Again, I realized there were less numbers of contesters joining it. Compared with several years ago, there had been very few club stations this year. Where have all the university clubs gone? JA3YBK, JA9YBA, JA2YKA or JA7YAA etc. At least, while I was listening those bands, I could never hear any of them. It has been a long time since I heard a local contest station JA1YPA, which had been built in the mountain area and operated by local hams enthusiastic for contests.
The university clubs used to be cradle for young contesters and a few CW operators back in '80s through '00s. Their inactivity may mean there won't be serious contesters and CW operators born among the next generation, I am afraid. I heard some of old calls which had been famous for their efforts in contests for the past decades. They must be around their 70s of age or even older.
In contrast with this paucity of young contesters in our country, there were a bit of more activity in East and Southeast Asia like BY, HL, HS, DU or YC etc. Is this reflecting that amateur radio activity is generally lessened greatly in our country? Or is it inherent to the less activity in contests? I don't have any demographical date regarding this point. Will the activity in the other parts of Asia compensate the deficit in our country?
I am concerned more of the future of conversational CW in our country. Quite some radio amateurs are enjoying it in Japanese Morse code. Most of them are retirees and may disappear from this hobby so soon. What is responsible for this change? Is there anything we could do against this trend?
Rod, one of my elmers, K5BGB kindly sent me his comment to this post as follows;
ReplyDeleteYour final comment about the "trend" is not restricted to the JA ops,
but to
my way of thinking, it's a worldwide trend, I'm sad to say. The 5NN TU
so-called QSOs are becoming the norm so it appears and that trend is d
ue
purely to the never-ending contests. I'm not a gambler, but if I was,
I'd
bet the majority of the 5NN TU self-proclaimed expert CW operators are
not
capable of conversational QSOs. I would suspect the greater majority o
f
these 5NN TU types use a computer reader and a keyboard programmed for
contests. Many might not even own a keyer paddle!!
Thanks you, Rod. I am glad to share the same view with you.
ReplyDeleteNowadays, the bands are quiet even if they are open to DX. Needless to say this. But, honestly speaking, I feel myself losing interests in this hobby as time passes and this trend becomes more and more conspicuous.
Anyway, no use complaining of this trend. We should go on operating CW even if it is on the process of extinction in the world.
May we be able to meet, possibly, in your sked with VK3CWB. Wishing you and Celia happy and healthy days. Thanks again for your visit to this blog.
Shin
I was trained in JA8YBY for the contest more than 30 years ago. I miss the club which was closed some years ago. However, I can understand that olde operators may not be interested in the fully-PC-supported contest operation. I my days, log and multiplier list were on pepers and multiple operator includes those who support the main operator by checking multipliers with other RXs. As we were poor, we could not buy electri keyers for all the TXs and I often operated contests with streight keyer for hours. In my opinion, these "poormen's" operation really develops CW skills which alco can be used in emergency communications and maybe the interests of old contesters.
ReplyDeleteFor conversational QSOs, I try sending my operator name only once, together with 599, to see if the operator calling is capable of handling something other than 599. If he returns his operator name and some other information, sometimes the QSO eventually evolved to the conversational chat. Although the success rates are not high, I found it was the best way to call CQ for "normal" QSOs.
(I tried to put the comments in your Japanese Blog. However, it seems authentification system with number input does not work and I never had success.)
73
Tak,
DeleteThanks for the comment. Maybe, I have told you this before. But a good friend of mine, JA1XKM, was a graduate from the faculty of med in Hokkaido Univ. He told me he had been involved in the activity of JA8YBY. It was the time when JA8IMN was another member there. Maybe a decade or two prior to your activity there. JA1XKM went SK some ten years ago.
Testing the other's reception capability sounds interesting. But couldn't you recognize it in the style of the QSO itself? I have been disappointed too much nowadays and won't do anything as for their capability.
Keep up your activity. I have talked to a young, still 48 years old, CW operator in Melbourne the other day. He was anxious to improve his skill. With his modest set up, a barefoot with a low dipole, he seems to find good company to enjoy and develop CW skill. The path for VK is always good not dependent on solar activity as you know. You may have something common with him. He is VK3OU.
Shin