[CQ-Contest] Ham Radio in the Future

[David Gilbert]

A friend of mine (Bob, K7ZB) just sent me a link to a recent video 
interview of Tom, W2SC (aka 8P5A) done by W1DED.  In addition to 
descriptions of his station and approach to contesting,  Tom speculates 
on where ham radio and contesting in particular might go in the future.  
He pointed out that whatever happens will most likely be determined by a 
younger generation that isn't bound by what ham radio is to those of us 
who have been at it for a while.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ck-RMIyjSfI

His view of the future is very interesting, and I agree that if ham 
radio survives to any significant extent it will have to change ... and 
it will likely be changed by a younger generation that comes up with a 
way to adapt ham radio to something that is more interesting to them.

Personally, I've always thought that contesting should figure out how to 
become more like an online video game:

1.  Integrated computer graphics that display participants on a playing 
field ... Earth or maybe even some simulated world.  You could zoom in 
or zoom out, but the part of the world available to be seen on your 
screen could be determined by the real time propagation at that moment.  
To make a contact you'd have to zoom in far enough to see the station 
you're trying to contact, and the display would show their current 
frequency.  Real time propagation could be derived from actual contacts 
being made if everyone's computer was connected to a common server ... 
just like is done with video games.  And before anyone says that real 
time internet connectivity is an issue, keep in mind that it isn't at 
all problem for the demographic we'd be trying to reach.

2.  Multiplayer .... where every participant shows up on the screen at 
their actual (or simulated) QTH.

3.  ACTUAL COMPETITION!  Instead of just trying to make the most 
contacts and finding out at the end how you did, make each contact some 
sort of competition that gets displayed on the screen ... and have some 
way of preventing others from making a contact.  How that happens would 
depend upon the context of the particular game, just like there are 
different video games.  But the idea would be to contest each contact in 
some manner that requires either an offensive action or a defensive one.

4.  "Contacts" (whatever the game required for a point) would still 
purely come via RF ... station to station.  The video display and 
central server would only provide the environment for making the 
contacts, albeit a hopefully more elaborate and richer environment than 
whatever we currently picture in our minds while making contacts now.

Some people might say that this is actually no different than a video 
game and that video games have the advantage of a level playing field 
since most computers don't hinder your play.  And that's precisely why I 
think a ham radio version might be more interesting.  Propagation, 
antennas, choice of times and bands would all make the game more complex 
than the typical online video game. The play style would be enriched by 
the variables of ham radio and the technical side of the hobby would be 
retained.

The biggest problem I see with something like this is getting the 
programming done.  Successful video games can take years and lots of 
money to develop, although there are games like Valheim that didn't ... 
at least not by comparison.  However, I strongly suspect that it won't 
be too long before AI could do something like this, or at least most of 
it.  We wouldn't need the complexity of a top tier video game, and 
graphics engines are becoming increasingly accessible for simple 
environments.  Station wise, I don't think it would be any different 
than it is now to use a logger for rig control and score tracking ... 
just different software.

I realize that the actual game mechanics are missing here.  That's 
because I'm not smart enough to come up with the specifics.  But I am 
convinced that something like this could be done ... it's really just a 
simple visual interface with an RF connection for the points instead of 
data packets.  The number of made contacts would be MUCH fewer than it 
is now for a typical contest, but each contact could potentially require 
more thought and focus.  Think in terms of catching fish instead of 
hammering out CQ's.

Thoughts?

Dave