so ive been doing contests for about 4 years now, mostly single op, and i keep reading about SO2R being the big rate multiplier everyone uses to stay competitive. finally decided to try setting it up last contest season and honestly it was kind of a disaster at first. kept transmitting on the wrong radio, had the audio routing all confused, and i think i called CQ on 40 while actively in a QSO on 15 which was embarrassing.

eventually got it somewhat dialed in by the end of the weekend but my rate actually went DOWN compared to my single radio efforts which i did not expect. i know theres a learning curve but im wondering if people think the investment in time and gear is really worth it for someone doing maybe 10-12 contests a year, or if im better off just squeezing more out of a single radio setup first. im running an IC-7300 and a K3S right now with some bandpass filters between them, station isnt perfect but its workable. audio is going through a headphone mixer thing i cobbled together.

anyone gone through this same learning curve and come out the other side actually seeing the rate gains people talk about? or is SO2R mostly only worth it if you're already top 10 material and trying to push from like 2000 QSOs to 2500?

yeah the first couple times i tried SO2R it was genuinely awful and i think i finished worse than i would have on one radio. the thing nobody really tells you is that you have to basically rewire how your brain works during a contest. you're used to one focus point and suddenly you're trying to monitor two bands, decide which one to work, and not accidentally key the wrong one. takes a lot of practice runs before it stops feeling like rubbing your head and patting your stomach.

what helped me more than anything was N1MM's SO2R support and getting the foot switch setup right so i always know which radio is active. also honestly running mock contest sessions on a weekday evening just to practice the mechanics without the pressure of actual contest points on the line. after maybe 3 or 4 weekends of that it started clicking.

for rate gains, yeah it's real but it's really most noticeable during the slow periods when you'd otherwise just be sitting on a run frequency hoping someone calls. that's when you flip to the second radio and go S&P on another band. the multiplier hunting alone can justify the whole setup honestly. with a 7300 and K3S you've already got better gear than a lot of people doing SO2R so that part isnt your problem.

dont give up on it yet. the rate thing going backwards at first is completely normal and pretty much everyone i know who does SO2R seriously had that exact same experience. the cognitive load is just really high until the mechanics become automatic.

one thing i'd say though is make sure your bandpass filters are actually doing their job before you blame the operating strategy. i had a situation where my 40m signal was getting into the 15m receiver and i thought i was just bad at SO2R but it turned out i had a filter seated wrong and was basically desensing myself every time i transmitted. worth checking with a dummy load on one radio and seeing what the other one hears.