[MiQP-Mail] Early Contesting (was MiQP-KALKASKA COUNTY)

[Love, Randy]

To Richards and anyone else that cares to listen  :)

Early contesting should never be about winning. I mean, you don't enter
your first marathon to win it without training for it first, right?

If you want to go after a win in the Rookie category, but don't feel
ready for it this year, then you shouldn't put the effort in this year
*if that is your only reason for operating*. However, whether you
operate in it this year or not, you should start TRAINING for next year
right now.

Some suggests for that are:

1) Learn how the contest you want to work operates. It's not counted as
participating in the contest if you just monitor it. That can be either
at your own station, or at someone else's. Listen to how the mobiles and
other stations time their exchanges. Get an idea of how often the
mobiles change counties. Notice that instate propagation goes long on
40M about 2 hours before sunset and you should change over to 80 for the
close in multipliers. Get a feel for it ahead of time before 12 Noon on
that Saturday in April, otherwise, you'll be a fish out of water. Ask
any of the guys on here that have been around a while for advise and
pointers. Experienced contesters are almost always willing to share
experience and tips.

2) Learn your own stations capabilities. I think it's safe to say that
you will put in your first efforts from your home station. Very few
people actually get into contesting from super-duper contest club or
multi-multi operations. It all starts with you! Figure out how your 80M
antenna needs extra tuning at the low end of the band. Find out just how
well that vertical skips over the local area but makes it into western
Washington during Sweepstakes. Find that birdie your computer makes on
14.083 that knocks out RTTY signals, then plan ways to improve on that
and, *follow through* on that plan.

3) Learn your personal capabilities. Find out that you can't sit in that
shack chair for 4 hours straight without back pain. Experience that your
headphones make your ears numb from pressure and static. Develop a sense
of when you will need a potty break and how to sync that to band lulls.
Admit that your CW copy and sending stink and need more practice. And,
just like above, plan ways to improve or modify those and follow
through. 

4) Practice makes perfect. Operate in other contests for just a few
hours if you don't have time for the entire thing. Never have your only
goal be to win it. Think of the other contests as instances to spot
check your improvement plans and evaluate your progress on items 1
through 3. As long as you are going forward, you're doing great. If you
have a major or minor setback, just think of it as a learning experience
and modify your plans for improvement. NEVER take setbacks as defeat.
Thomas Edison had over 1000 'setbacks' before finding the perfect
element for the filament of a light bulb. He never called them failures.
I think Edison would have made a great contester with that kind of
attitude!

5) The basics of contesting are consistent. You will find over time that
just about all contests are fundamentally the same. I've been in SS
phone, CQ WPX RTTY, and MnQP and Texas QP as CW only, and the setup for
my station varies little between them, other than the macros for the
exchanges in my logging program and the modes I'm using. And, I'm no
'big gun' either. I have 100 watts into a G5RV at 35 feet, but still
operate in contests. And, considering my 'limitations', I think I do
pretty well.

6) As others have said, and I will again, be in it to HAVE FUN. This is
the most important thing. If you didn't have fun, then DON'T do it. One
of the best contests I had recently happened to net the group I was with
the first ever EOC category plaque for MiQP. Did everything go as we
wished? No. Was it a cake walk with runs hours on end? No. Did we get a
whopping huge score? Not at all. But, did we have fun? Heck yeah! This
despite the fact that our logging software crashed mid contest, our
ethernet connects were flaky, we had to build *2* dipoles prior to the
contest start, and I only got to chase mobiles towards the end of the
test. The fun can come in many ways, but there *has* to be fun, or it
will *always* be torture.

73 es hope to see you on the bands for MiQP. 
Oh, and HAVE FUN. :)

Randy
WF5X


NOTE: The information in this email may be confidential and legally
privileged. If you are not the intended recipient, you must not
read, use or disseminate the information; please advise the sender
immediately by reply email and delete this message and any
attachments without retaining a copy. Although this email and any
attachments are believed to be free of any virus or other defect
that may affect any computer system into which it is received and
opened, it is the responsibility of the recipient to ensure that it
is virus free and no responsibility is accepted by RGIS, LLC for
any loss or damage arising in any way from its use.