You can quote all the anecdotes you want but the stats tell the story.
Steam and other video game platforms (essentially hosts for a huge
number of games) actively track concurrent users ... i.e., simultaneous
users. Depending upon when and how the numbers are tallied, they add up
to ON AVERAGE between 20 and 50 million people worldwide playing at the
same time ... at any point in time. By comparison, the most popular ham
radio contests (CQWW CW and SSB) had a TOTAL of 35,000 participants over
the course of two weekends (no data on concurrent players). You do the
math.
About 55% of gamers are under age 35. The great majority of hams are 60
or older, with the average age now pushing 70 years.
Define "short attention span". I've seen young gamers play through
until dawn without realizing it. Besides, there isn't anything that
says all contests need to be an exercise in physical survival, and I
guarantee that a very large percentage of the hams showing up for a
major contest don't spend more hours in it than literally a thousand
times more video gamers do in the same time frame.
I still like ham radio contests, but it seems to me that there is room
for a different type of contest (additional and optional) that still
uses RF but manages to borrow enough from the video game world to appeal
to folks who aren't likely to die in the next dozen years.
Dave AB7E
On 8/15/2025 10:30 AM, Jeff Clarke wrote:
I think the #1 way to recruit youngsters into amateur radio, at least
in the USA, is the same way we did years ago - ARRL Field Day. I've
seen many non-ham young people show up at the FD that K4BAI operate at
with our local non-contesting club in Columbus, GA. Many of them seem
to think it's pretty cool and some have gone on to get their licenses.
The local club here, W4CVY, always makes it a priority to have the
GOTA station staffed letting non-hams to experience amateur radio in
real time. Maybe invite a Boy Scout group to your Field Day so they
can get their radio badge.
I also think it's wonderful with what Tim,K3LR does letting young hams
operate at his superstation. When I was in my late teens as a member
of the Mad River Radio Club we had many Multi-Ops at nice stations I
got invited to. KS8S, K8AZ/K8NZ, AC8E, W8FN, K8CC, W8AV and K3LR come
to mind. Those experiences developed me into the decent contester I am
today. We currently have 15 year old Jake, WV4AM (W9SN's grandson)
operate regularly with us at WW4LL. He's turning into a very good
operator. The nice thing about Fred's station is it's 100% remote over
the internet. That would eliminate concerns parents might have about a
young person traveling somewhere where most of the guys are older. We
also had Bryant, KG5HVO operate at WW4LL before he when off to
college. I encourage anyone who has a nice contest station to seek out
young hams to operate and mentor them.
There's also the David Kalter Memorial Youth DX Adventure. My good
friend Geoff Howard, W0CG has hosted this several times at the PJ2T
contest station. Greg, W6IZT is also very involved in recruiting young
hams to participate in a DXpedition. I believe all the expenses are
paid thru donations. They will be operating as PJ6Y in October this
year. If a big pileup from a DX location doesn't inspire you I don't
know what would!
Kudos to all these guys I mentioned and others I might've missed to
have the vision on how important it is to get today's youth involved
to keep amateur radio and contesting alive.
Many have mentioned technology (making contesting similar to gaming)
in this email thread. Unfortunately today's generation of youth have a
short attention span. It they had to choose between gaming and a 24 or
48 radio contest I think gaming would win out every time.
Jeff KU8E
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