[CQ-Contest] contesting 10 years from now

[Richard DiDonna NN3W]

Actually, as #1 is concerned, i think things are not as bleak as you think.

The top scoring U.S. team from this year's WRTC features one guy who is 35 (N2NL) and one guy who is 27 (N6MJ) - give or take a year.  Dan and Dave regularly fight it out for top billing in the Sprints.

I've obviously been quite active - at 33 - with one win (2005 ARRL DX) and waiting on the CQWW results.

KL9A is still in college, and has been not only a WRTC 2006 member but also an outstanding participant at "The Timmy".  Chris is also a consummate CW op and top 10 finisher in many tests.

KL2A, N3CA, WM3T, KU5B, NI1N, and others are also very active with KL2A and NI1N being real barn burners recently (Tom was #2 in the assisted category for SS - falling a bit short of K7RL).  Neither of them are over 40.

So, buck up campter.  There is more life out there.  My #1 concern is going to be with the overall activity level in CW tests, as opposed to contests in general.

73 Rich NN3W
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Scott Robbins" <w4pa at yahoo.com>
To: <cq-contest at contesting.com>
Sent: Thursday, February 01, 2007 10:29 AM
Subject: [CQ-Contest] contesting 10 years from now


> >Somehow this seemed like a serious question to me.  If Tonno is getting 
>>any serious replies (other than the first one about virtual contesting) 
>>they must be going direct and off the list.  Kind of a shame ... I would 
>>have liked to have seen them.  Maybe he will summarize them after the 
>>QRN passes.
> 
> OK, maybe a few predictions off the top of my head: 
> 
> 1) Age is going to be more and more of a factor in competitive entries.  I'm
> only 37, but I can tell I'm more weary after putting in an all-weekend contest
> effort than I was 5 years ago.  I'll be 47 then -- and there are few contesters
> that are behind me in age that are coming up through the ranks (yes, there are
> some, but not a lot...).  Will there be 25 year olds 10 years from now kicking
> some major butt in DX contests?  I hope so, but I doubt it.
> 
>