Despite the recent furor about UA9(S,T,W) zones, and other even less
important frenzied debates, we in ham radio, and in contesting have a
serious problem.
It has been discussed before, and I think we all recognize it, but to
date, I am not aware of an effective solution. What I'm talking about
is the aging of ham radio and of contesting specifically.
Recently, I participated in the JARTS RTTY contest making about 75
qsos. Like the All-Asia contests, the exchange includes the operators'
age. I was shocked to see that most of those I made a qso with were
60+. The next largest group was 50+. I only worked 2 stations that
were younger than me, and I'm 47! My sampling was small, but I think
the results will not vary a great deal with a larger sample.
I recently attended a local DX club meeting, and I was the youngest
club member in attendance. I'm a member of the QCWA too, and there's
no need to tell the story about those meetings.
We need to come up with a plan to get kids interested in ham radio and
contesting. Someone in a CQ contesting video once described contests
as a video game that you play with your ears and your brain. Maybe
that might be a target audience? What do we need to do to get the
millions (that's right - millions) of on-line video gamers aware of ham
radio contesting?
With all of the brain power here, we should be able to come up with
something that would be effective.
Ideas? Let's hear them!
73,
Bob Naumann - W5OV
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