This is one of a series of “Notes” I published on Facebook. Since Facebook has discontinued the Notes feature, I am publishing that series here on my blog.

Some hams complain about contests clogging up the bands, others love them. These days it seems there is a contest of some sort just about every weekend: some big, some small; some very fast paced and competitive, others more relaxed and friendly. Generally speaking, the object of a contest is to work (contact) as many stations as possible in a given amount of time. Most who participate in contests have little to no chance of winning the contest and they know it. In most contests, the big stations with the most experienced operators are always going to win. With present day proliferation of superstations, that doesn’t leave the average ham much of a chance to win, per se. So why would one participate in a contest if winning isn’t possible? There are many reasons! Let’s explore that. Even if you don’t win the contest and get a nice plaque for your wall, that’s not to say you don’t “win” something of value to you!

Whether you’re out to compete or not, contesting should be fun. There are many ways to have fun in a contest without pushing yourself to get a high score. Some like contests as a means of improving operator skill. Contests are about short, snappy exchanges, usually with a good amount of QRM (interference) just to make things more interesting. The more you do it, the better you will become at copying through QRM or just digging out and understanding weaker signals. Your operator skills will be enhanced in other ways as you learn to be quick and brief while maintaining accuracy. These skills carry over into many other aspects of ham radio, including public service. For the CW (Morse code) contester, improving sending and receiving speed is another major benefit.

Contests are a great way to find stations in states, countries or other subdivisions needed for operating achievement awards. Contests concentrate many stations on the bands during a short time period and often bring out DX (long distance contacts) in semi-rare countries that aren’t on very often. Perhaps you’re interested in making contacts with a part of the world that is difficult for you, or places you have a particular interest in. Maybe you just want to test your station to find out what you can work, or test yourself! You may be pleasantly surprised. You may learn things about propagation that you didn’t know.

Some “contesters” just want to test and evaluate themselves. It can be fun to set a personal goal, such as working all 50 states or some number of countries in a contest. Or perhaps you just want to compete against yourself and see if you can do better in a particular contest than last time. The beauty of this is that you can set a goal that is attainable and yet challenging enough to keep you motivated! In one recent contest I set a goal of working a certain number of countries. When that goal was completed less than a third of the way through the contest much to my surprise, I changed my emphasis for the remainder. I spent some time looking for Asia, since I am always interested in working that part of the world. I looked for and worked old friends. I practiced my skill at tuning the band and moving as quickly as possible from one QSO (contact) to the next. Since I wasn’t competing against others, I could spend as much or as little time operating as I wanted, consistent with trying to meet my self assigned goal. I took more break time than operating time.

Whatever your interest, be prepared. Know the rules of the contest you will be participating in. For example, what information is to be exchanged for a valid contact? A signal report is usually part of the exchange and is almost always 59 on phone or 599 on CW or RTTY. Most contests require exchange of state, CQ or ITU zone, grid square, or some other information in addition to signal report. Can you work stations anywhere, just DX, or just your own country? When does the contest start and end? What bands and modes are allowed? Can you work a station just one time, or can you work the same station on each band? If you will be competing you will also want to know about other rules, such as required off time, scoring, how to submit a log, entry classes, and so on. There are many resources for contest listings. To see what is happening this week, I use This Week’s Contests at contesting.com for a listing and a short summary of the most basic rules for each contest. If I want to see what contests are coming up weeks or months from now, WA7BNM Content Calendar is a great resource.

Whatever your reason for contesting, knowledge of propagation can help. If you are out to win the contest, you need to know how to take advantage of propagation to get the most contacts and the most multipliers. A multiplier is usually a state, country, zone or other subdivision that can really boost your score. If you are looking for contacts in a particular area, knowing propagation can help with that too. I often use contests to look for eastern Asia, the most challenging part of the world to work from my home in Maine. Not only have I learned when the various bands will most likely be open to Asia (which varies with solar activity and season), but I know there is a characteristic flutter or warble to signals coming over the poles, whether short or long path. I can easily identify signals from that region even without hearing a callsign, and can select them quickly while tuning. While it is true that signals from other areas (notably South America in the late afternoon/evening and sometimes Europe/Africa) can have similar effects, a trained ear will soon recognize the difference on any given day, allowing quick and easy selection of signals from deep Asia. But don’t worry! If you don’t already know a lot about propagation, active participation in contests will help you learn.

