30 Ham Radio Contesting Tips -- Find joy in contesting

This month, I’m providing a ham radio contest tip-a-day (along with other posts) to help you trigger your own contesting activities.Today’s tip: Find joy in contesting.In this final installment of thirty ham radio contesting tips, it all comes down to joy.Contesting is exceptionally challenging to operators. Contests, whether entered competitively or simply as an afternoon break on a Sunday, are demanding. Our equipment must work the way it was designed. Our computers need to have all of their interfaces working. Our bodies need to be in shape for the time we will spend contesting. Our operating skills need to be at the ready. And our head needs to be in the contest.The great thing for me about contesting is this ability to let the rest of the trials and tribulations I may be experiencing in my life fall away for the duration of the contest. The contest, because of the focus on the operating, becomes the "flow" experience where time melts away.The thrill of a monster contest run effortlessly handled, the elusive multiplier that gets snapped up by checking a long path propagation route, and the great honor of hearing those familiar calls once again on the air is the joy contesting brings to me.So my final contesting tip is simple: find your joy in contesting.Scot, K9JY