Amateur radio operators, aka hams, know how to communicate—in many ways and from locations around the world with each other and in service to their communities during emergencies and local events. They do so on amateur radio bands through voice, digitally, video and telegraphy. Astronauts even use these bands to communicate with people on earth.

Hams hold contests to improve their skills and advance the hobby including those below. Most of these aren't traditional cash-win contests but winners are generally given certificate awards in different categories. There are individual and group contest listings at these pages.

AARL Contest Calendar (arrl.org/contest-calendar): The National Association for Amateur Radio is a US based organization for hams, the largest in the world. The group promotes the hobby and public service. There is a calendar on their website with a monthly listing of contests including non-AARL events.

WA7BNM Contest Calendar (hornucopia.com/contestcal/): This site lists contests from around the world and also has a customization feature where you can choose which contests you're interested to be informed of.

SM3CER Contest Service (sk3bg.se/contest/): This hobby site is based in Sweden and has grown to about 1,000 pages. International contests links are given and updated including information for contest software.

Contesting.com - The Sport of Amateur Radio: Another large site with contest listings, product reviews and some great articles with tips for ham contesting.

Good luck hams!

The following book is a study guide for the beginner's license to operate ham radios:
The ARRL Ham Radio License Manual