Tag: amateur radio

Contest Modernization

I have an idea that I just want to get out the door before I forget.

Contest Modernization.

First of all, check out CQContest.net.

It’s kind of complicated at first, but it’s actually really cool. It’s a real-time contest score tracker. You can see the scores and band breakdowns of radio contesters in real time as a contest is going. I don’t have a users guide handy, but it behooves you to click around and see what is happening on the site. There is TONS of data and analytics on every station. I recommend getting an account so you can access anything that says “user” on the side.

Now, go check out CJ Johnson, WT2P’s YouTube Channel where he livestreams contests. They’re not very exciting, and don’t get many views. For example:

Put 2 and 2 together.

I propose Contest Modernization be a movement to publicize and further gamify ham radio contesting. The live contest score server is the “hub” and each contester can choose to livestream their operation on Twitch.tv.

If you want to do this, I suggest getting OBS (which is a free livestreaming program other Twitch gamers use) and a Twitch account, and hook up your station and PC in such a way that listeners can hear RX and TX audio as well as your voice for commentary, and see your face, your score summary, your logger, and if there’s room, a CQContest.net summary or something.

I would love to demonstrate, but I don’t have a contesting station or the time to make it happen in a short time-frame, so hopefully this post suffices and WT2P or Marty KC1CWF can do it.

I think this would be a great boon to youth engagement. Just look at Twitch.tv. Hundreds of thousands of people watching other people play video games. I think there may be a market in there for us hams too.

And if ham curmudgeons think this will cause the HF bands to be even more crowded, they’re right. IMO, they should be!

Bottom line: contesting is gaming, young people like gaming, so combine the contesting market with the gaming market, and reap the benefits.

👍

A new YouTube Video!!! St. Louis Arch NPOTA Activation

It’s been a while since there were one of these!

Also, Kyle, N0KTK was the ringleader of this activation. He’s got a blog here, also did a video of this activation here:

And he’s got more where that came from.

I also ditched my copy of Vegas because it would crash every bunch of edits, and wouldn’t save right, and it literally made me lose hair. I miss the workflow, but because of it’s price point and popularity, I’m going with Adobe Premiere. I did this using the 7 day trial.

I really love making videos, but doing this one took me exactly 7 hours, 43 minutes, and 10 seconds. From less than 30 minutes of video, and only 4 minutes of a finished product. Editing is hard. But your enjoyment makes it worth it!

NPOTA Activation of St. Louis Arch (NM12)

It’s October and I’ve not made a single NPOTA activation or contact. :O

You can mostly blame it on the fact I live in an apartment, and have been doing lots of traveling this year, and also that it takes a lot of effort to do a NPOTA activation, at least in St. Louis. The guys who set up the Arch activation said it took almost a month to set up a permit to operate. I don’t have the time.

But luckily this past weekend, I did.

The Arch is officially called the Jefferson Expansion National Memorial, commemorated for St. Louis’s role in westward expansion in the 19th century (i.e. the Gateway to the West) as well as Dred Scott’s case for his freedom in the Old Courthouse just west of the Arch.

The famous courthouse, and little tiny us.
The famous courthouse, and little tiny us.

Kyle N0KTK, Scott ND9E, and Chris WX5CW invited me to operate their station set up on the southwest corner of the current construction. The NPOTA designator for the park is NM-12. As of this writing, it’s responsible for 12 activations and 736 QSOs. I was responsible for 118 new ones!

20m dipole and 40m Alpha Antenna loaded vertical
20m dipole and 40m Alpha Antenna loaded vertical were our antennas. We also had a backup 40m dipole. Nearby LED lighting was pretty loud!

They had 2 stations, and activated 40m and 20m on CW and SSB.

Let me tell you, out of every contest I’ve worked I have never heard such pileups. Even with our 20′ high dipole and 100 watts in the middle of a city…it was exhilarating!

I brought my camera with me and took video, but didn’t get any half-decent audio of the radio. The surrounding area was super noisy because of road and construction noise, so forcing an operator to take off his headphones wasn’t a good idea. But seriously. Imagine 20 or 30 people all screaming their name at the same time.

Kyle N0KTK orchestrated the whole event.
Kyle N0KTK orchestrated the whole event.

It was super fun. Altogether I made about 118 QSOs in an hour and a half. We had about 20 people ask us how to get to the arch, but a handful of hams and non-hams came up and chatted with us.

I really appreciate the impromptu opportunity to run the station there. It was a lot of fun! What have I been doing all year?!?

Read my archives to answer that question. 😁