[CQ-Contest] Youth / Newer hams in contesting

[Matt NQ6N]

As a 41 year old I feel obliged to chime in:

Before experiencing it, I'm not sure if I would have found the idea of
contesting interesting if someone had described it to me.  But after
becoming licensed and tuning around the HF bands, it became clear to me
that contests were some of the most fun times to be on the air. So I think
there are two problems: The first is making young people aware of amateur
radio (HF in particular), and the second is introducing contesting.

I'd argue that contesting is a lot like other forms of HF operation, only
it's optimized for competitiveness and efficiency. But anyone who has
competed with other callers to work a DX station and felt the thrill of
finally making the QSO has experienced a hint of the fun.  Even modes like
FT8 offer a taste of the excitement.   I would not expect someone being
introduced "cold" to radiosport to necessarily appreciate why it's fun.
There are many dimensions to it which take time to fully understand and
appreciate.

Challenge:  What would a dash board look like that would provide a bird's
eye view of a contest that would help the uninitiated understand why it's
exciting?  I am working on building a few ideas about this kind of
dashboard using real time RBN data and live score data.  One idea is to
pick two stations and watch a "head to head" visualization that shows
propagation paths, relative signals strengths into various parts of the
world, real time score info, etc., just for the stations chosen, adjusting
the "advantage" in real time as the contest plays out.

I'd analogize this kind of dashboard to the way that odds calculations are
shown on the screen when professional poker is televised.  Seeing those
odds numbers brings the betting strategy to life and makes it easy to
appreciate the gutsy decisions made by the competitors. It also makes their
body language (or lack of it) more entertaining.  I think that it would be
pretty difficult for a layperson to find televised poker enjoyable were it
not for the real time odds calculations.

Challenge: How do you demonstrate ham radio or contesting to others?  The
other day I had a cable tech come to my QTH to install new outside wiring.
He was asking about the antennas, radios, etc.  Since I was in a hurry I
gave a very brief description of how much fun it was, but later I thought
back on it and realized that it would probably have been a great time for a
5 minute demo of actually getting on the air and a few minutes spent
looking up the next intro class, etc.   What about a contest overlay that
awards a multiplier for the number of new people invited to a multi-op?

Idea:  This has an American bias, but what about a contest that takes place
on Super Bowl Sunday during half time (roughly 30 mins).  The exchange
could be the team that the op is rooting for.  Hams could host Super Bowl
parties and give guests a few minutes in the chair.  Maybe the contest
could continue during all of the remaining commercial breaks through the
end of the game, so it would finish just as the game finished. Each station
could determine which guest made the fastest run rate, S&P rate, worked the
most mults, etc.  I mention this idea mainly because multi-op efforts are
fun and sociable, and that is the essence of the non-technical aspect of
contesting.

I have not spent much time focusing on youth compared to non-youth. I think
that as long as there are *some* young people involved, then there will be
someone of similar age for would-be young hams to relate to.  I'm not sure
how relevant this is, though, because I have always enjoyed interacting
with hams of all ages and never felt out of place as a kid going to club
meetings, etc.

73,
Matt NQ6N




On Thu, Mar 29, 2018 at 7:36 AM, Jim Stahl via CQ-Contest <
cq-contest at contesting.com> wrote:

> I agree with the intimidation factor of a big contest at a large station.
> This is especially true for phone contests at the current sunspot minimum,
> where even at very big stations such as K8AZ I have found that things often
> get reduced to S&P and watching the cluster spots. Which I why I have given
> up serious phone DX contests for a few years.
>
> Much better for newcomers are the various state QSO parties, especially if
> it is for one’s own state. The congestion factor is much less, and one can
> actually become a desired object, not merely a statistic contributing to
> somebody's hourly totals.
>
> Fortunately we in the spring QSO Party season. This weekend is an off one
> with the month end/start splitting the weekend, but the following month
> includes Missouri, Georgia, Michigan, Florida, Indiana, New England, and
> all of W7. If you are in one of these areas it is a great opportunity to
> encourage and/or invite new contesters to get on the air. And even if
> you’re not, get on the air, especially on SSB, and pass out some QSOs to
> the deserving. Some of the ops may not be the most seasoned, but that is
> how they are learning.
>
>
> 73   -   Jim   K8MR
>
>
>
> > On Mar 28, 2018, at 9:12 AM, rjairam at gmail.com wrote:
> >
> > In FRC we invite new people (new to contesting) to take part in multi op
> > operations such as K2AX and Jay does with K2TTT. Multi op maximizes op
> time
> > and also enables mentoring. Some branch off into their own single op
> > efforts and have fun even with limited antennas and low power.
> Contributing
> > to club score is very encouraging so even if you don’t personally “win”
> you
> > can be part of a winning team. I know it has motivated me to make bigger
> > scores even if I can’t win a plaque for myself.
> >
> > This brings me to another point - having big stations to use is nice but
> > the newbies often get intimidated because winning a contest is now
> largely
> > a game of high power and big stacks, either yours or borrowed/rented.
> There
> > are also only a limited number of big stations and all of the newbies
> > cannot just go and operate there. Not everyone wants to, either. For
> people
> > with families, spending time away from home on a contest weekend is
> often a
> > non starter.
> >
>
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