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Speak Out: Getting ready...

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Anonymous on 2003-10-22
Remember that Amateur Radio contesting is the only competitive exercise where your competitors are your allies. Be courteous.

73 & CU in CWSS. N8CPA

K9AY on 2003-10-15
The best choice is to keep your station operational at all times. Some of my best contest efforts have been "last minute" entries -- when time unexpectedly became available, or when a casual beginning was so much fun that it turned into a competitive effort.

For my "planned" efforts, nearly all special prep work is on antennas -- a temporary Beverage for RX, an extra low dipole for a domestic contest, etc.

VK1AA on 2003-10-03
The real improvement would be a keen pit-bull terrier to chase away rats and snakes in my uncle's garage. Advantage: I never feel sleepy during hours of darkness!
Nick VK1AA/4 in sugar cane fields of Central Queensland

vk2cz on 2003-10-01
Given that 90% of my contest operation is actually 'portable' somewhere between 4000km and 6000km from home, my prep starts typically 6 months beforehand, and mostly involves logistics around freight, storage and equipment (non-radio) hire.. includes rental car, construction crane, operating venue and then flights. I keep duplicate patch and plug leads for everything, just to reduce the single points of failure. Having just one laptop for logging, I keep a big paper log and pens ready - just in case.
73 David (VK2CZ/VK8AA) VK9XD for the '03 CQWW SSB.

Anonymous on 2003-09-27
My PRIMARY focus is to be sure that my WARC band antennas are an GREAT shape at least 100% of the time. That way I can escape the LIDS who are jamming all the other bands with those STUPID CONTESTS!!!!!

on7vz on 2003-09-26
Mike (N2MG) is right. This is the good post :

http://www.contesting.com/articles/228

In general, I try to follow the recommendations of Tim EI8IC. I take a particular care to the propagation analysis (with W6ELProp, VOACAP, dxcluster analysis of the contact for the 3 days before the contest) and try to identify a clear strategy.

In fact, I make everything to be in the conditions to realise a good contest.

The only variables on which I can not intervene is the famous "QRA variable".

You know well this variable. E.g. "Dad, I must go to this place. Could you come with me", "Honey, do not forget this saturday evening that we must visit the neighbours for their dog's birthday" or, as usual during week-end contests, the unpredictable visit of parents, brothers, sisters, ....

In general, such variable reduces drastically my time of operation and consequently, the score I could hope with my little pistol equipment. In this case, even if you make a top preparation, you will never achieve a high score....

73,
Daniel ON7VZ

W7VJ on 2003-09-15
So much is based on attitude. Contesting finds a good analogy in any competitive sport. The mental prep, as others have already noted, is key. Last minute decisions to enter a contest seldom work, at least that has been my experience. Attitude (and a nice east coast location) is everything.

N2MG on 2003-09-10
Here's a good post

http://www.contesting.com/articles/228

Mike N2MG

Anonymous on 2003-08-26
Start alerting the family at least a month in advance. Make sure to be extra productive on house and yard projects for a month ahead of time, (and be sure to maintain that productivity for a month afterwards). Make VERY certain that the family has somewhere else to be if it's a fone 'test, because the last thing they want to hear is "CQ TEST" all weekend.

Oh, and make sure projects at work are caught up, too - most of the time, I have to work half a day every weekend, just to catch up on past projects that "come back". Don't need that on a 'test weekend.

As far as actual station prep - no big deal. Mine's a simple station with wire antennas. There's a backup rig with the same software commands as the main rig. If an antenna fails, I can have a new one up in an hour.

No special operator prep required. I've discovered that if you lead a healthy lifestyle, get the right amount of exercise and aren't overweight, you can pull a 24 hour shift with zero notice any time you want, and compensate with extra sleep over the next few days.

w7dra on 2003-08-20
From my home station, since I have 5 complete stations (2 on 160; 1 on 80,40,20) something is always breaking. The most difficult decision is to decide which SOSB to do, 80 or 160, in the big contests like ARRL DX and CQWPX. I do a lot of portable contesting, /7/0/C5A/KH6/3D2/VE7-6, then I neeed to get the protable rig out on the bench an operate it for a couple of weeks. If it is a local contest, like MARAC/CQP/NQP/WSR, I need a multi band rig. I use an HW16 with homebrew 6AG7 VFO, a second reciever for 20m (SX71 or an HQ120), and a push push 811 40m to 20m amp. Getting all the wires and send receive switches connected correctly takes quite a few evenings to say the least. There are no shortcuts, prepare well and take the time or you are bound for desaster.

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