Honing Your Operating Skills
Rate – Search & Pounce Good starting point; you can operate at your own pace Timing – finding CQers finding someone calling CQ, not someone who’s working someone else Focus on 10kHz sections and pick stations off Timing – Get your call noticed in a pileup Take note of pileup behavior Avoid brute force calling. Call when competition is at a minimum “Bookmark”
Rate – Running Your Own Pileup: Handling moments when several stations call at once Contest Simulators MorseRunner: http://www.dxatlas.com/MorseRunner/ Others: Ped, VPed, RUFZ Use DXpedition pileups as practice Be concise
Accuracy Accuracy first, rate second Get as much info as possible before QSO Not sure? Take time after QSO to get call or exchange Ask for repeats if needed Ask for QRS in CW DX spotting cluster accuracy
Other Techniques Practice in smaller contests – even for just an hour Notes from previous contest experiences Listen to other contesters