so ive been doing single op for a few years now and my rates are decent, usually pulling 800-1000 QSOs in a 48 hour phone contest if condx cooperate but ive been reading about SO2R and honestly im not sure if the complexity is worth it for someone at my level. like yes i understand the basic concept, one radio running, one radio searching for mults or new guys to work, but the antenna isolation part is what keeps tripping me up in my head.

right now i run an IC-7300 and i have an old FT-950 sitting on the shelf that i could press into service. the problem is my antennas are all on the same feedline selector and i only have a tribander and a 40m dipole. trying to transmit on two bands simultaneously with that setup seems like it would just be RF chaos. do people actually run SO2R with modest antenna setups or do you basically need a dedicated antenna for every band you want to operate on at once? also curious how folks handle the audio, does it just become second nature to monitor two radios or does it mess with your head after a few hours?

not looking to win anything, just want to squeeze more rate out of the same operating time

yeah the antenna isolation thing is real and you cant just wing it, at least not without some pain. ive tried running SO2R with a shared antenna system and the intermod just kills you, especially if both radios are on adjacent bands. you really do want separate antennas if you can swing it. a second dipole cut for 15 or 20 hung at a different angle isnt that expensive and makes a huge difference.

that said i think people way overthink SO2R as a concept. the real skill isnt the hardware, its learning when to actually switch your attention to radio 2 without losing your run frequency on radio 1. thats the part that takes a whole contest season to really internalize. ive seen guys with full two-radio setups who still cant rate well because they break their run at the wrong moment and lose the pileup they had going. the hardware is maybe 30% of it. also for audio i just use one ear for each radio, sounds weird at first but your brain adapts faster than you'd think

honestly i tried SO2R last CQWW and kind of gave up on it midway through sunday because i was spending so much mental energy managing the second radio that my CW on the run radio got sloppy and i started making dupe contacts. might just be a practice thing but i dunno, felt like i was losing more than i was gaining at that point.

one thing that did help when i was using it properly was having N1MM set up with the SO2R audio switching so it automatically puts the active transmit radio in your primary ear. once that was working right it was way less chaotic. but yeah antenna wise you really do need some separation, even just having the second antenna on a different polarization helps a bit with isolation even if its not perfect