RadioBanter - The "newcomer quotient" --- a serious policy question

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The "newcomer quotient" --- a serious policy question

**** you and your "morse" you sick cocksucker.i like to drop the mall
on your dit-dit ass. you ****ing freak.
KØHB wrote:
"an old friend" wrote

inventing better contests might be a start

I was more interested in activity in general, not just contests, but hey,that's
a fair comment.

What would make a "better contest" for you, especially as it would relateto
newcomers? What features of current contests interest you and what features
annoy you? What would you add that would cause you to send in a log?

73, de Hans, K0HB

The "newcomer quotient" --- a serious policy question

KØHB wrote:
"an old friend" wrote

maybe a contest where the points were on how long
you were able to hold a contact how much airtime
you were able to fill with a near stanger

Be interesting to see how you could set up the scoring matrix...... If it was
simply length of contact (not the amount of information exchanged) then the real
slow talkers/slow senders would win. A built in advantage for southerners!

well itcould certainly promote slow code use

Would you have an upper limit on a contact length, and would the scoring be
linear...... for example 1 point per each 30 seconds of each contact, or
hockey-stick scoring with 1 point for 30 seconds, 5 points for one minute, 100
points for five minutes, and a bazzilion points for an hour?

very likely some upper length and likely in blockmaybe linear maybe not

part of the point is to avoid the Salm bang thank you maam feeling I
get at FD and the few other contests I have been in

What would you use for multipliers?

The thought occurs that newcomers are often somewhat mic-shy --- would they be
drawn to this kind of activity?

peronsonaly I am looking forward to being able to effectively bein
things likke a RTTY contest I have heard of or id love to see some
kind of SSTV contest althought the noise would likely drive everyone
else nuts but collecting for contest a number of SSTV images and maybe
some kind of multipliers like FD added to something for the igmage
quality perhaps

BTW congrats on sparking some On topic stuff here Hans well done

73, de Hans, K0HB

The "newcomer quotient" --- a serious policy question

KØHB wrote:
Just finished another annual running to the two-weekend Sweepstakes contest (one
weekend Morse, one weekend phone).

As many of you know, this contest simulates traffic handling protocols with a
modestly challenging exchange with 5 information elements exchanged in each
direction. One of those elements is a "check" which is a 2-digit number
indicating the year the station was first licensed.

(This doesn't have any direct connection to the age of the operator, but it does
tell you how long they've been licensed.)

During this years contest weekends I was struck by the higher incidence of
"recent checks" in the phone event as compared to the Morse event.

Since I have Cabrillo logs available for the past 5 seasons of Sweepstakes, I
did a quick Excel evaluation looking at the "newcomer" trend of the Sweepstakes
contest. The total data population is right at 10,000 QSO's, so should be
reasonably "statistically relevant".

My intent was to test my hunch about a higher tendency for recent licensees to
be on phone, and that hunch proved true (no particular surprise), but in
addition a much scarier trend rose out of the figures.

The numbers below show the percentage of my QSO's which had a recieved "check"
in the current and 10 previous years (i.e., this year I counted "95" thru"05",
last year "94" through "04", etc.)

(Tabular info best viewed in 'fixed width' font)

Year CW% Phone% Combined%

2001 7.4% 24.0% 17.5%
2002 6.9 18.8 13.5
2003 7.0 14.8 10.9
2004 4.5 14.0 8.7
2005 4.0 14.0 9.9

As I mentioned, it's no surprise that newcomer contesters are more likelyto be
on phone, but the really scary part is that the overall percentages (regardless
of mode) in the "licensed-in-the-last-10-years" are dropping so dramatically,
almost halved in just 5 years.

If the trend of "newcomers active in contesting" is a representative subset of
"newcomers active on the air in general" (as I suspect it is) then the future of
our hobby has a rather disturbing look.

What are we (all of us) going to do to reverse this ominous trend?

--
73, de Hans, K0HB

Newcomers???

