Joe,
Amateur radio can be a pass time like playing solitaire on a computer. It can
be a hobby like building a model airplane....or it can be a game like any sport
or activity that may involve more than one player. While some may play games
just for the fun of it or to get some exercise, most people keep score and
compare to others - golf, bowling, volleyball, monopoly, football, basketball,
baseball, bridge, etc. The list goes on forever and in every case you are
trying to beat someone or everyone.
Contests are similar to any other activity in which most people keep score.
You may try to beat your own previous performance, beat someone in your area or
compete for the top ten or overall win. You choose your level of competition
and make it just within reach on a good day. Wanting to do your best, in
addition to improving your operator skills, you can also have fun doing what
you can to make your station as efficient as possible and see the results of
your work. This is an area where amateur radio is unlike many of the other
sports. You can buy a new bowling ball or a new deck of cards or a new set of
clubs, but for the most part there is little improvement that can come as a
result of better infrastructure. Better infrastructure coupled with improved
skills makes a huge difference in results and is quite rewarding in sense of
accomplishment.
If someone has any interest in counting countries, states, counties, etc, they
will want to operate contests to build those numbers. As for the underlying
purpose of amateur radio, observe the non contest operator at FD passing
traffic versus a top notch contester and evaluate what the difference would be
in case of an emergency.
73...Stan, K5GO
> On Jun 17, 2015, at 4:23 PM, Joe <nss@mwt.net> wrote:
>
> I'm putting together a flyer that we can give out at club meetings, Field
> Day, any amateur event. It is to help try to get more people into contesting.
>
> So I'm looking for ideas as to why someone should do contests.
>
> Anyone?
>
> Joe WB9SBD
> --
> Sig
> The Original Rolling Ball Clock
> Idle Tyme
> Idle-Tyme.com
> http://www.idle-tyme.com
> _______________________________________________
> CQ-Contest mailing list
> CQ-Contest@contesting.com
> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/cq-contest
_______________________________________________
CQ-Contest mailing list
CQ-Contest@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/cq-contest
|