I definitely advocate State QSO Parties and smaller/shorter DX contests.
Definitely do your own state, where YOU are the "rare" one. Some of the multi
state contests such as 7QP and NEQP are also great training grounds, as are the
monthly QRP and NAQCC contests.
The weekly Sprints may not be your cup of tea, BUT they do teach you how to
stay cool under fire.
There's a whole range of skill sets and variable conditions in these small
contests to sharpen those skills for the "big 'uns"... Not to mention giving
your equipment a working out.
73
Julius Fazekas
N2WN
Tennessee Contest Group
TnQP http://www.tnqp.org/
Elecraft K2/100 #3311
Elecraft K2/100 #4455
Elecraft K3/100 #366
--- On Fri, 10/31/08, Randy Thompson K5ZD <k5zd@charter.net> wrote:
> From: Randy Thompson K5ZD <k5zd@charter.net>
> Subject: [CQ-Contest] How do you get better?
> To: cq-contest@contesting.com
> Date: Friday, October 31, 2008, 8:24 AM
> "How do you get to Carnegie Hall?" the guy asked
> his cab driver. The reply,
> "Practice. Practice. Practice."
>
> I think we all can acknowledge that practice is an
> important part of
> learning and improving any skill. Sports players practice,
> sometimes for
> years. Kids learning musical instruments practice. Very
> few people are a
> "natural" who can just pick something up and be
> instantly good at it.
>
> Why does no one ever talk about practice with regard to
> radio contests?
>
> I find the SS CW contest is the best single thing I can do
> to be ready for
> WW CW. Why? Because it lets me practice my SO2R
> techniques. After doing
> SS CW, I find I can sit down in WW CW and immediately go
> into SO2R mode
> without much thought or effort.
>
> Other ways to practice in radio contests:
>
> - Start at the bottom of the band and see how fast you can
> search and pounce
> your way to the top. Then go back to the bottom and do it
> again. The first
> time is about knowing how to acquire the next signal and
> dump in your call
> (or decide to keep tuning). The second pass is the
> valuable one. It helps
> you practice call sign recognition, duping skills, and how
> to dig between
> the fast loud guys.
>
> - Work a QSO party or smaller DX contest that is focused on
> one area. See
> if you can work every station you hear from that area.
> Again, this helps you
> practice recognizing signals from a target area and duping
> skills.
>
> - Work Field Day running high power. No better simulation
> for practicing
> running skills. :)
>
> - Work RTTY contests to learn SO2R skills. In RTTY, the
> computer is doing
> the brain work and the QSOs have a fairly consistent timing
> and pattern.
> This frees you to practice the keyboarding skills of
> jumping between the two
> logging windows. For even higher level of practice, try
> running on two
> bands at the same time (while never transmitting on two
> bands at once). The
> goal is to do it so smoothly that no one listening can tell
> what you are
> doing!
>
> - Search and pounce in a contest using low power. Almost
> everything I
> learned about busting pileups came from my early years in
> ham radio with 100
> watts and wires in trees. You take a different approach
> when you are not
> the loudest guy in the pileup. Learn that different
> approach and then be
> amazed when you apply it while running a KW!
>
> - W4AN used to do work in his shack with two radios turned
> on listening to
> two different stations. He would practice copying both.
> You probably won't
> be able to copy solid on both, but you will learn how to
> quickly shift focus
> back and forth. The goal is to get this skill happening
> without thinking.
>
> - Get on the air between contests and make some QSOs.
> Nothing helps your CW
> sending more than having to think and send at the same
> time. :)
>
> Most of all, have fun!
>
> Randy, K5ZD
>
>
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