Hi Igor,
I (somewhat) agree. However, no matter what country you live in, there are
HUGE multi-op stations around the world. I bet many of us cut our teeth
operating at such club/privately owned stations (either by requirement or
by choice.) So -- those young people who would like instant gratification
can easily achieve it by operating at such stations. The barrier for them
is really opportunity.
For many big stations, they only allow elite ops to run the big four
contests -- they are looking for wins. However, there are many, many other
contest opportunities where new hams/budding contest ops should be brought
it. Gamers, I think, would jump at the chance. Gamers love complex
strategy and team building -- and they can learn the strategy of contesting
without having to know everything about the hobby. You can work that in
later.
One example where the strategy of bringing in new guys is at Dave, K1TTT's
superstation in WMA, USA. Dave has an open door policy for contest ops,
and many new guys have started their (damn good) contest careers there.
If we want more young people in contesting, we need to provide more
opportunities to those who might be interested. Even exposing non-ham
potential contesters would be a start.
73, Gerry W1VE
On Thu, Apr 23, 2015 at 12:41 PM, Igor Sokolov <ua9cdc@gmail.com> wrote:
> Exactly my thoughts.
> Ham radio is too complicated for most of the newcomers. One needs to
> spend a lot of efforts and time to prepare for the exam, learn CW, build
> decent station before you start enjoying strong signal and good copy of
> rare and weak stations talking to interesting people who lives in distant
> countries and get adrenaline by running pileups at 200 QSO per hour. All of
> that requires substantial funds and plenty of time. One just need to spend
> too much time, efforts and money before starting to enjoy this hobby in
> full.
> With computer gaming initial (entry level) investments are insignificant,
> no exams (and therefore no studying of math, science, electronics etc) and
> you spend all your time on developing just gaming skills rather then
> building huge antennas and solving problems with neighbors and local
> antenna restrictions. Main stream always flow where the resistance is low...
>
> 73, Igor UA9CDC
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "K4XS via CQ-Contest" <
> cq-contest@contesting.com>
> To: <cq-contest@contesting.com>
> Sent: Thursday, April 23, 2015 6:23 PM
> Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] Where are all the young radiosport folks?
>
>
>
> We're missing one other important component here. Most of today's young
>> people have been brought up in the "instant gratification" world. You
>> have
>> to study to get a radio license and it takes time to get it.
>>
>> Not so with gaming. You buy the game and play. Yes, it takes time to
>> get
>> good at whatever game it is, but there is no initial work and you to get
>> to play the game immediately. Ham radio is quite different in that
>> respect.
>>
>> K4XS
>>
>> In a message dated 4/23/2015 10:05:22 A.M. Coordinated Universal Tim,
>> k8gt@mi.rr.com writes:
>>
>> Well, you have to remember that Ham Radio was "cutting edge" technology
>> for the average public at the time of Sputnik (1957). I was licensed in
>> 1959 with a large number of teenagers that were technologically inclined
>> at the time.
>>
>> Things have changed and there are so many other technological fields of
>> interest. The general public's image of Ham Radio is "old fashioned",
>> although we have been doing a pretty good job of publicizing amateur
>> radio activities over the last 15-20 years, but we do need to do more.
>> Also demonstrating to kids that we do "real time" live contesting.
>>
>> On the other hand, a long time friend who had a Novice license in 1959
>> but never upgraded, and is involved with model railroading and has held
>> offices in the National Model Railrod Association, says that they are
>> having the same problems recruiting young people. Model railroading has
>> also kept up with technology with digital control of multiple trains all
>> on the same track as well as micro cameras installed in the trains.
>>
>> The field of remote control airplanes, cars, boats, etc. has also seen
>> a large drop off of new members. Most "old style" hobbies have seen the
>> same drop offs. It's a sign of the times.
>>
>> But I have participated in setting up a station for a school to
>> communicate with the ISS. From that we had two of the teachers involved
>> attend the ARRL Teacher's Institute last summer and both now have their
>> Technician licenses, and we had 15 students sign up as interested in Ham
>> radio.
>>
>> I'm now working with another school in the metro Detroit area for a
>> contact with the ISS sometime this year, in the late fall.
>>
>> We do have young people entering ham radio and contesting, just not
>> nearly as many as in the past. I teach a Technician Class license class
>> in the evening at Lawrence Institute of Technology, but haven't had many
>> young people in those classes, but in my last class I had a female
>> student at LTU get her Technician Class license and is now KE8AAA.
>>
>> So we all need to work at it. It is primarily letting them know that
>> ham radio exists and all the neat "newfangled" and "old fashioned"
>> things that we do. Invite some young folks out to field day while we
>> work other stations via satellite, use new digital modes, or use old
>> fashioned voice and CW. Show them the fun that we have without relying
>> on "commercial infrastructure".
>>
>> 73, Gerry, K8GT
>>
>>
>> On 21-Apr-15 23:35, Colin Jenkins wrote:
>>
>>> We're here, but most of the other younger guys I know don't read or post
>>>
>> to
>>
>>> CQ-Contest.
>>>
>>> eSports and competitive gaming popularity is growing at great speed.
>>>
>> You'll
>>
>>> find that there are very many games that boast professional groups
>>> sponsored by a myriad of gaming and eSport companies. Some of the more
>>> popular games include Counter Strike:GO, World of Warcraft, and League
>>> of
>>> Legends.Teams like Virtus Pro, Cloud9, and Na'vi are professional teams;
>>> practicing many hours a day and competing on international levels year
>>> round. For these gamers, this is their job.
>>>
>>> The difference between these two activities (both of which I enjoy
>>> immensely) is the level of sponsorship and ability to earn an income by
>>> playing these games. For example, Twitch allows anyone to stream video
>>> games live to the entire community. I've seen viewer numbers hit over
>>>
>> 100k
>>
>>> during certain competitive events. Don't get me wrong; I absolutely
>>> enjoy
>>> running pileups, meeting new people at multi-ops, and learning more
>>> about
>>> station engineering but it is merely for my own enjoyment and at my own
>>> cost. Having the ability to stream and make money from streaming video
>>> games is becoming increasingly easier (even via mobile devices now).
>>>
>>> I've struggled with how to get younger guys into the hobby for quite
>>> some
>>> time and don't really have a concrete answer (perhaps because there may
>>>
>> not
>>
>>> be a concrete answer), but I think there are more out there than
>>>
>> realized.
>>
>>> The World Wide Young Contesters chat room is quite active during the day
>>> with many under 30. Heck, even some of the top ops frequent the room.
>>>
>>> eSports are here to stay and only going to grow further with the advent
>>>
>> of
>>
>>> streaming platforms. I, for one, have always enjoyed watching streams
>>>
>> from
>>
>>> contest stations. Perhaps this is something to ponder.
>>>
>>> Colin KU5B
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> CQ-Contest mailing list
>>> CQ-Contest@contesting.com
>>> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/cq-contest
>>>
>>>
>>
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