[CQ-Contest] Interesting Youth In Ham Radio

[Ed Sawyer]

Ha - speak for yourself Ken.  At 55.  I hope I have another decade past that
dire prediction.  Don't think "all contesters" are SS contesters.  There are
lots of 50s and 40s year olds out there - especially outside of the US -
that are very active contesters.  And as we retire, we have MORE time for
contests - not less.  Ironically, I predict a surge in contest activity over
the next 10 years - not a decline.  After that, the aging problem vs new
entrants will start showing its head.

 

For our lifetimes - I believe the new contesters come from amateurs that
already exist and can be pulled in as Ria suggests.  But not if the only
reason they are amateurs is to control drones or due experiments where wifi
data is needed.  They need to find communication magic to have a chance to
be interested.  They also need to be competitive personalities to see the
contest as intriguing.

 

Technical Universities are the one of the best spots to recruit I think.
Putting efforts there - rather than trying to see whether gamers are somehow
going to like contesting is much more fruitful - in my opinion.

 

Having WRTC qualifying be an extension of Field Day would be a "killer app"
in my opinion.

 

73

 

Ed  N1UR

 

 

 

From: Ktfrog007 at aol.com [mailto:Ktfrog007 at aol.com] 
Sent: Thursday, November 16, 2017 8:57 AM
To: sawyered at earthlink.net; rjairam at gmail.com
Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] Interesting Youth In Ham Radio

 

Hi Ed,

 

In the next 2 decades, most of us contesters will be dead.  I'll ask to be
buried with my key paddle.

 

We need new blood from whatever group of hams.  Where are these new niche
contester supposed to come from?  Cloning us?

 

73,

Ken, AB1J

 

In a message dated 2017-11-15 10:45:01 P.M. Coordinated Universal Ti,
rjairam at gmail.com writes:

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