I passed my Novice exam in November 1986 and I'm still considered a
newcomer by your OF buddies here. And you ask what might be wrong with
the ARS? Hi, hi!

You're trolling again, right? That was at least an S7.

The "newcomer quotient" --- a serious policy question

N0IMD wrote

It's all about embracing the Morse Code.

Not at all, Brian. It's about getting newcomers involved in on-the-air
activities of any mode.

In fact specifically points out that in 10,000 QSOs, newcomers (at least to this
contest) are most likely to be voice operators by a ratio of over 3:1.

Then it points out what I consider to be a scary wakeup call --- that newcomer
activity in both modes seems to have fallen by half in just a short 5-year
period.

Finally it asks what we (all of us) can do to turn the ship around.

Thanks, Mark and John, for your thoughtful suggestions.

73, de Hans, K0HB

The "newcomer quotient" --- a serious policy question

KB9RQZ wrote

peronsonaly I am looking forward to being able to
effectively bein things likke a RTTY contest I have
heard of

That contest is the first full weekend in January (if memory serves). It's one
of my favorites, but I need to find a better software package for it.

or id love to see some kind of SSTV contest althought
the noise would likely drive everyone else nuts but
collecting for contest a number of SSTV images and
maybe some kind of multipliers like FD added to
something for the igmage quality perhaps

SSTV doesn't have a large pool of users. I wonder if you could interest enough
of them to have a "critical mass" of participants. On the other hand, maybe
having a contest would interest others in the mode. I like your idea of using
"image quality" as a multiplier or "weighting factor" perhaps.

73, de Hans, K0HB

The "newcomer quotient" --- a serious policy question

KØHB wrote:
KB9RQZ wrote

peronsonaly I am looking forward to being able to
effectively bein things likke a RTTY contest I have
heard of

That contest is the first full weekend in January (if memory serves). It's one
of my favorites, but I need to find a better software package for it.

well then i will likely miss it another year even if the R&O come out
quickly they likely will not effective that quickly

or id love to see some kind of SSTV contest althought
the noise would likely drive everyone else nuts but
collecting for contest a number of SSTV images and
maybe some kind of multipliers like FD added to
something for the igmage quality perhaps

SSTV doesn't have a large pool of users. I wonder if you could interest enough
of them to have a "critical mass" of participants. On the other hand, maybe
having a contest would interest others in the mode. I like your idea of using
"image quality" as a multiplier or "weighting factor" perhaps.

SSTV is one of my favorite modes and was my introduction to many of the
hams around here

when we were shoping I would fill my digial cam in the flied and send a
bunch of the pic back to a waiting set up in my hotel room,(to make
some room for more) did drive a couple of the local a bit nuts
listening to them as they monitored the repeater, but one of the
interfaced for it and lo another SSTV was made other installed mute
funtions to the stations (one interfed to a smal stereo with a remote
that inculded Mute functions he and I are geting along even if he
thinks me a bit strange

73, de Hans, K0HB

The "newcomer quotient" --- a serious policy question

"KØHB" wrote in message
k.net...

SSTV doesn't have a large pool of users. I wonder if you could interest
enough of them to have a "critical mass" of participants. On the other
hand, maybe having a contest would interest others in the mode. I like
your idea of using "image quality" as a multiplier or "weighting factor"
perhaps.

Hey Hans I hear the Legion Hall is sponsoring a new drink for the
war story crowd. It is called the "critical mass" special?

Pepe Laurito
Mexican Taco Radio Club

The "newcomer quotient" --- a serious policy question

KØHB wrote:
N0IMD wrote

I passed my Novice exam in November 1986 and I'm still considered a
newcomer by your OF buddies here.

You're not even eligible for QCAO membership! BSEG

which ever gruop they are

but the caste syetm is one of the problemds with the ARS, and why what
ever the cost to our techial standard favor a one class liencense and
nothing in the acceable database to tell how long you have been
liencesed etc

And you ask what might be wrong with the ARS?