so ive been licensed for about 8 months now and people keep telling me i should try a contest but honestly the whole thing feels overwhelming. like i sat down last november during CQ WW and just spun the dial for a while and everyone was going so fast i didnt even try to jump in. i have a technician ticket so i was mostly just listening on HF through a friend's rig anyway.

i upgraded to general back in february though so now i at least have some HF privileges. i have a modest setup, just a Yaesu FT-710 and a wire dipole in the backyard. nothing fancy. im curious if something like ARRL Field Day would be a better starting point than CQ WW because it seems more... relaxed? or am i wrong about that. also someone mentioned SOTA to me but that seems like a completely different thing, is it competitive in the same way or more just for the activation points

anyway if anyone has advice on what events to try first id appreciate it. dont want to show up to something and make a fool of myself on the air

Field Day is absolutely the right place to start, you're not wrong about that at all. It's run more like a community event than a cutthroat contest — most clubs are happy to have new ops sit down and make a few contacts, and nobody's going to judge you for being slow or asking questions. I brought my nephew to one three years ago when he had just gotten his ticket and he made like 40 contacts over the weekend and was hooked after that.

CQ WW is a whole different animal. The pace is relentless, especially on phone, and if you're not used to rapid-fire exchanges it can really throw you. Not saying don't try it, but maybe sit in on Field Day first, get comfortable with the rhythm of contest operating, and then take a swing at something like ARRL November Sweepstakes which is a bit more forgiving than WW in my opinion.

As for SOTA — yeah it's pretty different. It's not a sprint contest, more of an ongoing program where you hike to summits and activate them. There's a points system and people chase activators from home, but the pace is totally relaxed and casual. Lots of people do both contesting and SOTA, they scratch different itches. Your FT-710 and dipole will serve you just fine for chasing SOTA activators from home if you want to dip your toe in without doing the hiking part yet.

yeah SOTA is definitely not contesting in the traditional sense, i do a lot of activations and some days i'm just chatting with maybe 5 or 6 chasers for 20 minutes and then hiking back down. the points thing keeps it interesting though and there's actually a decent pile-up culture when a rare summit gets activated so it's not totally without excitement lol

for actual contesting though id say just jump in. worst that happens is someone asks you to repeat yourself a couple times, people were all beginners once. the fall contest season is coming up so you'll have plenty of chances