K6VVA's comments are on the mark. When I was in Finland and served as a
Referee for one of the WRTC 2002 teams, it was clear to me that some form
of real time scoring is a fantastic tool for increasing interest in
contesting, and a key next step if radio Sporting is to survive as anything
more than a super-niche interest. There are thousands and thousands of
Computer Gamers out there, many of them teenagers, and that is the single
fastest growing portion of the computer market now. There is no doubt that
the competitive element of ham radio is of interest to many people and more
young people would be exposed to the thrill of Radio Sporting if we can get
some form of real time reporting going. It could revolutionize radio
sporting and bring in a much larger potential audience and therefore range
of participants.
Rick is correct that technology must be embraced, not resisted. It would
be easy for software to capture certain elements of the data base and
report these either on the hour or even real time. Personally I enjoy
contests where we have some idea of the relative progress competitors are
making. These include anything with a serial number (WPX, SS,
Sprint). The exchange is more than simply copying the call sign, and when
mandatory off-times are added for longer contests like SS, it gets very
interesting to the competitors as strategy becomes important, rather than
sitting in an unhealthy position for longer than everyone else.
To begin, the data reporting could be sent in automatically every ten
minutes; it does not have to be (literally) real time, but as access and
bandwidth increase, that too is a possibility. Some one could design a new
contest that's a "Real Time RadioSporting" event, and require that the
participants use software that sends in reports on a regular basis. The
makers of software could add that module. This would require both software
and hardware additions but it would open up the hobby to this new
dimension. There would need to be a web site associated with that specific
contest, or as a common "scoreboard" used by all the contests. Advertisers
could buy banner ads and also spot ads for the site, just as they buy
advertising space now for popular events. I'll bet you that in several
years that would change the future of contesting.
Jim George N3BB
At 08:10 PM 10/12/2005 -0700, Eric Hilding wrote:
>I was going to re-thread this as "Where's The Beef?"
>
>In case you haven't noticed, all major "sporting" events have real-time
>coverage. NASCAR/Daytona car drivers have on-board video cameras and are
>in two-way radio contact with their pit crews (wouldn't this technically be
>an "Assisted Driving" category? :-)
>Football, Baseball, Basketball, Soccer, Hockey. et.al. ... every knows
>EXACTLY where his or her competitors stand.
>
>SNIP
>Unless more new Contesters enter the hobby, we are headed for
>extinction. So why continue to live in the Dark Ages when so much more
>adventure can be had in the Contesting journey which remains? Hi-Tech is
>here to stay...Embrace it...Fondle it...USE it to the MAX to set new
>Contesting records.
>
>Yes, I can see yet another Monitor at Contesting Consoles...one which
>displays "Real Time" (I should say "REALLY Real Time" compared to the K7C
>DXA), where major competitor's rates per hour are in constant display
>second-by-secnod alerting one to missed opportunities on other
>bands. Green-Yellow-Red light sequences and alarm bells and blinking
>indicators to be used to "shift strategy" based upon predefined parameters
>to gauge what the competition is up to and where they are at any given
>second. Options for sorting and prioritizing, etc. offer e-x-c-i-t-i-n-g
>opportunities.
>
>Hey guys...The ARRL SS, NA Sprint & other contests give us all "Real Time"
>QSO tally data already (minus Mults) in the contest exchanges, so "Where's
>The Beef?" Those who want to continue to live in a Contest Cave should
>petition all Contest Sponsors to DELETE Serial # (QSO Numbers) from Contest
>exchanges so you can have even more cluelessness as to what your
>competition is doing. Then you can wait a year (or more) after the event
>to sort it all out when the results are (hopefully) published. Oh...maybe
>ask for sponsors to disallow SO2R while you're at it too.
>
>SNIP
>Embrace it...Fondle it...USE it to the MAX to set new Contesting
>records. The true "Professionals" are doing this every day in their
>sporting events.
>
>IMHO & 73...
>
>Rick, K6VVA
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