[CQ-Contest] Where are all the young radiosport folks?

Thu Apr 23 12:41:07 EDT 2015

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 at contesting.com>
To: <cq-contest at 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 at 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
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>
>
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