There is a contest almost every weekend, and entering one is the fastest way to improve as an operator: an hour of a large contest puts more callsigns through your headphones than a month of casual operating.
Pick an easy one
Good first contests are the ones designed for it:
- ARRL Field Day (June) — technically not a contest, and the friendliest possible introduction,
- ARRL November Sweepstakes and the state QSO parties — everyone is looking for stations in
- CQ Worldwide DX and ARRL DX (SSB and CW weekends) — huge, loud, and forgiving: the DX
- ARRL VHF contests and the 10 m contest — modest antennas work, and a Technician has full
- CWTs and the sprints for CW practice at whatever speed you can manage.
because you are doing it with a club. See Field Day.
every state, including yours.
stations want your contact and the exchange is trivial.
privileges on 6 m, 2 m and, for CW and SSB, part of 10 m.
The exchange is published in the rules and is almost always short: a signal report plus one item — your state, your section, your grid, or a serial number.
What to do before you start
- Read the rules, specifically the exchange, the bands used, and the category you will enter
- Set up a logger. N1MM+, N3FJP or the contest module in your general logger will do dupe
- Set the clock — the log is in UTC.
- Turn on the attenuator if the band is loud, narrow the filters, and put the headphones on.
(usually Single Operator, Low Power, All Band, unassisted).
checking and produce the file the sponsor wants. Type the exchange in once and it fills the rest.
Operating
- Search and pounce for your first contest: tune the band, find someone calling CQ, answer, log,
- Send only what is needed. Your callsign once, then the exchange. No "good afternoon", no name,
- If they do not come back, move on and try again in an hour. The band changes.
- Fill in the ones you missed later; a station worked at the end of the weekend counts the same as
- Take breaks. A tired operator makes logging errors, and logging errors cost more points than
move on. Calling CQ yourself can wait.
no rig description — not rudeness, just a different game.
one worked at the start.
missed contacts.
Afterward
Submit the log even if your score is small — see submitting a log. Sponsors publish every entrant, the line in the results is a perfectly good souvenir, and your log helps confirm everyone you worked.
Then look at what you learned: which band was open when, which antenna direction produced, and how much of your difficulty was signal strength versus operator skill. That is the actual prize.