[CQ-Contest] Interesting Youth In Ham Radio

[Ed Sawyer]

Unfortunately, the ARRL has been praying for this gateway drug for years.  The only gateway it seems to have produced is EMCOMM and Drone communication.  

I would like to hear of actual examples where "shack on a belts" or "communication link" licensees have become HF Contest participants in the last decade.  If such case examples exist, that would be wonderful news.

Ed  N1UR

-----Original Message-----
From: Ria Jairam [mailto:rjairam at gmail.com] 
Sent: Wednesday, November 15, 2017 12:01 PM
To: sawyered at earthlink.net
Cc: CQ-Contest Reflector
Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] Interesting Youth In Ham Radio

I think it is very much relevant. It's a gateway drug scenario.

Some may get the license for these activities then discover a whole other world of contesting and DX.

Also, the "small focused group" doesn't cut it, because contesting is driven by casual users. If all that was left were the big guns with stacks and multikilowatts, the game wouldn't be "fun" anymore, now would it?

Why you build a mega station - you want to work the guys (and gals) who might be running 100 watts into a wet string, or more realistically an attic dipole or mobile whip on the front lawn. The people who are thrilled to work across the Atlantic, and they get to do it a few weekends a year.

Contesting was never on my radar when I got started. I was more into repeaters and talking to local people. Then when I began to chase DX, I discovered contesting. And the rest is history.

So attracting all kinds of hams is beneficial to **us**. And to the hobby as a whole.

73
Ria, N2RJ

On Wed, Nov 15, 2017 at 5:31 AM, Ed Sawyer <sawyered at earthlink.net> wrote:
> Hey guys.  Since this is a Contest Reflector, can we stay on topic?  
> Getting youth interested in High Altitude Ballooning or using their 2M 
> rig while offroading is not contributing to the contesting community.  
> And with a couple of million licensed ham operators around the globe 
> and probably less than 25 - 30,000 showing up in HF Contest or 
> DXpedition logs, there's really very little correlation between those macro numbers and HF Contesting.
>
>
>
> The issue for our contesting world is not macro, its niche.  The ham 
> community could cut by 75% in the next 2 decades but the remaining 
> crowd having more interest in the competitive aspect is WAY more 
> meaningful to contesting than the opposite.
>
>
>
> 73
>
>
>
> Ed  N1UR
>
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