See you decided to do SOAB instead of just a 160 effort. Probably more fun. Read your soap box comments that you expected more from your spent time. If you haven't read others' comments. It wasn't very easy this go round due to lousy band conditions the first day. You also said:
"This tells me that I need to work on strategy and more
efficient antennas as well as a beverage for receive."
That's what fired me up about contesting. Wondering how all those other guys could get such high scores. How could they get five or ten times my score? I'd been a ham for 25 years before starting to contest. Was I just that stupid... er, I mean ignorant? I knew there had to be a ton of stuff to learn. That was the best Ham Radio realization I ever had. Decided to figure out what they were doing and why they were doing it. Still trying to find out, but it rejuvenated my interest in the hobby and keeps it fun after 40+ years!
There are a lot of better contesters than I in this group, but here's my $.02 worth. If I were in your shoes I'd focus on operating skills over the beverage. That will likely give you the most bang for the buck.
***I HAVE NO IDEA OF YOUR SKILL LEVEL IN REGARDS TO PILE UPS OR PROPAGATION SO PLEASE TAKE THESE AS EXAMPLES AND NOT AS A CRITICISM!*** I'm thunkin' doing things to learn how to more easily bust a pile up will give you more q's than that beverage would. And knowing how to bust a pile up helps you run them too because you have to study how those beasties work and evolve to break through. Knowing the dynamics of a pile up makes you a better run op. Another example is to become one of those people who always know when the opening on 15 meters to JA is going to happen or when/where to look for ZD8W in zone 36 are super contesting skills to have. John, K4BAI, is super at that kind of stuff. I only dream of having his knowledge. Others are just as good.
Good job over the weekend and thanks for posting your score to the SECC!
Kevan
N4XL