I got started in amateur radio in 1995 and really enjoyed it. Hopefully through this page I can get a few more people out there interested in ham radio. Ham radio is a hobby that allows you to use various types of radio to communicate with other amatuer radio operators. The people you talk to may be friends in your own area or they can be people you meet on the airwaves from anywhere in the world. Ham operators come in all sorts of flavors.
Many hams like to build their own radios and antennas.
At specific times, various types of contests are set up for ham radio operators. Most of the time constesting involves contacting as many stations as you can during a set period of time from as many different areas as possible. You then calculate your score based on what the rules are. Check out the ARRL contest schedule here . There are several awards that you can work towards as a ham radio operator.