so i got my general back in march and ive been mostly just ragchewing on 40m but a buddy at my local club keeps telling me i need to try CQ WW this october. i guess its the big one? he made it sound like the bands just completely transform for a weekend and you can work like 100 countries if you sit at the radio long enough.

i dont have anything fancy, just a Yaesu FT-891 and a wire dipole up about 30 feet in the backyard. running 100w. is that even enough to make contacts in something like CQ WW or am i just gonna be calling CQ into the void the whole time. also do i need any special software or can i just log on paper for a casual entry. im not trying to win anything just want to experience it i guess.

also someone mentioned SOTA activations count toward something during the contest weekend? or maybe i misheard that, not sure how those two things connect

oh man you are going to have a blast. CQ WW is genuinely one of those things that just has to be experienced because no amount of explaining really does it justice. 15 and 20 meters especially just go absolutely wall to wall with signals from everywhere, like you tune across the band and every couple hundred hertz theres another station from some country you never worked before.

your setup is totally fine for a casual run at it. 100w and a dipole is how a lot of people do it and you can still rack up a decent score, especially if propagation cooperates. the S&P approach, search and pounce, is probably your best bet starting out, just tune around, find stations calling CQ, give them your call and the exchange, move on. the exchange for CQ WW phone is just your callsign, a 59 report, and your CQ zone number which for most of the US is zone 5 or 3 or 4 depending where you are.

for logging i would really recommend downloading N1MM+ before the weekend, its free and it handles the dupe checking and zone multiplier tracking automatically which saves a ton of headaches. paper works but youll lose track of what zones you have pretty fast once things get busy.

as for SOTA and CQ WW connecting, they dont really overlap directly, maybe your buddy was thinking of the ARRL November sweepstakes where some clubs tie in bonus activities, or possibly a separate SOTA weekend event. SOTA is kind of its own world with its own chaser points system, really rewarding but separate from the big contest scene.

yeah what he said about N1MM is right, dont try to paper log CQ WW it'll drive you nuts lol. i tried my first contest on paper and spent half the time flipping through pages trying to figure out if i already worked that guy from Romania.

one thing i'd add is just dont stress about your antenna too much. ive seen guys with way less than a dipole make solid showings in CQ WW just by being patient and picking good times to operate. like late saturday night on 40 when europe is coming in is honestly magical even with modest setups