so this is gonna be my first time actually trying to operate in CQ WW instead of just watching the bands go nuts. ive been licensed about 8 months now and every time a big contest rolls around i kind of freeze up and dont bother because i feel like i dont know what im doing. but a guy in my local club finally convinced me to just sit down and try it.

my setup is pretty modest, just a IC-7300 and a dipole in the attic which i know isnt ideal for serious contesting but i figured even if i only make like 20 contacts its better than nothing right. i downloaded N1MM and spent like two hours last night trying to figure out how the exchange works for SSB. i think i got it? you just send your signal report and zone number? zone 4 for me i think but i actually had to look that up which is embarrassing.

anyway is anyone else planning to get on this weekend or doing any kind of club effort? also wondering if this is a good way to prep for Field Day next year since thats kind of the big social one everyone in my area does together. SOTA has been on my radar too but thats a whole other thing to learn.

jump in, seriously, dont overthink it. your first CQ WW you're not trying to win anything you're just learning the rhythm of it. the exchange for phone is dead simple once you do it a few times — signal report and CQ zone and that's it. zone 4 sounds right depending on where you are in the US, just double check on the zone map real quick.

the attic dipole will work fine for getting contacts, you might be surprised. i worked my first CQ WW with a G5RV strung up in a weird L shape because i didnt have room for a proper run and still had a blast. N1MM is absolutely the right choice, once you get the hang of it the logging just becomes automatic and you stop thinking about it.

and yeah Field Day is a great community thing but its actually pretty different from CQ WW in terms of how it feels. Field Day is more chaotic and social, everyone's running around, generators, potluck food, you know how it goes. CQ WW is more just you versus the pile. both are worth doing for totally different reasons.

SOTA is definitely its own rabbit hole haha. i got into it last spring and now i spend more time looking at summit databases and checking sota watch than actually operating which probably isnt ideal. but if you like hiking its really addictive.

good luck this weekend though, i might pop on 40m and see whats happening but i'm not really a serious contest operator. i'll probably just chase a few multipliers and call it a night.