my interests, my observations, my experiments and my experiences. I try to do it in a way that makes the articles useful to others. Many articles strike a cord with others and become popular. Most are duds, finding little interest. That doesn't concern me. I would only be concerned if nothing I wrote was of interest. That may be the day I stop writing.

Unfortunately the year has begun with several station problems that are weighing on me. Not to mention my obligations to others that are adding to time pressures. I have only turned a rig on once so far this year. The lull is temporary. Many contests and DXing opportunities are coming up.