so ive been running single op for a few years now and consistently putting up what i'd call respectable but not great scores in SS phone and CW. somewhere in the 1200-1500 QSO range with a decent antenna setup, 2el on 40 at 50 feet, dipoles for the high bands, nothing crazy. im not a top 10 finisher but i care about the score.

been thinking about SO2R for a while but every time i start down that rabbit hole i get overwhelmed by the station integration stuff. the band switching, the antenna relay logic, keeping audio sane between two radios — it just seems like a lot of infrastructure to build before you even get to the operating side of it. and then you still have to actually learn the operating technique which from what i understand takes a whole contest season to really internalize before you stop losing more QSOs than you gain from fumbling it.

for context my primary is an IC-7300 and i picked up a used TS-590SG last year that i could press into service as the second radio. the SO2R integration with those two specifically seems tricky because neither one is particularly great at being slaved to an external controller, or at least thats my impression.

anybody actually gone through this transition and can tell me honestly if there was a measurable rate improvement or if the first year is basically a wash while you figure it out

honest answer — the first contest is a wash, maybe the first two. i tried it for the first time in CQWW CW a few years ago and my rate was actually lower than my previous single radio effort because i was so fixated on managing the second VFO that i was making mistakes on the run frequency. like actual busted calls because my brain was split.

that said by the second or third outing something clicked and i started seeing real gains, especially in the S&P to run transition. being able to park on a multiplier frequency while you're running is genuinely huge for SS where you need all 80 sections. the 590SG is actually not bad as a second radio, i used one for about a year in that role. the main thing you need to sort out is the audio — a lot of guys use the microHAM or similar for the switching logic but honestly even a basic headphone mixer setup gets you further than you'd think before you go full integrated.

the antenna situation matters more than the radio pairing imo. if you're both radios trying to share that 40m yagi you're going to have a bad time without some serious filtering. 2el on 40 is a real asset, don't blow it up with RF getting into the second receiver.

i cant speak to SO2R specifically cause i havent done it but i did want to mention that even without the second radio there's a lot of rate optimization stuff that probably has more low hanging fruit depending on your setup. like are you running N1MM with the bandmap fully configured and all your packet spots feeding in? i was leaving probably 50-80 QSOs per contest on the table just because my logging keyer timing wasnt dialed and i was waiting too long between exchanges. shaved like 400ms off my CW sending gap and it was noticeable over 24 hours.

also the SO2R question kind of depends on what's limiting your score right now. if youre rate-limited because you run out of callers and have to S&P, yeah second radio helps. if youre limited by antenna or location then maybe not as much. just throwing that out there before you go build a whole second station