About Us

The Society of Midwest Contesters formed early in 1985 with the goal of uniting Midwest contesters into a competitive group and to further the idea of radiosporting in the Midwest. From 51 charter members in the summer of 1985, we’ve steadily grown to a membership of over 200 contesters, mainly in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Missouri, and Wisconsin. We launched our first major club effort in the 1985 November Sweepstakes, winning the Unlimited class. We repeated in the 1986 SS, and were on our way. We have claimed one or more club victories in ARRL contests every year since 1999, including a 3-peat as SS Unlimited champs in 2000, 2001, and 2002.

For the past several years SMC has increased participation in VHF/UHF contesting. Many of the best VHF operators in the nation are members of the SMC, and have won many national and division VHF titles over the years. Beginning in 2003, the club focused on increasing both the quantity and quality of VHF log entries submitted by SMC members. The effort culminated in the club winning the Unlimited Club Competition in the 2007 June VHF QSO Party. SMC is the only club to ever achieve the Unlimited category in the June contest, and may be the only club to have ever won Unlimited club titles in both HF and VHF contests.

Read more:  History of the SMC