[arrl-odv:27688] SS Numbers
Hi all: I took some time and worked a fewhours in the CW Sweepstakes contest a couple of weekends ago. (I won thatcontest many years ago back in my contest days, and even set a new record ortwo as I recall…. :) It’s a fun contest. As you may know, one of theexchanges in the SS contest includes the year in which the operator was licensed.When I looked back at those I worked and the years in which they were licensed,I saw some numbers that concerned me. Specifically, it was a bunch of older licensedhams, and what struck me was the lack of newer licensed hams. The numbers belowindicate the decade and percent worked: 1940’s – 6%1950’s – 17%1960’s – 39%1970’s – 22%1980’s – 4%1990’s – 6%2000’s – 4%2010’s – 2%
From these numbers, you can seethere was a noticeable lack of newer hams that I worked. Perhaps youcould say the “new generation” ham doesn’t like contests. Possibly. Or, maybeyou could go so far as to say these numbers indicate that we can’t attract the “younger hams”(if you assume that newer licensed hams are younger in age thansome of those licensed in the 50-60-70’s). Possibly. But either way, itconcerned me. I realize that statistically this is probably not a validsampling, but it was interesting to look at the numbers. Nonetheless, 84% ofthose I worked were hams from years ago (1940-70’s) and it appeared that the“new generation” was noticeable absent. Think about that. Where’s ournext generation of hams? Thank about how those numbers will look when a lot ofthose older hams die? Where’s the generation behind them? OK, again, maybe theyaren’t contesters, but then where are they? What are they doing? Well, 51% ofhams are Technicians which might tell us something. Things change. I don’t think asimilar distribution would have occurred back when I was working SS in mycontest days. Maybe this is another wakeup call about how the landscape of whatwe look like has changed from my earlier days. Just some food for thought. 73Rick – K5UR
Dear OM Rick - Good observations but don't assume that a CW contest is a good measure of the ages of active hams. Get on this weekend in SS phone and you'll find a very different distribution (many more first license years after 2000). I'm told that Norm/W3IZ has some info based on the SS log data received in the last year or so. He apparently uses it from time to time in talking about contesting to clubs and conventions. I think the report may have been sent to the PSC. I'll pass it along when I get a copy. But, your bottom line question is the right one - we need to do more to involve Tech licensees and license more new hams of all ages. Focus... -- OM Tom At 01:55 AM 11/15/2018, Roderick, Rick, K5UR via arrl-odv wrote:
I took some time and worked a few hours in the CW Sweepstakes contest a couple of weekends ago. (I won that contest many years ago back in my contest days, and even set a new record or two as I recall . :) Itâs a fun contest.
As you may know, one of the exchanges in the SS contest includes the year in which the operator was licensed. When I looked back at those I worked and the years in which they were licensed, I saw some numbers that concerned me. Specifically, it was a bunch of older licensed hams, and what struck me was the lack of newer licensed hams. The numbers below indicate the decade and percent worked:
1940âs 6% 1950âs 17% 1960âs 39% 1970âs 22% 1980âs 4% 1990âs 6% 2000âs 4% 2010âs 2%
From these numbers, you can see there was a noticeable lack of newer hams that I worked. Perhaps you could say the ânew generationâ ham doesnât like contests. Possibly. Or, maybe you could go so far as to say these numbers indicate that we canât attract the âyounger hamsâ (if you assume that newer licensed hams are younger in age than some of those licensed in the 50-60-70âs). Possibly. But either way, it concerned me. I realize that statistically this is probably not a valid sampling, but it was interesting to look at the numbers. Nonetheless, 84% of those I worked were hams from years ago (1940-70âs) and it appeared that the ânew generationâ was noticeable absent.
Think about that. Whereâs our next generation of hams? Thank about how those numbers will look when a lot of those older hams die? Whereâs the generation behind them? OK, again, maybe they arenât contesters, but then where are they? What are they doing? Well, 51% of hams are Technicians which might tell us something.
Things change. I donât think a similar distribution would have occurred back when I was working SS in my contest days. Maybe this is another wakeup call about how the landscape of what we look like has changed from my earlier days.
Just some food for thought.
===== e-mail: k1ki@arrl.org ARRL New England Division Director http://www.arrl.org/ Tom Frenaye, K1KI, P O Box J, West Suffield CT 06093 Phone: 860-668-5444
To follow up on Rick's comments about his SS CW experience, I've attached a graph showing age first licensed for both CW and Phone participants in the 2017 Sweepstakes. The data points are from the callsigns found in all of the logs, not just those who submitted logs. The logs showed 2119 different callsigns on CW and 3858 on Phone. The results article shows the number of actual logs submitted was 1275 CW and 1688 phone. That really shows that on CW there is a fairly limited pool of people to work that are casual operators, while on Phone there is a significantly higher number of stations available to work - and especially those licensed in the last five years. More than anything, it seems to show that Phone is alive and well with new hams while CW is not. -- Tom At 01:55 AM 11/15/2018, Roderick, Rick, K5UR via arrl-odv wrote:
Hi all:
I took some time and worked a few hours in the CW Sweepstakes contest a couple of weekends ago. (I won that contest many years ago back in my contest days, and even set a new record or two as I recall . :) Itâs a fun contest.
As you may know, one of the exchanges in the SS contest includes the year in which the operator was licensed. When I looked back at those I worked and the years in which they were licensed, I saw some numbers that concerned me. Specifically, it was a bunch of older licensed hams, and what struck me was the lack of newer licensed hams. The numbers below indicate the decade and percent worked:
1940âs 6% 1950âs 17% 1960âs 39% 1970âs 22% 1980âs 4% 1990âs 6% 2000âs 4% 2010âs 2%
From these numbers, you can see there was a noticeable lack of newer hams that I worked. Perhaps you could say the ânew generationâ ham doesnât like contests. Possibly. Or, maybe you could go so far as to say these numbers indicate that we canât attract the âyounger hamsâ (if you assume that newer licensed hams are younger in age than some of those licensed in the 50-60-70âs). Possibly. But either way, it concerned me. I realize that statistically this is probably not a valid sampling, but it was interesting to look at the numbers. Nonetheless, 84% of those I worked were hams from years ago (1940-70âs) and it appeared that the ânew generationâ was noticeable absent.
Think about that. Whereâs our next generation of hams? Thank about how those numbers will look when a lot of those older hams die? Whereâs the generation behind them? OK, again, maybe they arenât contesters, but then where are they? What are they doing? Well, 51% of hams are Technicians which might tell us something.
Things change. I donât think a similar distribution would have occurred back when I was working SS in my contest days. Maybe this is another wakeup call about how the landscape of what we look like has changed from my earlier days.
Just some food for thought.
73 Rick K5UR _______________________________________________ arrl-odv mailing list arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org https://reflector.arrl.org/mailman/listinfo/arrl-odv
===== e-mail: k1ki@arrl.org ARRL New England Division Director http://www.arrl.org/ Tom Frenaye, K1KI, P O Box J, West Suffield CT 06093 Phone: 860-668-5444
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