Contesting !

My first introduction to contesting was before I was even a Amateur Radio operator. A Gentleman I worked with was a licensed Ham and spent two weekends in November losing sleep during ARRL Sweepstakes. He seemed to enjoy the whole "contest" but I thought it was sort of madness!

Fast forward 10 years and I'm now part of the Amateur ranks, having fun with My privledges on 6m and up. I eventually was invited to participate during the June ARRL VHF contest with a group of Hams. They all had participated in contesting and I learned alot.
I did part-time VHF contesting at My own shack and with the Group for several years and then after upgrading , tried the Minnesota QSO party. Eventually I joined The Minnesota Wireless Association and started participating in many HF contests.
Compared to most contesters I'm definately a beginner or novice, and consider Myself a "casual contester". I don't believe I'm aggressive enough to ever be a great contester, maybe just a competant one. Fellow Hams who complain about the contest weekends usually comment about the RUDE contester who CQ's over a Net frequency, ignores polite urgings to move or is just plain obnoxious! Since I'm not aggressive but polite, I'll never contribute to the "rude contester" complaints. Maybe I'm not such a bad contester after all!