I liken the world of ham radio and ham radio contesting to the world of bridge.
For most people involved, neither is an organized competition. It is people who
sit around a kitchen table or in front of a radio doing their thing. But for
those who are competitive there are many similarities.
Both are games of mental skill where physical abilities are of little or no
importance other than the ability to remain alert for long periods of time.
There are very good bridge players who sit in wheelchairs.
Many bridge hands/QSOs are pretty mundane, that a novice can handle just about
as well as a pro. But as the going gets tougher, the skills and talents honed
by years of experience pay off for both.
While both are games of skill, luck does play a part. Will the 7Q7 answer your
CQ? Will you correctly guess which way to play a hand in the absence of any
relevant clues?
Neither is a game played for big prize money, although in the bridge world
there are professionals whose business model is based on a combination of rich
clients who like to win and teaching by playing. Neither sport is a natural for
television. Both games have a lot of big egos.
Sadly, both have similar demographic issues. I'd estimate the fat part of the
bridge player bell curve is about ten years older than that of the ham radio
contesting community. There are young people in both, just not many. Unlike
ham radio, there are a lot of women bridge players.
And in the USA, the national organizations for both sports have the same first
and last names. In bridge it is the American Contract Bridge League.
73 - Jim K8MR
Bronze Life Master and ACBL Club Director
-----Original Message-----
From: Mike Smith VE9AA <ve9aa@nbnet.nb.ca>
To: cq-contest <cq-contest@contesting.com>
Sent: Wed, Sep 9, 2015 11:27 pm
Subject: [CQ-Contest] What is RadioSport/Contesting like?
Anyone else seen this
show, or what do you tell your friends, neighbours,
coworkers, that RadioSport
is like? (what do you compare it to, iow?)
_______________________________________________
CQ-Contest mailing list
CQ-Contest@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/cq-contest
|