In amateur radio, there is a segment of radio amateurs who like to engage in competitive operating events; colloquially known as Radiosport, or contests. During a contest event, radio operators (individually or collectively as a team) endeavor to contact as many stations participating in the event during the operating period. Events can be as short as 4 hours, or 12-24 hours – to maximum of 48 hours, for worldwide events.
Radiosport encourages amateurs to improve operating skills as a function of emergency preparedness. Around the world there are thousands of operators who take radio sport seriously, often investing 100’s of thousands of dollars in radio equipment, antennas and station locations, to create the most incredibly efficient radio stations imaginable.
Radio clubs often compete against one another by recruiting the best-of-the-best operators to man those stations. These operators are so good that a team’s winning high score often just BARELY eclipses that of the competition. As a result team leaders are looking for edge-producing things that can be done to improve the operating efficiency of the individual operators. For the 21st century, that edge-producer is neurofeedback.
I propose a research study wherein a group of radio operators receive be-4/after brainmaps with 10 – 20 sessions of neurofeedback to maximize their brain efficiency. This group will be in comparison to one or more control groups who do not receive neurofeedback.
The hypothesis in this study is to examine the degree to which neurofeedback can improve an individual’s brain performance endurance after a number of hours “in the chair”. Additionally we will measure the reduction in operating mistakes made by the operators utilizing neurofeedback. Secondarily, when an operator experiences disorientation and/or fatigue we want to examine the degree to which 10-15 minutes of on-the-spot neurofeedback can alleviate these problems, allowing them to continue. As a third possibility operators can engage in 5 – 10 minutes of low-impact exercise to improve blood flow, thereby reducing fatigue.
Performance can be evaluated by spreadsheeting the operator performance statistics kept by the logging programs during the radiosport events. Additionally, we can evaluate the overall contest scores produced by the individuals (if solo) or the group, when running in multiple-operator mode.
We have seen how neurofeedback has been used to improve sports performance of soccer teams, tennis players and individual golfers. There is every reason to believe that the same thing can happen in radiosport. It is my opinion that top operators and team members would be willing to invest significantly in activities that will take their operating skills to the next level.
Having the best radio station installations in the world is a waste if the operators themselves are producing sluggish results.
Ron
WQ6X
