The last full weekend of October kicks off the contesting year for amateur radio. The big one is the CQ WW SSB contest sponsored by CQ Magazine.  I’ll cover some basics for this contest along with some strategy and etiquette, and give a preview of what to plan for in November.

CQ WW SSB Contest (00:00Z October 27 to 24:00 October 28)

The CQ WW SSB and CW contests are two of the biggest contests of the year. SSB is always held the last full weekend in October. The CW version of the contest is held a month later (often colliding with the Thanksgiving weekend). Last year over 8600 logs were submitted for the phone contest. That is a target rich environment if you are contesting, or just in the event to get QSOs for chasing awards.

The exchange for the contest is pretty simple: a signal report (always 59) and your CQ Zone (see the map at the top of this post). We’re in zone 5. The Caribbean is in zone 8. Europe is mostly in zones 14 and 15. We hear a lot of Brazil in these contests, too, so expect to hear from zone 11, also.

Guide to the CQ Worldwide DX Contest

With many thousands of hams on the bands, things can get crowded. Here’s what you need to know. The big stations with stacked Yagi arrays, full legal limit (or beyond, as is often alleged), and multiple operators will camp out on frequencies low in the band. They will be loud, and they’ll sit on those frequencies for the whole contest. Unless you’ve got a station like I’ve described (and a small army of volunteers to operate) you can’t compete with that. You can only work them. Remember our two operating styles described in an earlier post? You’ll almost certainly be using search-and-pounce (S&P) to get your QSOs.

Take a moment and look over how the points and multipliers work for this contest. (That’s good advice for any contest!) Points go like this:

• Contacts between stations on different continents count three (3) points.
• Contacts between stations on the same continent but in different countries count one (1) point. Exception: Contacts between stations in different countries within the North American boundaries count two (2) points.
• Contacts between stations in the same country have zero (0) QSO point value, but are permitted for zone or country multiplier credit.

That last bullet point is important. Signals from within the United States will often be the strongest, especially here at the bottom of the solar cycle, but they are worth zero points. As you might imagine, calling a station and asking for a QSO when you offer no points is a tough sell. Don’t call US stations in this contest.

Multipliers are zones and countries (each band counts separately). So, variety is the spice of life — and the secret for success in CQ WW. Try to work as many countries as you can and the zones will almost always take care of themselves.

Here’s my one exception to the “don’t call US stations” guidance above: at the end of a contest, in those last few hours Sunday afternoon, if I’m missing a zone 3, 4, or 5 on a given band, and if I find a US station in that zone, I’ll call them for a “zero pointer” and be sure to say “thanks for the mult.” I only do it if the other station is lonely (has called CQ for a while with no takers). It is a little unsavory, but missing a multiplier that you can hear is awful. In general, you should be able to work Canadian stations for these mults. I call a US station only if all else has failed.

My final suggestion is this: keep calls simple, and the exchange short. You call them, they give you their exchange, and you say only “595”. That’s it. No chit-chat! There are very serious competitors in these contests and every second counts. Be respectful of other people’s time.

November Contests

November is the first full month of the contesting season and there are a couple of good ones on the docket. They are:

• ARRL Sweepstakes Contest, CW (21:00Z Nov 3 to 0300Z Nov 5)
• ARRL Sweepstakes Contest, SSB (21:00Z Nov 17 to 03:00Z Nov 19)
• CQ Worldwide DX Contest, CW (00:00Z Nov 24 to 24:00Z Nov 25)

Sweepstakes is fun, but it has the most tedious exchange of any of big contests. The exchange is:

• Serial number (starts with 1 and increments with each QSO)
• Precedence (Q/A/B/U/M/S)
  • Q = Single Operator, QRP
  • A = Single Operator low power (< 150 Watts)
  • B = Single Operator high power
  • U = Single Operator “unlimited” (can use assistance)
  • M = Multi-operator station
  • S = School
• Your call (yes, the call is part of the exchange so say it)
• The last two digits of the year you were licensed
• Your ARRL/RAC section

I typically take an index card and write out everything above (except the serial number) and tape it to the top of the computer monitor. That way I don’t need to think. All I need to do is read. So, my card has:

___serial___ A NE1RD 02 NH

As with any contest, I’ll suggest to anybody new to listen, listen, listen! Listen to how the exchange sounds. Get a feeling for the rhythm of the QSOs. Once you’ve got it, do a little S&P and get some points.

QSO Parties and other contests

Typically QSO parties run during months without big contests, so there aren’t any in November. But, there are some other international contests that might be fun including:

• Ukrainian DX Contest (November 3-4)
• 10-10 International Fall Contest digital (November 10-11)
• OK/OM DX Contest, CW (November 10-11)
• LZ DX Contest (November 17-18)
• ARRL 160-Meter Contest

For details on these contests, or a complete listing of contests for November (or anytime) see the contestcalendar.com website.

Good Luck

Contesting is a great way to have some fun on the air. You’ll have plenty of people to talk to, and you know the conversation won’t drag! I used many of those contests early in my time as a ham working toward awards like DXCC. You don’t even have to submit your log to the contest sponsor if you don’t want to. Just get on and have fun. Good luck and 73 de NE1RD.