Get a Contesting Buddy

Foundations of Amateur Radio

There is a solitude about amateur radio. Sitting in your shack, listening to the bands, trying to locate an elusive station and if you're doing a contest then even that can be something that you do alone. Don't get me wrong, I like my own company as much as the next introvert, but there is much joy to be found in finding a companion.

Over the years I've participated in group activities, camping, field-days, contests, activations, antenna building, ham-fests and the like. These activities have been excellent and I highly recommend that you attempt to find a local community where you can connect with other amateurs to find common ground and explore this hobby together.

Last week I did a contest with a friend. Each on our own, but doing the same contest at the same time. The contest itself was what can only be described as a fizzer. For my 8 hours or so of operating I managed a grand total of one contact and that wasn't even with my friend.

What made the experience one to remember is that I wasn't alone in the activity. I wasn't the only one having the experience. I was able to share my single contact and know that my friend didn't fare much better, that they had been in the same boat and came out just as wet.

It's not the first time I've done a contest with a single friend. This time we did it as two stations, each under our own callsign, but previously I've participated in contests where it was just two of us that were working the same callsign, both trying our best to contribute as much as we could.

The thrill of doing this is like nothing else I've experienced and I would highly recommend that you try it.

My tips for success are that you agree on a common understanding of why you're there. If one of you is wanting to lark about and the other is serious the experience will end in tears.

One of the things I've done in the past is to agree on operator rotation. For one contest we set a hard limit of two hours per operator and between us we covered most of the 48 hours of the contest and we managed enough sleep to stay sane.

Operating two radios doesn't in my experience work very well if you're both working in the same shack. That's not to say that there is hardware that can fix that, but so-far it's been elusive at best and at least frustrating. My quest for coax-stub filter bliss continues.

Motivation is a big deal. Encouraging the other person, making them a coffee at 2am in the morning, listening in and laughing helps and makes the experience one of joy.

Learning and observation is a useful spin-off from this. I've done this with people with more, sometimes decades more, experience than I and with those who have less experience. Giving feedback, write it down, don't interrupt the contest unless it's a rule breaker, and talking about it after the fact will make both of you better operators and that's not a bad outcome by any measurement.

Back-seat driving isn't OK. If the other person is operating a pile-up, let them operate it, their ears are not yours and your interjection of a callsign you heard is likely to end up in frustration for both. That's not to say that you can't do this together, just talk about it before you start "helping".

One of the most rewarding aspects of this whole process is that you get to see another person doing what you're doing and the differences in style between the two of you is often a learning experience for both, not to mention a shared history that will continue well after the contest is finished and forgotten.

Over the years I've now managed around half-a-dozen contests with a single other person, sometimes in their shack, in a club shack, on a camp-out, or in a car mobile and I have to say that it's the most fun I've had along the way.

For all I know that kind of fun can be had in a contest station that has an operator for every band with equipment coming out of every corner, but I haven't experienced that yet, so I can't comment.

Find yourself a contesting buddy to share the highs and lows and before you know it you'll be having more fun than you've had before.

I'm Onno VK6FLAB