Richard K5NA writes:
There is little or no youth coming into the contest ranks to
freshen our perception of contesting. (What apalls me is the
lack of interest the contest community is showing to the
"no-code" hams as a possible source of future contesters. But
that's another story.)
It's a story that should be addressed by the contest community, not
all of whom have sterling records in encouraging newcomers. "Lack of
interest" is a kind way of describing some people's attitudes.
I remember during the no-code licensing debate a few years ago that
someone on the net responded to a posting I made about an upcoming
Northern California Contest Club meeting by saying, "Knowing how
you feel about no-code, I'm surprised you're interested in contesting."
Given that I had recently refuted an illogical anti-no-code argument,
he obviously assumed that I was in favor of a no-code license. In
fact, I never *did* have strong feelings one way or another about
no-code licenses.
But even if I had, what in hell would that have to do with my attitude
towards contesting? The obvious message from him was, "no-code
supporters [or, heaven forfend, actual no-code licensees] have no
place in contesting." Before I gave up reading rec.ham-radio (now
rec.radio.amateur.misc) a year or so ago, further postings from this
same person verified that I had correctly interpreted his comment.
With arrogant people like this posting their wisdom to the net
(this was on rec.ham-radio), no wonder newcomers--especially those
with Tech licenses--don't feel welcome.
Patty N6BIS
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