[CQ-Contest] Ham Radio in the Future

[David Gilbert]

You can quote all the anecdotes you want but the stats tell the story.  
Steam and other video game platforms (essentially hosts for a huge 
number of games) actively track concurrent users ... i.e., simultaneous 
users.  Depending upon when and how the numbers are tallied, they add up 
to ON AVERAGE between 20 and 50 million people worldwide playing at the 
same time ... at any point in time.  By comparison, the most popular ham 
radio contests (CQWW CW and SSB) had a TOTAL of 35,000 participants over 
the course of two weekends (no data on concurrent players).   You do the 
math.

About 55% of gamers are under age 35.  The great majority of hams are 60 
or older, with the average age now pushing 70 years.

Define "short attention span".  I've seen young gamers play through 
until dawn without realizing it.  Besides, there isn't anything that 
says all contests need to be an exercise in physical survival, and I 
guarantee that a very large percentage of the hams showing up for a 
major contest don't spend more hours in it than literally a thousand 
times more video gamers do in the same time frame.

I still like ham radio contests, but it seems to me that there is room 
for a different type of contest (additional and optional) that still 
uses RF but manages to borrow enough from the video game world to appeal 
to folks who aren't likely to die in the next dozen years.

Dave   AB7E


On 8/15/2025 10:30 AM, Jeff Clarke wrote:
>
> I think the #1 way to recruit youngsters into amateur radio, at least 
> in the USA, is the same way we did years ago - ARRL Field Day. I've 
> seen many non-ham young people show up at the FD that K4BAI operate at 
> with our local non-contesting club in Columbus, GA. Many of them seem 
> to think it's pretty cool and some have gone on to get their licenses. 
> The local club here, W4CVY, always makes it a priority to have the 
> GOTA station staffed letting non-hams to experience amateur radio in 
> real time. Maybe invite a Boy Scout group to your Field Day so they 
> can get their radio badge.
>
> I also think it's wonderful with what Tim,K3LR does letting young hams 
> operate at his superstation. When I was in my late teens as a member 
> of the Mad River Radio Club we had many Multi-Ops at nice stations I 
> got invited to. KS8S, K8AZ/K8NZ, AC8E, W8FN, K8CC, W8AV and K3LR come 
> to mind. Those experiences developed me into the decent contester I am 
> today. We currently have 15 year old Jake, WV4AM (W9SN's grandson) 
> operate regularly  with us at WW4LL.  He's turning into a very good 
> operator. The nice thing about Fred's station is it's 100% remote over 
> the internet. That would eliminate concerns parents might have about a 
> young person traveling somewhere where most of the guys are older.  We 
> also had Bryant, KG5HVO operate at WW4LL before he when off to 
> college. I encourage anyone who has a nice contest station to seek out 
> young hams to operate and mentor them.
>
> There's also the David Kalter Memorial Youth DX Adventure. My good 
> friend Geoff Howard, W0CG has hosted this several times at the PJ2T 
> contest station. Greg, W6IZT is also very involved in recruiting young 
> hams to participate in a DXpedition. I believe all the expenses are 
> paid thru donations. They will be operating as PJ6Y in October this 
> year. If a big pileup from a DX location doesn't inspire you I don't 
> know what would!
>
> Kudos to all these guys I mentioned and others I might've missed to 
> have the vision on how important it is to get today's youth involved 
> to keep amateur radio and contesting alive.
>
> Many have mentioned technology (making contesting similar to gaming) 
> in this email thread. Unfortunately today's generation of youth have a 
> short attention span. It they had to choose between gaming and a 24 or 
> 48 radio contest I think gaming would win out every time.
>
> Jeff KU8E
>
>
>
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