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Pressed for time on a variety of fronts, and admittedly burned out on ham radio contests, top notch contester Scott Robbins W4PA says he has decided to move his life away from amateur radio contesting.
"There simply isn't enough time to do all the things I want or need to do, so some things have to give. Radio contesting is only one of them that has to go," Robbins wrote on his blog "Those Damn Contesters Have Ruined Ham Radio."
"Being gone on extended trips, burning up vacation time to run contests, weekends in front of the radio where I'm finished and think "Gee, you know, that really wasn't any fun at all." -- there is no point to continuing. There is no reward."
"I have to quit doing it."
In an email to radio-sport.net, Robbins said he had no second thoughts as hams competed in the CQ WW DX SSB test, saying he didn't even turn on his radio that weekend.
"I've done the right thing," said Robbins.
"I really most of all need a break not from radio contesting specifically, but a break from putting constant pressure on myself to achieve results from activities that are non-essential," Robbins wrote on his blog.
Robbins certainly isn't the first and won't be the last contester to suddenly pull back from radiosport and decide to focus on other things.
Paul Hellenberg K4JA had developed his station in Virginia into a contest force, but then suddenly announced in 2004 that he was leaving amateur radio in order to go back to drag racing.
An even more current example is the re-appearance of Rich Smith N6KT, who holds the record for most wins in CQ WW SSB with seven.
Smith last won that contest in 2000, but since then turned his focus on other pursuits.
Then he suddenly showed up at HC8A in March and won the ARRL DX SSB Contest, besting Tom Georgens 8P5A, which may have happened again in CQ WW SSB.
"It is great to see Rich N6KT competing again," Georgens said. "The sport is better for it."
Whether Robbins returns at a later date is always a possibility. He will still be working at Ten-Tec.
"I'm going to miss radio contesting," Robbins wrote in the days before CQ WW SSB. "It's been at the top of my priority list for more than a decade now. Those priorities have to change, immediately."
"I had been trying all year to kind of disengage from contesting without really saying it," Robbins told radio-sport.net. "Putting it in writing on the Internet really was a good idea."
As contesters around the world were busy preparing for the CQ WW SSB Contest, Scott Robbins W4PA was using the internet to announce that he was giving up on serious ham radio contesting. Here are some excerpts from his blog.
"I've gotten lost."
All I can ever think about is the amount of work to be done, the things to be accomplished, the this that and the other thing in an adrenaline rush that has essentially dictated the progress of my life over the past 13 years.
It has gotten to the point where I don't do anything else but plot the next move, the next deal, the next whatever it is. I don't focus on things I read any more. I can't sit still long enough to watch a TV program. I bounce my knee up and down endlessly waiting for the next "it".
I don't hear things my wife and little girl are telling me.... I have to learn to say NO to myself. It's really that simple."
I'm happy. I'm healthy. I'm going to be happier and healthier in the aftermath of the decision that I'm making -- and that decision is that I am stepping away, until further notice, in participating in competitive radio contesting...
"I'm going to miss radio contesting. Really, really miss the adrenaline rush. It's been at the top of my priority list for more than a decade now. Those priorities have to change, immediately."
"Radio contesting is only one of them that has to go; there are others unrelated to radio contesting that have to be cut loose as well. Radio contesting is easy to jettison because I simply don't have any more enthusiasm left for continuing to pursue it at this time.
"Being gone on extended trips, burning up vacation time to run contests, weekends in front of the radio where I'm finished and think "Gee, you know, that really wasn't any fun at all." -- there is no point to continuing.
"There is no reward. I have to quit doing it."
