so ive been licensed for about 8 months now and people keep telling me i should try contesting but honestly every time i look it up i just get more confused. like theres CQ WW, ARRL sweepstakes, field day, all these different things and i dont really understand which ones are beginner friendly or what the point even is besides collecting contacts.

i did try to listen in on CQ WW last october and it was just chaos, everyone talking really fast, exchanges flying around, i couldnt even figure out what people were sending half the time on SSB. i have a technician plus general now so i can get on HF which i just got set up a few months ago. running an IC-7300 into a simple end fed that my elmer helped me put up.

is field day actually a good starting point or is that also overwhelming for a newer person? i saw theres also SOTA stuff but i think thats more like portable operating than a traditional contest? anyway just looking for any advice on where to start without feeling totally lost

field day is honestly the best place to start, full stop. most clubs run a station specifically so newer people can jump in and try it out, and theres usually someone sitting right next to you helping with the exchange and telling you what to say. the whole vibe is pretty relaxed compared to something like CQ WW which yeah, that one is intense. the exchange is simple too — you just send your operating class and your ARRL section, thats it.

for CQ WW you only need to send a signal report and your CQ zone, so its also not complicated once you know what youre doing, but the pace can feel like drinking from a fire hose at first. what i usually tell people is just spend an hour or two listening during a big contest before you ever try to make a contact. tune around, get a feel for how the exchanges work, notice how the faster operators run stations. by the time you actually key up youll feel a lot more comfortable. also the ARRL has free logging software called N1MM+ that basically walks you through the exchange format for each contest which helps a ton.

SOTA is its own thing yeah — its more about activating summits and getting contacts to count for the program, not really head to head competition. still really fun though if you like portable ops.

just wanted to add — dont stress too much about being slow or making mistakes, literally every contester was a confused newbie once and most people on the air are pretty patient if you're clearly still learning. field day is coming up in june i think, you should look up if any clubs near you are setting up a station, showing up in person is way more fun than just operating solo from home especially your first time.