so ive been licensed about 8 months now and everyone keeps telling me i need to try a contest but honestly the whole thing feels kind of overwhelming. like i was looking at the CQ WW calendar and there's the SSB leg and the CW leg and i dont even know which one to attempt first. im running a pretty modest setup, just a Yaesu FT-891 into a wire dipole up about 30 feet, nothing crazy.

someone at my local club mentioned ARRL Field Day which apparently already happened but theres another one next year obviously. they said its more beginner friendly but then someone else said CQ WW is actually fine for newcomers if you just focus on search and pounce and dont try to run a frequency. i honestly dont even really know the difference between running and S&P in practice, like i get the concept but when youre actually in the pile i imagine its different.

also what about SOTA activations — do those count toward any of these contests or is that a completely separate thing? my buddy does SOTA stuff and loves it but im not sure how it fits into the bigger contest picture. anyway just looking for some advice on where to dip my toes in without totally embarrassing myself on the air.

CQ WW SSB is a great first contest honestly, just jump in and do S&P for a few hours and see how you feel. nobody's going to yell at you for being a newcomer. the exchange is dead simple — your callsign, 59, and your CQ zone, thats it. for the US youre zone 3, 4, or 5 depending on where you are so just look that up before you start. with your setup you'll probably work a lot of stateside and maybe some Caribbean or South American stations without too much trouble, especially if conditions are decent.

Field Day is a totally different vibe though, more of a club/social thing and genuinely great for new folks because you're usually operating with experienced people around to help. SOTA is its own world and doesnt really tie into the major contests, though some people do chase SOTA activators during Field Day and log the contacts. they're kind of parallel universes. just pick one contest this fall, set a modest goal like 50 contacts, and go have fun. thats really all there is to it starting out.

yeah what he said about S&P is right, just tune around and call stations, you dont have to hold a frequency at all. i was terrified my first CQ WW and ended up having a blast. made like 87 contacts which isnt impressive by any measure but i was grinning the whole time.

one thing i'll add — check the ARRL contest calendar and also the WA7BNK contest calendar, that second one is really useful for seeing whats coming up. there's always something happening on weekends. oh and for upcoming stuff the ARRL Sweepstakes is coming up which is another good one for US/Canada, the exchange is a little more complicated but its a classic.