CONTESTING

This month we concentrate on the upcoming CQ World Wide DX SSB and CW Contests with 10 tips to better enjoy the contest and maximize your score.

Before the CQ World Wide Phone at the end of the month, the Oceania DX Phone and CW Contests and Scandinavian Phone Contest both provide opportunities on both modes to get in shape for the big weekend at the end of month. Some interesting contacts can be made in these contests, and propagation may be similar to what we’ll have during the CQWW, so you may gain some good ideas on where to find those elusive Oceania and Scandinavian multipliers.

CQ World Wide DX Phone Contest

The largest amateur radio contest in the world is the CQ World Wide DX phone contest at the end of October. The second largest is the CQ World Wide DX CW weekend, at the end of November. Along with the popular CQ World Wide DX RTTY contest at the end of September, the CQ World Wide DX contests individually and combined are the most popular contest series in the world of amateur radio contesting, year after year (see Table 1).

There are no rules changes this year. The complete rules are available in the August issue of CQ on page 28 or online at <www.cqww.com/rules.htm>.

Active hams try to get on during CQWW weekends to work new countries on new bands, to mount a serious competitive effort in one of the many contest categories, or just to make a few contacts and check out propagation. One can use assistance to find rare QSOs, or go without and enjoy the thrill of the hunt. For competitors with time limitations,