ok so ive been licensed for about 8 months now and ive been listening to CQ WW on the radio and it sounds absolutely insane, like wall to wall signals on 20m and everyone just rattling off calls and numbers super fast. i tried to jump in once and completely froze up and just turned it off lol. but something about it is really exciting and i think i want to actually try participating this year instead of just listening.

my question is kind of open ended i guess - is CQ WW too much for a first contest or should i start with something smaller like a state QSO party or ARRL November sweepstakes or whatever. also does SOTA count as a contest or is that a totally different thing, my buddy keeps telling me to do SOTA activations first to get comfortable making contacts quickly but im not sure if thats the same skillset really. any advice from people who have done this a while would be great, i dont want to embarrass myself too badly on air

honestly just jump into CQ WW, the worst that happens is you make zero contacts and turn it off. nobody is judging you, everyone is too busy working their own pile. what i'd suggest is dont try to run a frequency your first time, just search and pounce - find a station calling CQ, wait for a gap, throw your call in. if they come back to you great, if not move on. you'll get a feel for the exchange pretty fast, for CQ WW it's just your call, signal report, and your CQ zone so like 59 05 or whatever. practice saying that out loud a few times before you get on.

SOTA is a different animal, really rewarding but yeah different skills. the contest pace stuff you learn from something like a QSO party is probably more transferable. maybe try a county expedition or a state party first just to get the rhythm down, they're way more forgiving and people are happy to slow down for you.

Field Day might honestly be the best starting point if you havent done it yet. its every june and its less cutthroat than CQ WW, plus if you join a club operation you get to watch experienced folks do their thing and pick up the rhythm without the pressure of running it yourself. i did my first Field Day as a tech with my club just logging for people and by the end of the weekend i kinda knew what i was doing. did my first solo contest the following fall and it wasnt nearly as scary.

SOTA activations are fun but yeah your buddy is sort of right and sort of wrong - you do learn to make quick contacts but the exchange is different and you're usually self-spotting and waiting for chasers rather than actively hunting. still worth doing though, its a great hobby on its own terms.