Remember, in a contest time is a precious commodity. If you aren’t competing yourself, many of those you work probably are, either in the contest itself or to meet some personal goal. Try to keep it brief and snappy. This is often one of the biggest challenges for new contesters who may be unsure of themselves and/or more accustomed to other types of operating. Many newcomers feel they are being impolite if they don’t include greetings and friendly phrases as part of an exchange. Actually, it is polite to keep it as brief as possible since many of the stations you work are competing and time is precious to them. Before delving into this further, you should know there are two basic paradigms of contest operating: one is search and pounce, the other is known as running. In search and pounce, you tune the band to find a station you want to work, then pounce (call the station). Running is when you call CQ and let stations come to you. Both are fun, but running can be far more challenging. Most contesters start with search and pounce until they gain confidence.

Let’s look at a typical contest QSO between WW0TST (who is running) and N1BUG (doing search and pounce) in a phone (voice) contest where the exchange is signal report and state. The shortest and most desirable form under good copy conditions goes like so:

“Whiskey Whiskey Zero Tango Sierra Tango, Contest”
“November One Bravo Uniform Golf”
“November One Bravo Uniform Golf, Five Nine Colorado”
“Five Nine Maine”
“Thanks, Whiskey Whiskey Zero Tango Sierra Tango”

There are no extraneous words. This is the most efficient contact flow possible. Many operators will preface “Five Nine Maine” with “Thanks” or “Thank you” but the most experienced contest operators usually don’t. This may need to be modified under certain circumstances. For example, if WW0TST didn’t copy my full call at the beginning, he might just say the portion of it he got, which is a request for me to repeat it. The flow then becomes this:

“Whiskey Whiskey Zero Tango Sierra Tango, Contest”
“November One Bravo Uniform Golf”
“Uniform Golf”
“November One Bravo Uniform Golf”
“November One Bravo Uniform Golf, Five Nine Colorado”
“Five Nine Maine”
“Thanks, Whiskey Whiskey Zero Tango Sierra Tango”

Sometimes an operator might simply say “Again” which means repeat whatever you last said. There are many possible variations and you will get the hang of it with practice! What you don’t want to do is include a lot of extra verbiage such as “WW0TST, this is November One Bravo Uniform Golf” or “good morning, you are five nine here in Maine”. The exception might be in a small, relaxed contest where the point of the event itself is to have fun as opposed to the more typical rabid competition, or when working an operator who shows an obvious preference for such relaxed exchanges. Although there is no hard and fast rule, you will often find the most experienced, dyed-in-the-wool contesters toward the bottom of the band, less experienced part-time contesters higher up. Sometimes you may get and wish to send something extra when working an operator you know personally or from other ham radio activities. But in general, short is good. Don’t worry if you find yourself adding more to the exchanges at first. Contesting is very different from normal QSOs and it does take some getting used to. Just keep reminding yourself to be brief and try to mimic the way the experienced operators do it.

On CW, the most efficient form is:

“WW0TST TEST”
“N1BUG”
“N1BUG 5NN CO”
“5NN ME”
“TU WW0TST”

Again, repeats may be needed. If, after my initial call, WW0TST didn’t get all of it, he might send “1B”; I would then send my full call once again. A more generic form is “?” meaning repeat whatever you last sent. This can also be “AGN”. On CW, many search and pounce operators will preface the exchange with the callsign of the running station, for example “WW0TST 5NN ME”. I can see the logic of this, to avoid possible confusion when QRM is high. There might be some uncertainty as to whether I am working WW0TST or his very close neighbor on the band. Sending his callsign alleviates any doubt. However it comes at the cost of additional time. I generally don’t do it. Notice there is no “BK” (over, or I’m done, now you go ahead) at the end of a transmission. Believe it or not, it just isn’t necessary! Even the least experienced novice contesters don’t need to hear this to recognize it’s their turn.

Of course there are many variations. Things don’t always go by the book and sometimes multiple repeats may be required for the callsign and/or exchange. This is one way contests help to improve skills. The more you do it, the better you will become at responding quickly and accurately to varying situations. It is good mental exercise. The best way to learn is to get on the air and contest! Sometimes, repeating a piece of information more than once in a single transmission can be useful. If I’m calling a station and he has asked for a repeat on my call more than twice I will usually give it twice in one go. This is always a judgement call and practice will be your best teacher once again.

Conventional wisdom (and it is wise) says never send the exchange until the other station has your callsign correct. For example if he had it as N1BUZ I would simply repeat my callsign again, and not send 5NN ME until he has it right. Failure to follow this rule may result in a what we call a “busted” QSO where he never gets it right and logs the wrong call. Trying to correct your callsign and send the exchange in one go is risky. Personally, I will sometimes break this rule of thumb and give a call correction along with the exchange, for example “N1BUG BUG 5NN ME”. It is a judgement call, but understand the risk before you make it. I do this only when signals are strong, never in what seem to be difficult conditions. I never take this risk if I need the contact for a new country!

