[CQ-Contest] Contesting 10 years from now (2007)

Sterling Coffey kawfey at gmail.com
Tue Mar 27 10:22:02 EDT 2018 

We don't hear more of them on because there are a number of barriers to
entry that tech's aren't generally willing to hurdle at that point in their
experience with the hobby.


   1. CW *is* hard; to get up to contest speeds is a big ask for a lot of
   people, only the most hams most interested in CW and disciplined to learn
   it get to that level of confidence before operating - a tiny fraction of
   techs
   2. Tech callsigns are long and op skills are lower, which causes varying
   levels of consternation in everyone involved, leading to a brutal or even
   rejected QSO (which puts a bad taste in the mouth of both the tech and the
   other op, especially for high strung contests)
   3. After all, we hams generally don't do such a good job advertising it
   or elmering techs and rookies. Anecdotally, I know of only two hams who
   contested as a tech did it all by their self, with their own gear and
   self-taught code. One of them was me, and the other was a college friend.

This was my experience anyway, as KD0BZE nearly 10 years ago. (woah, it's
time to renew!)
Are there any Tech only or Tech-oriented CW sprints/contests, besides the
rookie roundup?

On Mon, Mar 26, 2018 at 4:41 PM, rjairam at gmail.com <rjairam at gmail.com>
wrote:

> “Technicians will get active contesting on their new bands, to the chagrin
> of many established operators.”
>
> Techs already have a ticket to the biggest contests today on 40, 80, 15
> and 10 meters. Why don’t we hear more of them on? Even if you say “CW Is
> hard” I hear tons of South American ops on 10 meters phone every contest.
> It may not be open to Europe or Asia but it’s definitely open to central
> and South America and the caribbean.
>
> Bear in mind as well that the current ARRL proposal has very contest
> unfriendly segments and no privileges on the most popular contest band - 20
> meters. Unless of course you think they will eventually get access to more
> favorable segments.
>
> Ria
> N2RJ
>
> On Mon, Mar 26, 2018 at 5:34 PM Sterling Coffey <kawfey at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Younger generation chiming in with...contests are going to get a lot less
>> active :(
>>
>> There is a huge contingent of young ops in Region 1 (mostly thanks to
>> YOTA) but on the other sides of the world, youth contesters are a little
>> less organized. That has hopefully changed with the creation of Young
>> Amateurs Radio Club <https://yarc.world/>, the Collegiate Initiative
>> <http://www.facebook.com/groups/ARRLCARI>, and some push to bring a
>> YOTA-like organization to IARU regions 2 and 3.
>>
>> All of that pales in comparison to the age of current contesters. I posit
>> it's slightly lower than the average, but Sweepstakes reports don't lie
>> (although club calls obscure the actual operator's license year, which for
>> W0EEE was 1923 whilst everyone who operated was licensed for less than 5
>> years.
>>
>> Here's my thoughts for ham radio contesting in 10 years:
>>
>>
>>    1. Drops in total logs submitted will invoke new categories for youth
>>    (and not just Rookie) will spring up, just like the college sub-competition
>>    during NAQP and Sweepstakes.
>>    2. New AI category
>>    3. New "Knobs" category
>>    4. Technicians will get active contesting on their new bands, to the
>>    chagrin of many established operators.
>>    5. SSB & CW will be a mainstay but digi contests will begin to
>>    outshine "classic" modes
>>    6. WSJT will flesh out the DXpedition mode into a fully fledged
>>    contest mode, which will allow multiple QSOs per contact
>>    7. Remotes will become ubiquitous and I suspect it'll be put into
>>    it's own category.
>>    8. More livestreaming. I'd love to see a Ham Radio category on
>>    Twitch.tv!
>>    9. contest score reporting will be adopted by a majority; no need to
>>    upload logs as it's being uploaded in realtime on a qso-by-qso basis
>>    10. Additionally, logs are instantaneously and irrefutably
>>    cross-checked for authenticity using signed blockchain technology on the
>>    ethereum (or similar) network (HamRadioCoin is a thing already!
>>    <https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/hamradiocoin/>)
>>    11. Bigdata/Neural networking intertwined with real time conditions
>>    will tell ops which band, mode, and beam azimuth and elevation pattern to
>>    operate for maximum rate
>>    12. There will be no need to ask QRL? Your radio determines the best
>>    TX frequency in the band and decodes everything in the band simultaneously
>>    (so there's also no need to reply to a CQ at the same frequency)
>>    1. Expanding on that, there will be AI contests solely dedicated to
>>       automatic QSOs (still requiring some semblance of operator intervention to
>>       meet regulations) running at rates pushing 1200QSO/hr
>>       13. Radio equipment continues their push towards SDR and
>>    miniaturization
>>    14. New inductor technology shrinks the size and cost of linear
>>    amplifiers and power supplies
>>    15. But an elecraft K3, FT-*000, TS-990, Flex 6*00 etc...will still
>>    sell for the same price as they are today.
>>
>> Sterling, N0SSC
>>
>>
>> On Mon, Mar 26, 2018 at 11:10 AM, rjairam at gmail.com <rjairam at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> My take on 10 years from now:
>>>
>>> A lot of the old guard will sadly be SK, with not a lot of replacement
>>> from younger generation, unless we do something.
>>>
>>> Top 3 US for the majors will almost exclusively be remote operation.
>>> The only problem is who will be driving.
>>>
>>> Assisted and non-assisted will be combined for some majors. Sad to see
>>> it go, but I am getting used to the idea.
>>>
>>> CW contest entries will remain stable while SSB and digital may see a
>>> modest boost.
>>>
>>> Digital (HF) contests will include weak signal (WSJT) modes.
>>>
>>> VHF contests will be nearly all weak signal (WSJT) modes on 6 meters.
>>> It's pretty much that way now.
>>>
>>> HOAs - the South and Southwest US will continue to have tons of HOA
>>> issues. As the US East Coast slows in population growth and new
>>> housing starts, that's where there will be fewer restrictions. But
>>> that comes with two caveats - winter and cost of living, unless you do
>>> remote operation.
>>>
>>> Hams will still like knobbed radios although the market for SDRs is
>>> growing.
>>>
>>> 73
>>> Ria
>>> N2RJ
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Sun, Mar 25, 2018 at 5:32 PM, Mark <markzl3ab at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> > I was looking for something else and stumbled across this on the
>>> interweb.
>>> >
>>> > I hope ES5TV doesn't mind me posting the link.  It sure make
>>> interesting
>>> > reading now.
>>> >
>>> > http://www.lhv.ee/images/files/2017.pdf
>>> >
>>> > Any bets on the next ten years?
>>> >
>>> > 73
>>> > Mark ZL3AB
>>> > _______________________________________________
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>>
>>

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