so ive been doing SO2R for a few years now but i still feel like im leaving a ton of points on the table especially during the middle hours of a contest when propagation is shifting and i cant decide whether to keep running on 20 or start hunting on 40. the two radio setup itself isnt really the problem anymore, got the interlocks sorted out and the audio routing is mostly fine, but its more the mental side of it — like knowing when to actually pull the trigger and start a run on radio 2 versus just S&P'ing around while radio 1 holds the frequency.

anyone have a system for this? i feel like the rate meter is lying to me half the time. running at 80/hr looks great until you realize 15 opened up and you missed the whole thing because you were babysitting a dying 20m run. also curious if anyone has opinions on when to just abandon a frequency and go full S&P on both radios. feels wasteful but sometimes it just makes sense.

using wintest btw if that matters, and my second radio is just a backup rig so the keying overlap stuff is still a bit janky

the rate meter thing is real and honestly it took me a long time to stop chasing it. what helped me was setting a threshold in my head — if i havent had a qso in like 90 seconds on the run frequency i start seriously evaluating whether to move. doesnt matter if the rate meter is still showing 60 from the last burst of callers, that number is backwards looking and its basically lying to you about right now.

for the SO2R mental load thing, the way i think about it is radio 1 is always the run radio and radio 2 is never allowed to just sit idle. even if im in a good run on 20, radio 2 should be slowly scanning 15 or 10 looking for a new opening. you dont have to actually work anything, just keep ears on it. when you hear the noise floor drop and signals start popping up you already know before the cluster tells you. that lead time is worth a lot of rate.

wintest SO2R interlocking can be a bit finicky depending on your interface but you probably already know that. the main thing i had to accept is that perfect SO2R takes like two or three major contests before it stops feeling like youre patting your head and rubbing your stomach at the same time.

yeah the mid-contest propagation shift is the part that gets everyone i think. i dont do full SO2R but even with a single radio i run into the same decision paralysis around hour 6 or 7 of a 24 hour contest. my totally unscientific rule is if i have to call CQ more than 4 or 5 times with zero response i move, no second guessing. frequency loyalty is a trap especially later in the contest when the fresh blood has mostly been worked anyway.

also slightly off topic but are you using any bandmap automation or is it mostly manual in wintest? i switched to N1MM a while back partly because the bandmap integration with the cluster felt more intuitive to me for juggling two bands mentally. not saying wintest is worse just that the workflow clicked better for how i think during a run