CQ Announces 2021 Hall of Fame Inductees 05/25/2021
CQ has announced six new members to its Amateur Radio Hall of Fame, and two new members each to the DX Hall of Fame and the Contest Hall of Fame. This year’s inductions were conducted online due to event cancellations resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The CQ Amateur Radio Hall of Fame honors individuals who have made significant contributions to amateur radio and radio amateurs who have made significant contributions either to amateur radio, to their professions, “or to some other aspect of life on our planet,”
CQ said. The addition of six new members brings the total number to 339 since the Amateur Radio Hall of Fame was established in 2001.
North American QSO Parties to Recognize Young Contester Entries 04/30/2021
National Contest Journal (
NCJ) will recognize their entries in the North American QSO Party (
NAQP), starting with the August 2021 NAQP CW and NAQP SSB events. Following the lead of Youth on the Air (
YOTA) in International Amateur Radio Union Region 1 (
IARU), operators 25 years old and younger will be highlighted in the results.
The NAQP log upload app and
3830scores.com will include a “Youth (25 and under)” check box. Initially, the young operator designation will apply only to single-operator entries. This is not a separate category. Participants of any age will compete for awards in the regular single-operator category.
Traditional Amateur Radio Contesting Faces a Demographic Cliff 04/08/2021
National Contest Journal (
NCJ) series, “The Demographics of Contesting,” with a post to his Social Circuits blog, called “Lemmings over a Demographic Cliff?” (His original articles appeared in the July/August and September/October 2020 issues of
NCJ.) Howell points to data showing that radio contesters are older than the average ARRL member. Taking into account
information from the Bureau of Labor and Statistics on Leisure Time Use, Howell opines that this should be expected.
“Leisure pursuits are highest during youth and young adulthood but dramatically taper off about ages 25 – 34 until age 55 and over,” Howell said. “This hollowing out of leisure and sport time is a predictable outcome of competing and more important activities.” According to Howell, the main competitor to radio amateurs engaging in on-the-air or workshop activities is television (now more broadly referred to