[CQ-Contest] Online Contesting-Dr DX

[Mike Fatchett W0MU]

If you rule out those that hack in MMO's, everyone plays on a level 
playing field.  No need for acreage, towers, amps, two or three radios, 
large antenna and everything else to goes along with being competitive 
in a contest.  No worries about being on the east coast or 3 point land 
or from a "rare" section.  The players do have choices to what type of 
ship to sail or what class to play but those are available to everyone.  
You may only be hampered by your computer speed and network speed, but 
most games will run fine on older computers with slower network 
connections.  He can talk to his friends across the world anytime using 
communication programs such as Vent, Teamspeak and mumble.

While the radio spectrum is available 24/7 like MMO's, you will not find 
filled bands and contests going 24/7.  You can be a very good MMO gamer 
using a laptop running off a free hot spot in an airport or coffee shop.

My Son, Brenden, W0TOL, who turned 16 today, has tinkered with 
radio/contesting but always seems to migrate back to computer games.  
The "digital" modes such as PSK and RTTY seem to interest him the most.  
We have tried a couple of the VHF contests from Montana but the last 
couple of years have had pretty lousy conditions.

Mike W0MU