Contesting or "radiosport" has a long history going back to the early days of Amateur Radio. The first on-the-air competition was the 1927 International Relay Contest sponsored by the ARRL. During this contest, operators attempted to contact other operators outside the United States and Canada.
This annual event has gone through many name changes since then and is now known as the ARRL DX Contest. It's also just one of the contests in which many of our members compete.
Another popular contest for our members is the ARRL November Sweepstakes, a competition which challenges operators the United States and Canada to contact as many other US and Canadian stations as they can. The first ever November Sweepstakes was held in 1930 and makes this event the oldest domestic contest in radiosport.