so i got my general back in march and ive been mostly just doing some casual ragchewing on 40m and a little bit of digital but everyone keeps telling me i need to try a contest and honestly the fall season is making me kind of anxious about it. like i looked at the CQ WW coming up and the operator counts on those things are insane, i cant imagine jumping into that as basically a first timer.

someone at my club mentioned maybe starting with something smaller before CQ WW but i dont really know the calendar that well. is field day totally different from these other contests or is the operating style basically the same? i did field day this summer with the club but i was just logging for someone else the whole time so i didnt really get a feel for actually running a frequency or hunting and pouncing or whatever.

also heard some guys talking about SOTA activations counting toward some kind of contest thing? i thought SOTA was just its own separate thing but maybe im wrong. anyway if anyone has suggestions for like a good first contest to actually operate on my own id appreciate it, im running a pretty modest setup, ic-7300 and a wire dipole up about 30 feet.

honestly your setup is totally fine for getting started, the 7300 is a great radio for contesting and a dipole will work. CQ WW is huge but that doesnt mean you cant participate, you just wont win anything and thats completely fine. the thing about big contests is theres always someone willing to work you because every contact counts for them too.

for a first solo contest i usually point people toward something like the CQ WW SSB or even the ARRL Sweepstakes which comes up in november — Sweepstakes is a little more relaxed in terms of the pace compared to WW and working all the ARRL sections gives you a nice goal to chase. field day operating and contest operating are pretty similar in the search and pounce sense, just in a real contest youre doing your own logging and keeping track of the exchange yourself so just make sure your logging software is set up before you jump in. N1MM is what most people use and theres a bit of a learning curve but nothing too bad.

as for SOTA and contests, yeah thats kind of a separate world — SOTA has its own awards system and some people combine activations with contest weekends to pick up extra points but its not really a traditional contest the same way CQ WW is. dont overthink it, just get on the air and have fun with it.

yeah i was in the same boat last year, did field day with my club and then tried CQ WW on my own and it was kind of overwhelming at first but after like an hour i got into the rhythm. just start hunt and pounce for the first while until you feel comfortable then maybe try calling CQ yourself if the band seems slow. worst that happens is nobody answers lol