so i finally sat down and actually participated in CQ WW SSB last month instead of just listening to all the chaos like i have the past couple years. been licensed about 3 years now and always kinda avoided contests because honestly they seemed overwhelming and a little rude sounding to me lol, everyone just yelling their callsign at each other with no real conversation happening

but man once i got into it i totally get it now. worked like 40 countries in a weekend which is more than i had in my log from the previous two years combined. running barefoot into a dipole at about 35 feet which isnt amazing but it was enough to get heard by a surprising number of stations. had a eu pile up calling me at one point which was completely surreal

anyway it got me thinking about what other contests i should try. i know ARRL Field Day is coming up and ive heard great things but thats more of a club thing right? also been seeing a lot about SOTA activations and wondering if any of those tie into contest weekends or if thats just a totally separate thing. and is there a good calendar somewhere that shows all the upcoming major ones because i keep finding out about stuff after it already happened

welcome to the dark side haha. yeah once it clicks it really clicks. CQ WW is kind of the superbowl of HF contesting so starting there and doing well barefoot is honestly impressive, most people get humbled their first time

Field Day is weird because technically its not scored the same way as a regular contest, its more like a emergency preparedness exercise that turned into a giant party. but its absolutely worth doing with a club especially your first time, the setup chaos and middle of the night operating and bad food is all part of it. some clubs are super serious about the score and some just use it as an excuse to camp and get on the air which is fine too

for SOTA thats really its own world, different mindset entirely. youre activating summits to get the contacts rather than just racking up multipliers. some people do both, like theyll activate a summit during a contest weekend to get points going in two directions at once which is clever. check out the WA7BNM contest calendar, its basically the bible for this stuff, covers everything from local sprints to the big international events

the WA7BNM calendar is what everyone uses yeah. also the ARRL website has a decent list though it doesnt cover everything especially the smaller regional stuff

i did my first SOTA activation last spring and its a completely diffrent vibe from contesting, much more relaxed, you hike up a hill and set up a portable station and people are genuinely happy just to make contact with you. if you do it during a contest like CQ WW or even just a slow Sunday you can sometimes rack up contacts pretty quick. the SOTA chasers are dedicated and theyll be watching the spots for you

one thing nobody told me when i started was that ARRL Sweepstakes is really good for learning contesting too, its all domestic which means youre dealing with less of the crazy pile up situation and the exchange is a bit more involved so you actually have to think a little, builds good habits