[CQ-Contest] A call to action

[Dave Lawley]

VE3HLS wrote:

> 
> I've been encouraging my 18 year old nephew to join me
> in a contest.  I've been emphasizing digital modes
> mainly because I think they would appeal to his love
> of online chatting.  SSB would be the nexty choice,
> but there might be some initial mic shyness to
> overcome.  CW contests?  Well...
> 
> 73,
> 
> Ken Alexander, VE3HLS

Don't be so sure about datamodes. A while ago G3GVV, who ran a club at a 
local school, asked me to go along and demonstrate RTTY and PSK31 to 
some of the boys in the club. They had got their Foundation licences 
(M3) but they were somewhat mic shy, as most newly licensed hams are. 
The teacher thought they might relate better to digimodes. Their 
unanimous conclusion was that datamodes took away all of the magic of 
radio communication and after all, if all you want to do is to have two 
computers talk to one another there are much better systems than RTTY 
and PSK31.

Dave G4BUO