[CQ-Contest] Observations of a young ham

[Stephen Bloom]

I think a better question is ...

What are they doing in Europe (especially Eastern EU) that *is* attracting so many younger folks.  They do come from a culture where ..in Soviet Bloc days, amateur radio was more "radiosport" than a chatting hobby, but that can't be the whole thing.

73

Steve KL7SB


-----Original Message-----
From: CQ-Contest [mailto:cq-contest-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of Joe
Sent: Monday, December 19, 2016 5:25 AM
To: cq-contest at contesting.com
Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] Observations of a young ham


On 12/18/2016 10:18 PM, W0MU Mike Fatchett wrote:
> My comments below:
>
> On 12/18/2016 8:24 PM, Taylor Kelly wrote:
>>> On Dec 18, 2016, at 11:42 AM, 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.
In my situation, 100 watts and a vertical I know I will never ever "WIN"  But you CAN "WIN" in another way! My "WIN" is beating the last time I entered in the contest.  Did I do better against myself than previous times? If not then in what "Place" did I place compared to past attempts.


> Can’t argue this point. The software we have is superb to our needs, 
> but it’s hardly attractive.
> Is making a fancy front end going to make things more interesting,

NO, the more plain and clear is what's Important.
> if we could even define what that would be?  Not sure.....I explained 
> paper logging and big monster dupe sheets and how we used to try to 
> dupe JA calls.  He looked at me like I was nuts!  I think we were.
> Underline JK, Circle JH, box JI  and do it while logging the contact 
> and working the next guy!  We did this!
Personally I always liked the dupe sheets that were the combination of the last number in the call and the first letter after the number determined where the call went in the dupe sheet. so in my case someone 
who worked me would place me in the 9S slot.   Then it matters not 
anything about the prefix.
>
>>
>>> 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.
The "Live" scoreboard I have mixed feelings on. It's kind of like any contest that has a serial number in it. Sometimes you are amazed and in awe that the guy you just worked has 1000 Q's in his log and you just gave him #333.

And then depending on your own "Mood"? You get all Pissed off when you been trying your hardest and have 333 Q's in your log, and the Guy you just worked has 1000! You think why bother? I'll never Win.

Unless you do the "Win" as described earlier.
>>>
>> I think that could work with the right safeguards in place.
What do you mean by safeguards?

Joe WB9SBD
>
> W0MU
>
>
>
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