Contests?

[woody_46]

Newbie question, Contests?

I'm not a ham operator (or cb operator). I was just curious how the contests work. The bands get pretty crazy during the contests. What are the prizes?

Excuse my lack of knowledge, but i do enjoy Dxing along with the ham operators making contacts. I find it interesting.

 

[woody_46]

Nevermind, found it on the ARRL Website.

 

[zz0468]

Nevermind, found it on the ARRL Website.

Different contests have different sets of rules, so if you're curious, you can look up how they get scored. VHF/UHF contests get scored quite differently than HF contests do, and some (like straight key night) aren't really contests at all.

The prize? Seeing your callsign in QST as the winner.

 

[woody_46]

Thanks for replying

 

[k9rzz]

They SHOULD have prizes. Just think how loud the bands would get then!

 

[zz0468]

They SHOULD have prizes. Just think how loud the bands would get then!

You haven't lived until you've heard a pileup on 10 GHz that sounds like 20 meters on field day.

 

[k9rzz]

Well, 'ya got me there. I am all too familiar with the "hssssssss" that those bands usually provide though.

 

[zz0468]

Well, 'ya got me there. I am all too familiar with the "hssssssss" that those bands usually provide though.

Perhaps I've finally found an advantage to living in California - activity on the microwave bands!

 

[elk2370bruce]

I'm not a ham operator (or cb operator). I was just curious how the contests work. The bands get pretty crazy during the contests. What are the prizes?

Excuse my lack of knowledge, but i do enjoy Dxing along with the ham operators making contacts. I find it interesting.

Check with one of the clubs in your area and see if they are participating in Field Day. Stop by and see how things work at an operating site. Lots of fun, loads to learn, and new friends to make. Who knows, you may get bitten by the ham bug!

 

[woody_46]

Check with one of the clubs in your area and see if they are participating in Field Day. Stop by and see how things work at an operating site. Lots of fun, loads to learn, and new friends to make. Who knows, you may get bitten by the ham bug!

Thanks, I'm one of those guys whose phonecalls last about 5 seconds. I'm not much of a talker. However DXing is usually short contacts which would be okay for me.

I'm currently in college to be a PC technician, but after I'm done I could check into it further. I've been tearing radios apart since a kid. Even repaired antique radios for a while as a hobby.

 

[texasemt13]

Thanks, I'm one of those guys whose phonecalls last about 5 seconds. I'm not much of a talker.

I was the same way on the phone- still am. But once I got my ticket I was all over the radio. I can chew on a repeater for awhile, and find it a very interesting skill to develop talking to complete strangers (unless you visit the same repeaters or same frequencies). Once you figure out how to talk to a "stranger" (I say stranger but we both have amateur radio in common) it becomes easy...

I also second the suggestion to find a local field day event near you (June 25-27, 2010, all over the world).

 

[woody_46]

Thanks Tex! Appreciate the encouragement from you guys.

 

[gcgrotz]

Contests

The ARRL DX contest is fun, as is November Sweepstakes. It is a good way to sharpen your skills, and many DX stations are on that may be hard to work outside of a contest. It also helps newbies get those last states for Worked All States and such.

My personal favorite is CQ magazine's WPX contest in late March where the goal is to work callsign prefixes and not just states/countries/zones. It makes it very wide open where you can work people all day and night, DX or not. I had fun on 40 meters (7100-7300KHz) during the day getting prefixes on the east coast. They all count.

Work on that license and join us. in the CQ-WPX contest you can be rare DX!

 

[woody_46]

Thanks for the extra info, sounds like fun.