Top 10 Rookie Mistakes

Kirk K4RO is a local and fan­tas­tic con­test op. He recently asked on the Ten­nessee Con­test Group Google Group page what the com­mu­nity thinks are the top ten rookie con­test­ing mis­takes. Kirk writes the Con­test­ing 101 page for the National Con­test Jour­nal. I can’t wait to see the arti­cle he pro­duces as it will speak directly to me.

Here is my contribution:

I am a rookie, here are my mistakes:

1. Not hav­ing a goal. I for­got to set my QSO goal before the contest.
2. Bad band plan. I neglected to start on 40M, which is my cur­rent best band. Had no idea where I needed to be and when.
3. Know­ing only the basics of my log­ging pro­gram. Got caught up on a strange error mes­sage and appar­ent split operation…it wasn’t any­thing but me not know­ing how to abbre­vi­ate “Union” (brain fart) and log­ger not let­ting me log. I should have typed “union” and move for­ward. Cost me a cou­ple QSOs while fig­ur­ing out I was dumb. At least the cost wasn’t as high as other times I fig­ured out I was dumb.
4. Sta­tion in a con­stant state of dis­re­pair. I would love to some­day have a mod­est, two-radio, auto switch­ing with no cables show­ing setup. Until then I suf­fer from occa­sional sna­fus usu­ally with cable fail­ure. I roll over them with my chair.
5. CQ inter­val too fast. I won­der if my CQ inter­val is too fast and scares away a casual con­tester from calling.
6. Con­fir­ma­tion CW macros not def­i­nite enough. I won­der if a sim­ple “TU” is enough to give the other sta­tion a con­fir­ma­tion. Maybe another sec­ond spent in a sim­ple 73 or QSL might be better.
7. Get­ting tongue-tied on SSB. Often had problems…like Julius N2WN said, more funny than mis­take, but still affects rate. Need a script (if not using DVK) for quick, friendly, effi­cient exchanges.
8. Bad audio. Bad bad audio. I don’t know if my SSB is bad or good (mis­take) although have com­mented positively.
9. Bad tim­ing, espe­cially in pile-ups. Get so excited I some­times jump quickly to call rather than lis­ten­ing for a few to get the cadence of the other sta­tion — bad habit and I know bet­ter given I am usu­ally one of the weaker stations.
10. Not hav­ing fun. I have to admit that 20M vexes me, and I know why…I have a bad antenna for 20M. Until I put up a bet­ter antenna I need to remind myself 1) just a game, 2) do the best I can, 3) have fun. If I am not con­vinc­ing myself (for some rea­son) then its 4) OK to turn off the radio and walk the dog, talk to my wife, ride my bicycle.