so ive been licensed for about 8 months now and everyone keeps telling me i should try a contest but honestly it feels pretty overwhelming when i look at the exchange formats and all the rules for different events. like cq ww alone has like a whole pdf of rules and im not even sure what my multipliers would be or how to log properly.

i was thinking about doing arrl field day in june since it seems more beginner friendly and a lot of clubs participate together? not sure if im better off just finding a local club and tagging along for field day before i try to do anything solo. also saw people talking about sota which isnt really a contest i guess but it seems related somehow, the portable operating angle at least.

anyone remember their first real contest experience and how it went? did you just jump in or did you spend a lot of time prepping first. my station is pretty modest — just a 100w hf rig and a wire antenna in the backyard so im not expecting to win anything, just want to make some contacts and not embarrass myself too badly

Field Day is genuinely the best starting point, dont stress about it too much. The whole point is that its a club activity and nobody expects a new ham to know everything. Show up, tell people its your first time, and someone will sit next to you and walk you through the exchange. Most Field Day groups are thrilled to have extra operators because it means more contact hours.

CQ WW is a different beast and i wouldnt start there honestly, especially as a phone op it gets pretty chaotic and the pileups can be brutal when you're still figuring out how logging software works. N1MM is what most people use and theres a learning curve. If you want to ease into HF contesting before Field Day i'd say try the ARRL Sweepstakes or even just a state QSO party, the exchanges are simpler and the pace is a bit less insane.

SOTA is totally separate from contests, its more of an awards program where you activate summits and chase other activators, very different vibe but also a lot of fun if you like hiking. some people do both.

yeah just go to a field day event with your club, honestly its pretty low pressure and you'll learn more in one afternoon than reading the rules ever taught me. i did my first field day like three years ago and barely knew what i was doing and it was still a blast. someone handed me a headset and said just say your callsign and the exchange and it kind of clicked from there.

100 watts and a wire is totally fine by the way, ive worked plenty of people with similar setups in contests. its more about timing and being on the right frequency than raw power a lot of the time