so i've been licensed about 14 months now (general class) and i keep hearing about CQ WW being this massive event and i finally decided im just gonna jump in and try it this october. i did Field Day last year with my club which was fun but that felt pretty casual, lots of people around helping out, grilling burgers etc. CQ WW seems like a whole different animal from what i've read.

my setup is pretty modest, just a Yaesu FT-891 running into a dipole up about 25 feet in the backyard. i know im not gonna set any records lol but i just want to get some contacts and learn how it works. do i need logging software? i've just been using paper logs for everyday QSOs. also not sure if i should try SO (single op) or just do search and pounce the whole time. any advice welcome, especially from people who remember their first real contest

oh man CQ WW is such a blast even if you're running barefoot into a modest antenna. honestly your first time through just do search and pounce, dont worry about running a frequency, you'll get frustrated trying to hold a pileup with 100 watts when there's EU stations running a kW into stacked yagis. just spin the dial, find someone calling CQ contest, give them your call and zone number and move on. that's it really.

for logging definitely grab N1MM Logger+ before the weekend, it's free and it's what pretty much everyone uses. takes a little while to set up your station info but once you do it handles dupe checking automatically which saves your sanity. there's good youtube tutorials for it. your setup honestly sounds fine for working a bunch of domestic contacts and maybe some easier DX on 15 and 20 meters, just depends on the conditions that weekend. have fun with it, thats the main thing your first time

Field Day and CQ WW are definitely different vibes. Field Day always feels like a community thing ya know. CQ WW gets pretty intense on the bands especially 40m saturday night.

one thing i'd add is look up what zone you're in before the contest starts, it's one of the exchanges you have to give every contact and i totally blanked on mine my first time and felt like an idiot. also if you want to dip your toes in SOTA at some point that's a totally different kind of operating but i find it scratches a similar itch, the activations count toward awards and stuff. anyway good luck hope conditions cooperate for you