I think we missed the boat with NPOTA. I was pretty much inactive from
2012 -November of this year. I found NPOTA and have really enjoyed it.
It is not contesting and I appreciate the people spending their hard
earned money activating those sites. There are a few contester types
that are activators and those sure run more smoothly. If you like to
run rate there are place that are very desired. The contesting
community or clubs could have showcased their ability to set up a good
station with good antennas and good ops and show of what we do and who
we are. Maybe some did? I have about a month of NPOTA experience but I
have not seen where this community has done much with it. We
(contesters) could have activated a vast number of these sites over a
weekend day or days and made quite an impact.
My grandfather got me interested in radio and I was lucky enough to have
a teacher like Carol who was a ham and who held radio classes at the
Junior High School. About 6 of us got licensed. While we were a club,
there was not much club activity other than the classes and we did not
have a station at the school. The teacher also allowed us to come down
to the science rooms during the free part of lunch and learn code, talk
radio etc. Without that I doubt I would have got my license. I also
had a number of neighbors close by that helped me with radios, what to
buy, what to put up, what to do when and why. One of them got me into
contesting when I showed up at his house and he was working the 10-10
qso party and then introduced me to others that liked contesting. I also
had a friend that was a couple of years older that had his license and
he invited us over to learn about his radio and he allowed us to make
contacts and we sat and copied CW. One neighbor was into SSTV but that
was rather boring other than the naughty pictures that were produced!
This neighbor also piqued my interest in computers and basic
programming. I guess I was pretty lucky to have so many hams in close
proximity to where I lived. We all lived on 3 to 5 acre lots so we had
the ability to put antennas in trees or on telephone poles, towers etc.
W0MU
On 12/19/2016 3:23 PM, Carol Richards wrote:
Hello all,
First, I am a not so young ham; licensed when I was 12. Like many of
my generation I grew up in a row house in a very large city. TV's were
black and white, and some color TV's in big furniture cabinets were
just making their appearnce. There was no cable TV, but lots of rusted
TV antennas and rabbit ears( for those who remember). There really
wan't much to do then. My parents controlled the TV ( all 4 channels).
I only had 1 hobby...coin collecting! I then met another boy about two
years older and only five blocks away. Not only was he into coin
collecting, but he was also a ham; very small world. Like me, He also
lived in a row house. This boy named Larry, was into something called
ham radio. Out of sheer luck, he introduced me to the hobby, and
mentored me for my license, helped me build a transmitter, loaned me a
receiver, and somehow got the blessings from my parents to put up a
40m dipole across 4 roof tops.
This story is not unique, but he did something more. He invited me to
join a club that was all teenagers. This was my intro into contesting,
A few years later, if I promised to have my extra class license, he
would introduce me to the world of a big-time multi-op contest
station; i.e.,W3BES later W3GM. I had never seen 100 foot layover
towers, 3 element full sized, monobanders for 40m, monobanders for the
other bands, each on their own separate tower. He nurtured me into
contesting to the point where I kept returning for every major contest
until he beame a SK.
My career took an unexpected twist and I beame a teacher. I set up
free ham radio classes at the high school's night school and had
almost 500 graduates befor I gave it up. Again all of this was before
video games, computers, the internet etc. Many of my students were
young and acompanied their parents.
Bottom line...
My enthusiasm, spilled over and infected my students. They all got on
the air with few distractions.
Often the "children" surpassed their parents.
It was a hobby the entire family could enjoy.
Today, most of them are still active, and contesting became a family
endeavor.
These students were nurtured into contesting. Many ended up at the big
multi-op stations for contests, and many also began trying contesting
on their own from modest low-power stations.
Winning was never a goal. It was the excitement of just making lots
and lots of qsos with people as close as their own town or very far away.
Patience, nurturing, and mentoring were the keys. Today things are
different. Our young people have too many other ways to occupy their
time. Instead of clubs, they get pushed into a VEC session, get their
licenses on the spot, and more often than not, thats where everything
ends. There are very few clubs that provide activities for them;
beyond field day. The meetings are run by the elder states-people, and
sometimes, picnics are held during the summer months at the home of
these same old people. If I go to a summer picnic, my-grown up
children and even my grandchildren, bring their i-phones and tablets
just to keep themselves occupied. They could care less about the
monster antennas and big stations. Their interests come from instant
gratification and derived from "their kind of activities".
Fortunately, educators today are just beginning to understand what
21st century teaching is all about. Our hobby and its rewards are
still 20th century. That is the disconnect that exists today. We need
to do more. The same excitement that drew us into contesting is
contageous if we let it become that. Camping or traveling to rare
counties, or summits, or even the NPOA event can do more to regaining
that enthusiasm. We as a community must begin, with baby steps, to
translate and transfer the excitement that we had.
Carol
----- Original Message ----- From: "Jack Haverty" <k3fiv@arrl.net>
To: <cq-contest@contesting.com>
Sent: Monday, December 19, 2016 3:08 PM
Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] Observations of a young ham
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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