The observations by and about young hams are right on target. I think
it's part of a bigger picture though. There are plenty of not-so-young
hams that fit the same description - they don't feel they have any
chance of winning the game, and have found that "competing" in the role
of a duck in the shooting gallery simply isn't much fun.
I've known many hams who went through the process of getting the license
and even set up a simple station, perhaps 100W and a G5RV, who tried
contesting for a bit, got soundly trounced, and went on to do other
things that were more fun.
Before I moved, 2 years ago, I had done quite a bit of contesting.
Never had much hope of winning anything with my 100W and a wire, but I
did actually win a few certificates - mostly because no one else showed
up in my assigned category/QTH. Eventually, I'll probably set up my
station again in the new QTH. But I haven't had the urge to do it yet -
just to hang up more losses in my log??.....
People compete because they have a hope of winning, by showing their
superior skills against their opponents. Except for the few who have
the right resources, e.g., location, and funds, and time, Ham Radio
contests don't provide that hope. Many, like me, participate a bit
anyway, if only because we enjoy playing with the radio. We provide the
cannon fodder for the big guns. Contests simply provide the venues when
there are actually many other stations on the air.
This topic comes up repeatedly, more often than the solar cycle. About
3 years ago, I wrote up an idea for "Challenge Contesting", which I
think still makes sense. It requires no changes to any existing rules,
and it lets everyone actually compete with plausible hope of winning.
All it requires is probably a bit of organization and a probably larger
bit of software. Perhaps there's some interested kids out there who
would find creating Challenge Contesting a challenge in itself...?
Here's that idea from 2013 if anyone's curious:
http://lists.contesting.com/_cq-contest/2013-12/msg00098.html
Pass it on to the kids...
73,
/Jack de K3FIV
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