Subj : Gaming the Amateur Radio Digital Modes
To   : QST
From : ARRL de WD1CKS
Date : Fri Jun 21 2024 08:56 pm

 06/21/2024 

Ever played poker over FT8? YouTuber Steve McGrane, KM9G
(@temporarilyoffline[1]), and his friends at the YouTube channel Coffee and Ham
Radios (@coffeeandhamradios[2]) do. They even livestream it monthly on the
channel Frequency Frenzy (@FreqFrenzy[3]). They've devised a system of
automatically assigning values to QSO data from amateur radio digital mode
contacts that corresponds with playing cards. The www.frequencyfrenzy.live[4]
website uses the contest rules to display each participant's poker hand. They
run the events as sprint contests. Often, they are each in the same room
together as they operate and "play" poker. "One of the things we had chosen FT8
for was we could have that camaraderie and bring us together as a group," said
McGrane.

The possibilities don't end at poker. Since their contest rules just assign
values from the QSOs, many games could be incorporated into the activity. Bingo
is in development. It's not just fun and games, it's meant to engage people who
otherwise may not be interested in amateur radio contesting by visualizing the
real-time contest standings through the game. McGrane says recording the points
data in real time is an important aspect of modern contesting. "I've done a
state QSO party, and you don't know what the results are, whether you won,
whether you placed, where you placed, for sometimes a month." With many digital
natives accustomed to instant gratification, the gamification schemes make
radio contesting appealing to a younger generation.

McGrane presented his experiences in the forum Gaming The Amateur Radio Digital