With the great numbers of newbie's who are non Morse /CW operators is
the need out there for very advanced CW decoder programmes "to keep the
dream alive" . I know Writelog has a pretty good decoder but are there
better ones (freebies) I could direct local new licensees to try out ??
At least this way they are on air using CW..
Our intra VK field day was on two weeks ago and I operated portable
using a Fire tower as the antenna mast,
http://ljcap.blogspot.com/search/label/vk4ti we setup multi multi used
dipoles and logbooks and ended up with three very enthusiastic newcomers
to contesting who now want to build filters amp auto changeover systems
etc to get really serious before these sunspots start.
Yes Contesting can be contagious. but the chance of these guys learning
CW I am afraid is not very high.
Thanks to those who heard our 20M long path 100w to the delta loop.NQ4I
et al..
Regards
Trent
Trent and Lorraine Sampson
| PO Box 1647 | Toowoomba QLD | 4350| Mobile 0408 497550
Ham Radio Call Sign : VK4TI
-----Original Message-----
From: cq-contest-bounces@contesting.com
[mailto:cq-contest-bounces@contesting.com] On Behalf Of Jim George
Sent: Tuesday, 27 March 2007 2:58 AM
To: Ethan Miller K8GU; cq-contest@contesting.com
Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] A call to action
This is a really great analogy by K8GU. The hypothesis in The Tipping
Point is a terrific way to think logically about getting the magic of
radio contesting out to more people.
Jim N3BB
At 10:46 AM 3/26/2007 -0400, Ethan Miller K8GU wrote:
>There's a book called "The Tipping Point" by Malcolm Gladwell that was
>very popular a couple of years ago, especially in business/marketing
>circles. The basic premise of the book is that epidemics (whether they
>be viral, consumer, or otherwise) occur due to: 1. a relatively small
>number of influential people, 2. something called "stickiness", and 3.
>the context (environment). I'm not doing the book justice...so, you
>really should read it...
>
>Who started you in contesting? Chances are it's someone that Gladwell
>would call a "salesman", someone who is undeniably passionate about
>contesting and conveys it well to others.
>
>Think about how many of today's contesters "grew up" in contesting:
>they were a part of vibrant multi-op efforts at stations belonging to
>individuals (eg K2GL, K4VX(/0), ...) and at club stations at large
>universities (eg W9YT, W1MX, W6YX, ...). These hosts are what Gladwell
>calls "connectors"...they (want to) know everybody. The environment
>has changed over the years...the contest club now supplants this
>system. Does your club have connectors?
>
>Many of us are what Gladwell refers to as "mavens." Mavens strive to
>be experts and amass knowledge and skills regarding contesting. The
>trick, of course, is selling someone on contesting and connecting them
>with the knowledge.
>
>Contesting is "sticky" by nature. I believe it was N9RV who answered
>the question "When is a new contester hooked?" saying, "When he first
>tastes a run." It's interactive...you call, they respond. And, long
>time-constant stickiness comes in the form of reported results. (This
>is why, although I suppose a business necessity, the death of QST line
>scores was/is such a big deal.) But, we must connect new contesters
>with the kind of contesting that is sticky.
>
>Finally, the context is important. This is what the thread has mostly
>been about: are we accessible? We have to realize that sometime in
>the past decade, the Internet replaced print as the predominant medium
>from which people got their information about ham radio. I think that
>the "New to contesting?" button would make a great addition to our
>individual web sites, especially if we can agree on a format (our
>"brand") and the tutorial to be hosted (preferably on contesting.com).
>
>The point of what I've written is to encourage each of us to recognize
>and exploit our own strengths as salesmen, mavens, and connectors. We
>can't make people who aren't interested in contesting become magically
>interested. But, in spite of the (now silent) whining about the code,
>I think it's safe to say most new hams are still getting into the hobby
>to learn about something new...
>
>Contesting is all about selling your product (QSOs)...we should be good
>at this!
>
>73,
>
>--Ethan, K8GU/9.
>
>-- K8GU - Urbana, IL - www.k8gu.com --
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