In a recent blog post, Frank Howell K4FMH did a detailed analysis of entrants to the ARRL Sweepstakes Contests for the past 20 years. The overall result is that those taking part in the contest are getting older rapidly.
The ARRL provided data, including Date-of-Birth, for the study which shows the average age of both CW and SSB contesters has increased by some 15 years since 2000.
The chart above shows the dramatic shift in age of participants and it's not hard to see that there will be a dramatic change in the next two decades.
Whatever about contesting on SSB, contesting on CW is highly skilled at it requires operators to use high speed morse for long periods of time. It takes years for people to get that proficient.
I suspect the impending demise will be first felt in CW contests and then SSB later on. If I had to guess then I think we'll probably see a rise in contests using digital modes as this will be more attractive to newer contesters.
Looking at the stats in the chart, I suspect we will see big changes in the next decade.
It's probably fair to point out that contesting is a very polarizing subject and many will not see the decline in contesting as a problem.
You can view Frank's original blog post HERE
1 comment:
It would be interesting to see the number of people as well. What I read most out of this is that the majority of contesters from 20 years ago are probably still contesting. CW is a curiosity for most. I'm on the bad side of 50 now and it was never more than that. I actually tried really hard for probably a year, didn't really get anywhere with it. Didn't really care.
We can't get the fresh young blood into this hobby that it so desperately needs to stay alive if we keep trying to force completely outdated, outmoded, and generally obsolete forms of communication on a generation that was likely born with video streaming instantaneously wireless from a pocket sized device to friends and relatives around the world with nearly 100% certainty it will work.
Amateur radio *used* to be the leader in communications technology and paved the way for MANY commercial enterprises and that's what made it SO d*** cool and attracted so many people. Think about the old-timers trying to force cw and rtty on gen-z'ers next time you are wondering why they aren't interested.
This hobby needs to seriously change it's mindset to survive, because really the only things to do anymore are to spend a bunch of money on pretty much the same the things that were done, 20, 50, even 100 years ago.
K9RDU
Post a Comment