Contesting--why??????

A non-contester may question what the point in contesting is?

Personal achievement is one. You may be a little pistol or pop-gun contester, that has no hope of placing in the top ten in the contest, however you can measure your worth against your peers, or your score from the previous year.

Contests are a good way to learn propagation on a band. Your QTH may have openings to areas that you don't normally see because of low activity, but during a contest, you may see new openings....for example you may have a 15 meter opening into JA land around 1am to 3 am local time...you wouldn't know that normally, but if you find that during a contest, that gives you some knowledge to check post contest and allow you to work DX easily when others are slugging it out on a lower band.

Contests allow you to get more familiar with your equipment. The HF radios nowdays have lots of functions and whistles and bells that you may not use in day to day ham radio use. Those buttons have a use, and during a contest is a good time to learn....learn how to use the PBT or the EQ, experiment and learn your radio!!!

Maybe you could care less about racking up a big score, contests are a good way to add countries to your DXCC total, counties to your county hunters total, states to your WAS, or just about any award that is out there, a contest can probably help you raise those totals.

So if you don't care about big scores, get on anyway and operate casually, add to your totals and help out the contesters! Even if you make a few QSO's please make sure and submit a log. That way a station doesn't get penalized if you only make a few QSOs.....

A lot of non-contesters will gripe about the amount of contests held.....there is some validity to this, as if you look there is usually several contests held each weekend of the year.....however, the thing non-contesters need to understand is that the contesters play a part in keeping our bands active and safer from being reallocated. With spectrum space so valuable and we lost 220 and part of 440 now with the Pave Paw Radar issue, we need to keep a healthy presence on our bands so that our frequencies are not looked at for re-allocation.

This is something all hams can play a part in, not just contesters. We need to keep active on our bands.

For myself, a contest is like an orchestra playing a song. Each person has its part in the song and each part is needed. Beautifully sent exchanges are like the conductor pulling sections in at the right time and at the end of the "concert" (contest) you have a good feeling and enjoyment.

So even if you are not a contester, dip your toes in the water and check it out. Go at your own speed, whatever makes you most comfortable. HAVE FUN