so ive been doing contests pretty seriously for about 3 years now, mainly CW sprints and some of the bigger ones like sweepstakes and ARRL DX. consistently putting up decent scores but i feel like ive hit a ceiling on rate, especially during the slower parts of the contest when S&P is all youve got and running just isnt happening.

been reading a lot about SO2R and honestly it sounds great in theory but every time i try to wrap my head around the actual implementation it gets complicated fast. like youre talking two radios, two antennas that dont interfere, some kind of switching setup, and then actually developing the skill to mentally manage both at the same time which from what i understand takes a long time to get right. i have a K3 and was thinking about picking up a used K3S or maybe an IC-7300 as the second radio but im not sure if mixing brands creates headaches with the logging software integration.

also curious how people manage the antenna isolation side of it. my setup is a 3el yagi on 20 and a dipole for 40, both on a fairly small lot. the physical separation just isnt there so im worried about desense killing me. is there a point where youre better off just getting really good at single radio operating before jumping to SO2R, or is the rate improvement big enough that its worth the learning curve even if your first few contests with it are a mess

honestly the antenna isolation thing is what kills most people before they even get started. on a small lot you're probably looking at needing band pass filters no matter what, the W3NQN style filters or the 4O3A ones are what most serious contesters run. even with good separation you'll have issues if you're trying to run 20 and 40 simultaneously without them. i run a stacked pair on 15 and a 4el on 20 and i still use filters because the second radio bleeds into the first enough to be annoying even at 100w.

as for the learning curve yeah it's real but i wouldnt say it takes as long as people make it sound. first contest or two you'll barely use the second radio and thats fine, just start using it for S&P on a dead band while you're running on the main radio. you dont have to be doing full blown SO2R where you're CQing on both simultaneously right away, that comes later. the rate bump even from basic two radio operation is noticeable enough that it's worth it. mixing brands is fine btw, N1MM handles it well as long as you get the COM port stuff sorted out which is its own little adventure but nothing terrible

i tried SO2R for the first time last sweepstakes and kind of regretted it mid-contest lol. not because it doesnt work but because i hadnt practiced enough before just throwing it at a real contest. spent like the first two hours fighting with the radio focus in N1MM and accidentally sending CW on the wrong radio twice which was embarrassing. ended up just unplugging the second rig and finishing on one radio like usual.

what i'd probably do differently is set the whole thing up and just practice the workflow before a real contest, maybe during a smaller sprint or even just casually operating. the muscle memory for switching focus between radios while keeping a run frequency alive is genuinely a separate skill from just being good at contesting. your mileage may vary but i think if you're already a strong single radio operator the ceiling is there and SO2R is the right next step, just give yourself time to not be terrible at it first