so ive been licensed about 8 months now (general class) and everyone keeps telling me i need to try a contest to really get better at operating. my elmer keeps pushing me toward field day but honestly i dont even know what that involves beyond like... setting up outside? i looked up CQ WW and just got overwhelmed by all the exchange stuff and zones and whatever.

is there like a progression to these things? like should i start with something smaller before jumping into CQ WW or ARRL sweepstakes? ive also been hearing about SOTA which sounds totally different from the logging contest stuff. anyway just looking for any advice from people who have actually done these, what was your first contest and did you feel completely lost at first or is it just me

field day is absolutely where you should start, no question. its designed to be a little chaotic and forgiving and theres usually a club doing it near you so you dont have to figure it all out solo. you can just sit next to someone experienced and watch for a while before you ever touch the mic. the exchange is dead simple too, just your operating class and your ARRL section, thats it. i did my first field day maybe two years after i got licensed and i was still nervous, so 8 months in is totally fine.

CQ WW is a whole other animal. the exchange involves serial numbers and CQ zones and if you dont know your zones its gonna feel rough. id honestly say do a full field day first, then maybe try a state QSO party where the exchanges are easy, then work up to CQ WW. SOTA is kind of separate from all that — its more about hiking to a summit and making contacts than racking up points in a log, really scratches a different itch. but it is addictive once you start.

yeah i felt totally lost my first contest lol, i just kinda tuned around and called a few stations and got maybe 12 contacts and thought i was terrible at it. turns out that's pretty normal when you're starting. the logging software helps a lot btw — N1MM is free and once you set it up for a specific contest it basically tells you what exchange to send so you're not guessing. theres also a contest called the ARRL 10m contest coming up later in the year thats really easy for newer folks when the band cooperates.