Technology-wise:
* Some real-time hardware support will be available in popular operating
systems, marketed primarily for video gamers, and at least one contest
logging package will take advantage of it for CW and other sequencing
and switching tasks.
* No-tune and auto-tune amplifiers will be much more popular and affordable
than today.
* Someone will develop a wireless (bluetooth, maybe) headset for contesting
that will be the next Heil Proset in the marketplace.
* Someone will sell a very expensive HF amplifier with a built-in 15" LCD video
display capable of oscilloscope-like and spectrum-analyzer-like displays of
the input and output waveforms.
* Someone will develop a phone version of MorseRunner/RUFZ.
* At least 10% of all contesters will continue to use DOS-based logging
programs.
* Ten-Tec will release at least one radio that costs over $10000 USD.
* Kenwood will make a come-back by releasing a contest-grade HF transceiver
to challenge the Yaesu and Icom lines.
* Transceivers will continue to develop more and more software-updatable
functionality, but will continue to have user interfaces similar to what
operators like today. Almost nobody will be contesting with radios
that require a computer keyboard and mouse to operate.
Non-technology developments:
* Sometime in the next 10 years, the number of W/VE stations entering the
ARRL RTTY Roundup will exceed the number entering the CW Sweepstakes.
* Although the percentage of Europeans at WRTC will increase, reflecting
their overall increase in contesting as a whole, a W/VE team will
continue to win the top spot at the next two WRTCs.
* Although team captains will be allocated by world region and selected by
well-established criteria, WRTC team captains will be not restricted to
choosing teammates from their own country, leading to many multinational
teams amongst the Europeans.
* To address perceived abuses in the HQ competition, the IARU HF contest
will be the first to remove credit for "uniques" logged for all stations.
This will cause significant controversy.
* At least two major contest sponsors will stop accepting paper logs.
* More contests will accept corporate awards sponsorship.
* The National Contest Journal will become a full-color publication and exceed
100 pages each issue. Its increasing distribution in Europe, the result
of dramatically more affordable remote printing options, will result in
discussions about changing the publication's name.
* A single-operator will break the 7000 QSO mark in the ARRL 10 Meter Contest.
* A single-operator will break the 12000 QSO mark in CQWW CW or phone.
* The USA will send a team to a High Speed Telegraphy World Championship, but
they will not win a medal on the first attempt.
* CQWW will still be considered the most-prestigious worldwide DX contest.
* At least one major contest sponsor will become far more transparent and
public with adjudicated disqualifications for cheating.
* A major HF contest will switch to distance-based scoring based on grid
locators.
* QST will replace every use of the term "tube" with the term "valve" for a
full year after K1ZZ loses a bet with then re-elected RSGB president G3RZP
over the outcome of the pileup competition at Dayton.
At 11:46 AM 1/31/2007, Tonno Vahk wrote:
>hi,
>
>I have been asked to deliver presentation on the top notch contesting
>technology today and what might it look like 10 years from now.
>
>Would you people with vision provide some ideas to me as to what do you
>think the biggest changes/transformations are in top level contesting within
>the next ten years?
>
>73
>Tonno
>ES5TV
--
Kenneth E. Harker WM5R
kenharker@kenharker.com
http://www.kenharker.com/
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