Time to add a few comments to this tread...

My personal feeling is one way to turn Ham Radio around is to make it
into a Sport (like it has become anyway). Yes Contesting is a Sport so
why not push this aspect more than anything. Yes CW Contesting takes
skill that needs to be learned just like any other Sport and takes
practice and more practice. Good Phone Contesting also take skill and
practice. So I believe we need to take this to the schools, get it set
up as an extra curriculum, get scholarships set up for college, etc......

This could be the future of Ham radio or at least for the HF bands.