Tomorrow is the day...I meet with the Program Manager for one of
MicroSoft's X-BOX devices. It could be a moment of "Destiny" for the
future of "Contesting" :-) Although he is in the hardware area, this may
be a prelude to getting routed to his peers in the software division as we
discussed on the phone.
In August, 1956, my family moved from a town of 310 people in Eastern
Washington State to San Jose, CA. This was a move of "Destiny" as there
turned out to be 3 hams on the same city block. "Coincidence"? Nope...
"Destiny" !!! I got my Novice ticket in January, 1957.
I presently live about 4 miles outside a smaller community in Southern
Silicon Valley. The X-Box Program Manager (does a lot of Telecommuting and
many trips to China) lives about 1 mile down the road closer into
town. "Coincidence"? Nope... "Destiny" !!! Hopefully.
It has become quite obvious that the future of "Contesting" may depend
heavily on the recruitment of YOUNG ops from the X-Box, PlayStation, et.al.
gamer ranks. Since the average age of *serious* contesters appears to be
over 40 or 50, this should be of interest to the X-Box folks, because the
market would not be limited to teens. And especially, since the older
parent contesters likely have the $$$ to buy an X-Box Contesting
unit/program for their teenage kids who may not necessarily be turned on to
"Ham Radio" at the moment, but are turned on to gaming.
I'll be taking my notebook computer with WriteLog, TRlog, Morse Runner
(live CW demo), the Jay Leno CW vs. Text Message video & some other
goodies....a mini "Dog & Pony Show" to hopefully stir some interest in the
possibilities.
Yeah, I know, many will say "Bah, Hum-Bug".
REALITY CHECK: The essence of "Contesting"...the competitiveness and
operation can be done *without* a radio whether you believe it or
not. Morse Runner, the TRlog Simulator, etc. demonstrate that any of us
can "Contest" without only our computers at any time...by ourselves. Not
as much fun, of course as the real deal.
Widening the Vision, picture a bunch of Single Op X-Box Contesters hooked
together "Real-Time" with other a multitude of other X-Box Contesters
World-Wide via some monster "Central Contesting Computer". So am I trying
to do away with the Ham Radio part? Not at all. But exactly how many
COMPETITIVE teenagers do you know who have an extra $100,000 or more to
build a real Contest Super-Station right now??? IMHO, first hook 'em into
the "Art Form of Contesting", and maybe enough young Bill Gates types will
go on to make sufficient $$$ to build *real* Ham Radio Contesting
SuperStations so we can work 'em on-air :-)
Assuming tomorrow's meeting doesn't get delayed or changed, if you have any
comments or suggestions to add to the discussion mix down the road out here
tomorrow, please feel free to email 'em to me at:
xtremecontesting@xgenesis.com (or) thefutureisnow@xgenesis.com
Remember, "Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained" !!!
FYI & 73...
Rick, K6VVA
P.S. CU "on-air" in real ham radio contest...the ARRL SS this weekend !!!
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