[CQ-Contest] K5GO speaks out for youth in contesting

[Michael Adams]

Just to offer my $0.02:

I'm one of the newer guys on the reflector, coming up on my fifth anniversary of my first HF contact.  (It was a contest contact, BTW).

I'm not a youth, although I am younger than most American contesters.  I was aware of ham radio when growing up, but computers caught my attention and the code requirement for licensing was a then seemingly impenetrable barrier of entry.   I got into amateur radio in middle age, when I developed enough free time and disposable income to take on a new hobby, having remembered it from my childhood awareness of ham radio.

I have had the pleasure of working with some youth.  When doing so, I am mindful of one simple fact: only an exceptional few will become and stay active in the hobby in the short term.  Instead, I would like to think that by giving them some exposure to the various sub-hobbies within amateur radio, the seed will be planted that may eventually yield a new ham, once they're older, established in their own homes, and looking to occupy some free time (perhaps after having become an empty-nester).

There was a four-month period between getting my ticket (I went into the VE session needing a Tech ticket to play with an HT Santa was giving me for Christmas to listen to the traffic at the airport in my backyard; I left the session as an Extra) and the New England ice cap receding enough to permit erection of an HF antenna.  During that tortuous time, I listened to web SDRs, trying to decide if I really wanted to invest in new, expensive toys and risk spousal ire by hanging a wire over the house.

There was one particularly memorable Friday evening that February when I was listening to 40m...and ARRL DX SSB started up.   I listened in shock for a couple of minutes, and then swore that I'd never get into contesting due to the utter chaos and messiness I witnessed.  That only changed when I did get an antenna up, went tuning around the bands...and had a bout of mic fright.  The Missouri QSO party was on, and it dawned on me that I didn't have to worry about what to say.   The QSO party activity level was low enough to not be intimidating....and I ended up being hooked.

A couple of months later, being frustrated with the challenges of being a low-power, wire antenna station, looking at the 3830 scores being posted by CW-capable stations, it dawned on me that I needed to "figure out" code...and the combination of spotting networks, code readers, and the predictability of contest exchanges made for a too-tempting crutch to make the switch.   Several thousand contacts later, I find that I've become a code-snob.  :)

I'm writing this monologue in part to suggest that folks looking to add youth to the contesting ranks not be afraid of technology.  Yes, remote control, Reverse Beacon, and code readers are all counter to the classic simplicity of "a boy and his radio", and that is a sad thing...but anyone who has spent time looking at how to market to young people today will tell you that that particular demographic is driven by instant-gratification and fun.  Those allegedly evil developments that "spoil" amateur radio just happen to facilitate instant-gratification fun, and that would seem to be a natural fit to adding new blood to our ranks.

I'm also writing to remind folks of the intimidation factor.   The big phone (or phone-heavy mixed mode) contests are intimidating for many of the new guys (especially if they are using entry-level rigs, have limited antennas, etc.), so maybe CQ WW Phone isn't the best time to introduce a jute to contesting.  Smaller events, especially if the activity level is just high enough to give some rate, might be a better time to make such introductions.  And if you remember that code mastery isn't necessarily required to make good use of a code reader in a contest...well, CW contesting is less messy than phone contesting and rate is addictive even if it is "click-and-pounce" rate rather than run-rate.

Also, please do not discount the problem that HOAs and CCRs pose to the future of contesting in the U.S.  While I was aware of the problem from online discussions, I didn't really "get" it until very recently.  Some family developments have my wife and I planning to move later this year, and the early exploration into house-hunting reveal that I might have a problem: I'm having a hell of a time finding spouse-approved candidate homes that aren't under HOAs.  (Thank goodness for remote controlled stations, and thank goodness I'm a telecommuter!)   I've got to believe that restrictive covenants on property are now a very significant barrier to entry for potential hams in some parts of the country.

Finally, I'd suggest that folks looking to involve younger folks in contesting take a look at what's happening in Europe.  While I'm on the left side of the demographic bell-curve among American contesters, I ain't a youth.  My sensitivity to age does, however, make me aware when I encounter folks younger than me on the air...and I don't seem like such a relative babe compared to some contesters in DX locales.   I wouldn't say that they've overcome the challenge of attracting teenagers to radiosport, but perhaps something they're doing might explain why the average age of new contesters seems lower in EU than in NA.

-- 
Michael Adams | N1EN | mda at n1en.org