[CQ-Contest] ....youth in contesting

[ScottW3TX]

My thoughts as one whom was a rabid contester as a teenager, but has no
time for contesting currently:

There are three simple paths to recruit contesters:

1). Field day.  Many of us became smitten with contesting during field
day.  Join a local club, participate, recruit.

2). Dxing.  What better time to work a bunch of countries toward
multi-band DXCC than during a DX contest.  Some will get hooked on
contesting. Local contest clubs could branch out into Dxing as a fun
activity and recruiting tool.

3). Mentoring family/friends.  How many contesters have ever really taken
the time to mentor their children, relatives, or friends during a contest?
Obviously this requires one to mentor during a contesting one is not out
to compete in seriously. There are contests every weekend and all of them
will appreciate more people to work.

4). I believe the BIGGEST obstacle to converting newcomers/dabblers to
mid-experienced contesters is the cost of building a competitive station.
The way to solve this challenge is to create station equipment overlays.
Consider basing the overlays on actual cost of building the station. This
way a station of any caliber can compete with similarly equiped stations.
For example:
* <$1000 station investment
* $1000 to $2500 station investment
* $2500 to 5000 station investment
* $5000 to $10000 station investment
As people grow their station over time they will move into a higher
overlay category.  This solves the problem of being a newcomer SOQRP or
SOLP having to compete with a person that goes to an existing SuperStation
with monoband stacks to set a personal or world record.

Such overlays will allow youth to enter and compete without them having to
feel like there is no chance to "win", "place in a top ten", and receive
recognition (which is the real reason many contesters contest).  Then as
these people become "recognized" within the contesting community their
involvement will bloom.

73, Scott W3TX