One other thing you will hear in CW contesting is “NR” after you have sent your exchange. This means the operator needs that part of your exchange after the signal report again, be it a serial number, state, zone, or what have you. In a contest where state is the exchange he might use “ST” instead of “NR”; where ARRL section is part of the exchange it might be “SEC”. There are a few others specific to particular contests, but most will be self explanatory if you are familiar with the contest rules and exchange. If asked to repeat a specific thing it is best to repeat only that piece and not the whole exchange. On phone, the full word will be used instead of abbreviations” “Number”, “State”, “Section”, etc.

You may notice the 5NN replacing 599 in the CW example. It is common to abbreviate, or “cut” numbers to save time. This is true in DXing as well as contesting, but to a lesser degree. Usually only 9 is cut in DXing. In contesting other numbers may be cut. The number 9 is almost always cut to N. Often the number 0 (zero) to T; the number 1 to A; and occasionally the number 5 to E. You only do this for the exchange, never when a number is part of a callsign! In a recent CW contest where the exchange was signal report and power I often got “ENN ATT” which means “599 100”. Why? Because in Morse code, ENN ATT take much less time to send than does 599 100. It may look strange now, but you’ll get used to it!

In RTTY contesting the flow tends to be a little different, for reasons I won’t fully delve into here. Suffice to say it has to do with error rates and the operator having to rely on the RTTY decoder which can’t make a confidence assessment as the human brain does in other modes. This makes a certain amount of redundancy desirable in all but very strong signal conditions. A typical RTTY contest exchange would be:

“WW0TST TEST”
“N1BUG N1BUG N1BUG”
“N1BUG 599 CO CO N1BUG”.
“WW0TST 599 ME ME N1BUG”
“N1BUG TU WW0TST”

Different skill sets are needed for running vs. search and pounce. If you’re not feeling highly confident in search and pounce you can always listen for a minute before calling a station. You will already know his callsign and probably the exchange he will give you. All you have to do then is recognize your callsign when he responds. You can also take your time logging the QSO before moving on to the next station.

Running is very different and more challenging. You will have to copy the callsigns of stations calling, and often there may be more than one calling at the same time. Often you won’t know the exchange in advance and will need to copy that too. Unless you have super powers, you will find that logging operations slow you down and create awkward pauses while learning to run. You’re not alone. If you tune the bands you will find other contesters who are learning to run having the same difficulty. It gets easier the more you do it! Eventually you will learn to perform logging operations while receiving and sending. Then you’ll be able to run stations as quickly as if you weren’t logging at all. Good contest logging software can help.

You may wish to consider a few additional factors when getting into contesting. If using VOX (voice operated transmit) on phone or semi-QSK (semi break-in) on CW, make sure your end-of-transmission delay is short. If it takes your transceiver (and any accessories) too long to switch from transmit to receive you will undoubtedly miss part of the other station’s transmissions. Experienced contesters are very quick on the turn-around! Your station layout should be comfortable and ergonomic, having all controls within easy reach. Consider the advantages of contesting software such as N3FJP or my favorite, N1MM Logger. Good contest software not only logs your QSOs, but can send CW, RTTY, and voice recordings automatically and error free. These packages will also score a contest for you, flag dupes (duplicates; stations you’ve already worked and cannot work again for contest credit), tell you where to find multipliers (assuming this is allowed in your entry category if competing) and many other things. I love getting a good run going with N1MM Logger where I can crank up the CW speed and go for it! It does wonders for my overall prowess as a radio operator and it’s fun! You may also want to consider whether your transmitter can handle the rigors of contesting. Virtually any modern transceiver should be fine, but if you have an amplifier you should give this some thought. Some amplifiers may overheat with prolonged contesting, and many are not be rated for full power on high duty cycle modes like RTTY.

Contesting can be a lot of fun even if you only make a few contacts. Set some goals and give it a try! Start simple. Maybe a goal of ten contacts is enough for your first attempt. Or you might try for the WAC (Worked All Continents) award. That one is easy because you only need six (North America, South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, Oceania). But be forewarned: for many people, contesting is addictive. If you are a very competitive person or you get a thrill from realizing you are performing at a new peak level, watch out: for you, the danger of contest addiction may be great.