[CQ-Contest] Secrets of contesting? Hog wash...

[Tree]

Well, I see Neiger found some management book and put out some cool 
sounding words about contesting.

And yes, N5TJ is an alien.

And while the CQ WW DX SSB contest is fun if you are DX, or in one of the 13 
original colonies, it is after all, just a phone contest.

The ARRL SS CW is coming up one weekend afterwards, and will be the focus
of some posts from myself leading up to the big event.  Hopefully, I can
give you some more practical advice than "believe in yourself".

My personal goal is to make the top ten in the high power box.  And no,
I will not be at W5WMU this year.  Since I am going down to HC8 for the
CQ WW CW contest, I am going to operate from home this year - in Boring,
Oregon.

So - now - onto the FIRST SECRET of SUCCESS in the ARRL SS CW.

Really, you need to believe in your signal more than yourself.  Pressing
F1 really doesn't sound any different on the other end no matter what your
curent image of yourself is.  Some people might not call F1 enough if they
don't believe someone will hear them, but that should never stop them from
calling.  If you need to call guys in order to work someone, that doesn't
mean you should ever stop calling CQ.  

This might seem like bad advice - until you factor two radios into the 
equation.  Even if you are weak, you can still get lots of answers to
your CQs.  I ran 5 watts last year, and still well over half of my QSOs
were the result of a CQ.  

How is that possible with a weak signal?  I'll give that secret away 
later on.  But for now, the message is you NEED to have two radios.  If
you are weak - it is even MORE important than if you are running a KW.

Get an all-band vertical and your old tube radio setup for that second 
radio.  This will be enough to work most of the people you hear CQing
and will free your main radio to call CQ all weekend.

Please note that when I say call CQ all weekend, the only real limitation
is that you can't transmit at the same time you are transmitting with 
the second radio.  Other than that - yes - you should be CQing the whole
contest.  Picking the band and frequency to be doing that is a more
complicated process, and we will address that in more detail later on.

So - the FIRST SECRET of success in the ARRL SS CW is TWO RADIOS.  You
can even use your 40 meter dipole as your second radio antenna.  Think
outside the box and make it happen.

In my next chapter, I will talk about picking your CQ frequency.

73 Tree N6TR
tree at kkn.net