so ive been doing single op contests for a few years now, mostly phone, occasionally CW when my brain cooperates. consistently getting maybe 600-800 QSOs in a typical SS or 10m contest weekend and i keep wondering if adding a second radio would actually move the needle or if im just leaving rate on the table because of other stuff im doing wrong

the thing is my rate optimization feels pretty solid on the run frequency side, im holding a freq, working stations as they come, calling CQ every 5-7 seconds when things slow down. but during those dead spots like when the pile thins out and youre just CQing into nothing for 30 seconds at a time, that feels like where SO2R would let me S&P on the second radio without giving up the run freq

question is, does the complexity of managing two radios actually hurt more than it helps at my level? ive read about guys who say you cant really do SO2R justice unless youre already pulling 1000+ hour rates consistently on single radio, but i also feel like maybe practicing with it in lower stakes contests first makes sense. anyone actually made the transition and can speak to whether the learning curve wrecked their score before it helped it

honest answer is it probably will wreck a contest or two before it helps. i ran SO2R for the first time seriously in last years CQWW and my claimed score was actually lower than the previous year single radio, just from the mental overhead of managing band changes on the second rig and forgetting to monitor the run freq. but by the time arrl dx came around i had it more dialed in and the difference in mults found during dead periods was noticeable.

the dead CQ periods you mentioned are exactly the right use case. even 15-20 seconds on the second radio fishing for a new mult while your run freq sits there is worth it. the trick is dont try to run on both radios simultaneously until you have the basics down, just use radio 2 for quick S&P grabs. also bandpass filters are not optional if your antennas are anywhere near each other, learned that the hard way with rf in the audio on the first radio every time i transmitted on radio 2.

i think the 1000 QSO threshold thing is kind of a myth honestly, or at least its not a hard rule. what matters more is whether you have the station infrastructure to support it without constant fiddling. if youre fighting antenna switching or IMD issues during the contest thats where your rate actually tanks, not from being a slightly less experienced SO2R operator.

also worth mentioning that some logging software makes a huge difference here. n1mm has the SO2R support built in pretty well and the radio focus switching with a footswitch changed things for me a lot. without that you end up mousing around between windows which kills any advantage you gained