[CQ-Contest] Observations of a young ham

[Jim Stahl]

I suspect there is one factor missing from radiosport that kids and many others unfamiliar with it miss: defense. In nearly every other sport or game I can think of (golf and track are a few exceptions) you are not just trying to win, but trying to beat your opponent or opponents. And no, “defending” your frequency from somebody trying to use it is not defense. Defense is doing something to prevent your opponent(s) from scoring.

I don’t want anybody trying to stop me from scoring in Radiosport. But without it, the competition will seem pretty tame to the uninitiated.


73  -  Jim   K8MR



> On Dec 18, 2016, at 12:42 PM, W0MU Mike Fatchett <w0mu at w0mu.com> wrote:
> 
> I had the opportunity to talk to my son in more detail and ask him why contesting does not interest him.  Here is what we discussed.
> 
> 1.  Cost to get in the game and have a chance to win is prohibitive.  You need a great station, land, etc to really win or compete.  The playing field is so unbalanced that it becomes a show stopper.  For him he has no costs when at home.  I consider my station modest with a 70 ft tower and land to put up Inv L's and full sized 80m verticals and some receiving antennas.  I could do more but we have horses and they need to roam and are hell on things in the pasture.
> 
> 2. You have to invest a lot of time to get good.  If he can not have a really good station then why invest the time to get good if you are not going to be able to really compete.
> 
> 2. The tools we use to contest, logging software, packet look like old dos programs.  He called them ugly and boring.  He is used to amazing graphics in games.  I found this observation interesting.  I feel that the tools we have are pretty good and give me what I want to see readily available.  I was not expecting this answer.
> 
> 3. He is far more interested in using packet where he can immediately chase things.  Packet essentially gives him a list of things to do or goals.  It is more visual so more interesting.  He thought that more automated systems would be interesting.  Young people and even us older folk expect things to happen much faster.  They are the generation of instant satisfaction and some of that even rubs off on us older folk.
> 
> 4.  Talking to someone over the airwaves is still pretty cool. You can instantly talk around the world if the right condx exist, but we can talk all over the world with our phones so it is not as amazing as it once was.
> 
> 5. CW is interesting but he was surprised that we don't have better code readers.  While he would like to learn the code time is once again the factor.  They have so many other outlets for entertainment that it is hard to find time for all of them.
> 
> 6.  Results take far too long to come out
> 
> 7.  He proposed that all participants use a scoreboard type system.  Many of us have said this was something we need to do but have instead met with amazing resistance and a ton of excuses why people refuse to use it.  A system where everyone can check it out and see what is going in in the contest.  We are back to visuals.
> 
> 6. Playing radio in the car driving is fun because there is not much else to do but drive.
> 
> 7. He has his general license but he does not have the technical skills or electronic knowledge to build a shack or decent station.  I am not a great teacher especially to my own kids so I take some of the blame for this but it is hard to teach people things when they don't want to devote much time to it.  I feel a reluctance to even try to do something without having the proper knowledge.  A far cry from when I was young and tried all sorts of silly antennas and projects that mostly failed miserably but boy did I learn from those mistakes.
> 
> That pretty much summed up our hour long conversation and I am no closer to figuring out how to sell ham radio and contesting to them.  I hope some will find this information helpful and interesting.
> 
> W0MU
>