[CVCC] Contesting - Why?

[H. M. Motley, Jr.]

Just for grins, I did a search on my call on the internet and ran across the following that was put on the Tennessee Contest Group's web site from a message I posted on a reflector a few years back. I had forgotten about it. I don't know how "eloquent" it really is but it was my feeling about radio contesting at that time and it still is today.

"As a reply to the question:

"I really don't understand the point (of contesting)" on the CW Internet
E-mail reflector, Puck Motley, W4PM puts it so eloquently:

While working SS this year, a good friend of mine asked me, "What do you
win, when you win? What's the prize?  If there is no prize other than a
certificate or your name in QST, what's the point?"  In another light,
throwing out the winning part, why spend a weekend working a radio
contest at all?  What do we gain?   Hmmmm - Good questions.

It all seems to have to do with the competitive nature of man.  Ever
since the caveman tried to throw a rock farther than his buddy, we've
been competing. We play all sorts of sports and games. What's the point
to knocking down pins with a bowling ball?  What's the point of playing
nine innings of baseball or chasing a white ball around a green field
trying to knock it into a hole?  Is the world a better place because we
did it?  We just seem to enjoy competing and feel good when we win or
even when we don't lose badly or do better than we did last time.

Radio contests are another type of sport or competition.  We try to see
how our skills match up with others.  We like to test out our toys to
see if our new amplifier and that new antenna we devised can put out a
signal that will allow us to run 80, 90, 100 or more stations per hour;
or we try to see just how many contacts we can make running 5 watts or
less.  Can we make half or three quarters as many as the KW guys?  Can
operator skill make up for rig or antenna deficiencies?

What's the point to a lot of the games and sports we play?   Maybe you
can see the point only after you have played the game.  Competion is the
name of the game, no matter what the game, and we humans tend to thrive
on it!

Anyhow that's how I see it and I love games of any sort.

73 & CQ Contest,
Puck, W4PM"