Why Do You Contest?

More people living with the "Illusion of Superiority"

There is no such thing as an equal/fair competition, but the Sheeple have been brainwashed since grade school to believe life is about defeating others in life.

 

Brainwashed? I don't believe so. A competitive nature is something inherent to most human beings...

 

If one is looking for equal opportunity you are in the right country if one is looking for equal outcome might want to consider moving on people Thank God are different and their efforts result in different outcomes.

 

"DADBURNED CORNTESTERS!!!! Just wrecking the bands!!!"

 

You're talking about the net-a-holics I'm sure....

 

The OP appears to have some good equipment and antennas. I expect though, he didn't use it this past weekend. If so, that would be a waste.

vy 73,
Bryan WA7PRC

 

That is the reason why I have dabbled in contests off and on since I've upgraded, to make contacts.

This weekend I had other things to do though, and although I did have some time in front of the radio at times, it wasn't enough to make it worth submitting a log, so I didn't bother.

I was actually glad to see our bands being utilized. In the week prior to it, I'd come home from work and mostly find dead air.

It may annoy some, but I had no issue making some contacts with people I normally ragchew with on 20. All the 'testers were 295 or below for the most part. Got on 14.320 and no nearby noise at all during a whole QSO, and it lasted a good 45 minutes.

I guess some of the other near and dear bands may have been a bit full, but I had no issues at all.

I just didn't bother with it, I figure if I'm going to make some contacts in a contest I'll put a few hours into it and give people some points so maybe they will bother QSLing. Otherwise I just let it be.

I'm not out for the paper, for sure, and probably never will be. I listened to some guys this weekend....they were doing 3 a minute. My pace is more like one every 3 minutes or so. No thanks. I do it very casually if at all.

 

the fcc says it quite well

For those net-a-holics who think that they have a God given right to monopolize a frequency:

source: http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2014/db0722/DA-14-1030A1.pdf

Apparently some folks just don't seem to understand that point.

 

What contest? Everybody hates contesting!

Does anyone want to contest that?

 

Question: K9RUF - "Why do you contest?"

Answer: N4UM

I've seldom operated contests very much for the past 30 years and on those rare occasions when I still do, it is a very casual effort. I can tell you, however, why I did operate contests in the previous 30 years - but you're not gonna like it... simply because it was fun and I enjoyed doing it. I thought it was fun because I thought it was fun... kind of a Zen thing. I don't think anyone owes you an explanation of why they think it's fun especially after you pontificate with a lengthy diatribe about an activity that so many hams enjoy under the pretext of seeking enlightenment and understanding. Get serious and go back under your bridge

At about 2 AM one morning about 30 years ago during a contest I asked myself why I was sitting there struggling with QRM, QRN and lack of sleep when it wasn't fun any more. So, I turned the rig off, got up and walked away from any sort of serious contesting for the next 3 decades. For me, it just wasn't fun any more. But, not everybody feels that way.


My son enjoys contesting. Some of my best friends are very serious about contesting. I understand why they feel that way even though I no longer do. I don't watch NASCAR racing, football, or reality TV but I understand why others do. I don't like rap music, Hawaiian music or romance novels but I understand why others do. You don't have to have a Ph.D. in Empathy to understand that, do you? I smoked 3 packs of Luckies a day for 25 years. Then I quit - but I still understand why people smoke.

You attack an activity that thousands of your fellow hams enjoy under the guise of saying that you "genuinely want to know." I don't believe you. Have you no adaptive skills? Does it always have to be your way or the highway? If it's a phone contest, can't you go on CW? If it's a CW contest, can't you go on phone? Can't you go on the WARC bands. Surely you must realize that non-WARC bands only fill up with contesters 3 or 4 times a year. Learn to go with the flow. You're not 3 years old any more.

I suspect that deep down inside, you may be rather puritanical and it just bothers you to see other people enjoying themselves. If you don't like ham radio the way that it is .. find another hobby or try to change what it is that you don't like. If you're seriously trying to change things you would do well to go about it somewhat differently. Are you seriously trying to change things? I genuinely want to know. Not really.

 

It must have been a real shock to the OP to find that there was very little sympathy to be found here for his rant.

That is what usually happens to the anti-contest rants though. They appear here, usually from someone one with a low post count, who then fires off a missive and disappears.

Happens all the time, most often after a phone contest...

Oh, Well..

73 Gary

 

You lost me at "herpes". Everyone has their own likes and dislikes, and yours isn't any more or less valid than anyone else's. I learned that things I don't like aren't "bad" because I don't like them when I was in elementary school...

 

I’m not a troll, I don’t live under a bridge and I didn’t crawl out from under a rock. I’m a real person who doesn’t contest and really dislikes them. Writing on this discussion group is my way of going berserk after hearing one too many contests. I finally figured out where contesters go when they aren’t contesting. They hang on out these discussion groups. Many of you have posts in the thousands, wow… Someone said I will never get contesting because I’m not a contester and that’s probably the best way to frame my disagreement. As a kid who lost his dad in a car accident when I was 4, I never had that competitive thing taught to me by my mom. As I grew up I was bullied because of it so if I have a choice of avoiding those situations I will. I know you guys poke fun at the rest of us as a bunch of hams on death’s door with medical maladies. Remember, you’ll get old some day too. Even though it seems nets don’t accomplish much they serve as a well being check and perhaps the only social outlet for many hams. I hope some day someone can figure out this contesting mess because there’s many out there who feel the way I do but they’ve given up. I’m just one of the few who stuck his neck out. Some of you will have fun with this but I’m seriously thinking of leaving the hobby or as some hams have done, take a couple decades off.

 

I don't understand someone that doesn't understand everybody likes different stuff. And I really don't understand why someone would setup such a nice station (amplifier, tall tower, beams) just to get out of the hobby!