First Time Rookie in a CW Contest - NRRL Fylkestest - Part 1

[@KD9ZHF]

Bravo! Great Job. I hope that I can do my first CW contest with as much success. Congrats!

[@LB8IJ]

Tnx, I was a great contest to start with! Good Luck on your first! 73

[@JonathanAdami]

dude I have vicarious stress watching this. Someone spotted CW in a WWFF park, I could hear them very well, they were slow (16wpm, I train for 20) , I had my phone decoding just in case, it was the perfect easy first QSO.... and I still couldn't do it! haha good job tho, you rock!

[@JonathanAdami]

btw, what's OST O and TRM Z?

[@LB8IJ]

You will get there. At some poin you just got to jump in. Good luck!

[@LB8IJ]

OST is a tre letter code for the county Østfold and O is the single letter for the same county. Its the message that has to be exchanged in this spesific contest.

[@JonathanAdami]

@@LB8IJ thanks, looking forward to it, and thanks for answering all the comments ;)

[@JayN4GO]

I remember my first time doing the same. My breathing was all over the place. My sending was horrible. Guess what! Nobody ate me or anything 😂 good job man and stick with it. The more you do it the more relaxed you’ll become.

[@LB8IJ]

Tnx, looking forward to many more!😃

[@K4FR_Radio]

Nice job and thanks for sharing! Ive done a couple contests so far and still get nervous running. Working on conquering that... Its a lot of fun and really, really improves operating skills. Definitely intimidating to jump in the pool. Good for you! Hope to see you on the air! 73 de N4AAJ

[@LB8IJ]

Yes, would like to join som International contests soon. Maby ill meet you there. 73

[@K4FR_Radio]

@@LB8IJ that would be awesome! 73

[@taekehf]

Ah, flashback of the nerves I had with my first contests 😁 Well done. But a suggestion: contests are quick exchanges. You usually don't send the other operators call so leave that out. Now I don't know how big this contests is, but in a small, regional contests where there aren't many participants, a bit more friendlyness doesn't matter, but in a big contest, the other side would be fuming for wasting their time. Especially a 2BSIQ operator 😊 But quite often in a big, crowded contest where stations are close to each other, sometimes it is necessary to send the other stations call so they know you are working them. You will discover this with more contest-experience under your belt. Good luck with the next one. 73, Martin PE1EEC/PE6X.

[@LB8IJ]

Tnx for the tips, looking forward to build more experience

[@CiemonDunville]

Well done Øystein, it's intimidating isn't it, especially when the speeds can be pretty high. Of course, in a contest it's all about winning so people tend to use all the tools that are available so they can do well. But, they're great for improving head copy and instant character recognition along with helping to improve your speed. If you enjoyed it, then consider the three weekly "contests" that have hour long sessions: K1USN SST, ICWC MST, and the CWOps CWT. That's slow (SST), medium (MST), and fast (CWT); catch you on the air. 73 de G0TRT

[@LB8IJ]

Yes, Id like to join them as well. Nice that there is some entry level contests. Maby Ill meet you there. 73

[@robj1646]

Your very first stn LA0EC is probably also a newbie to contesting and that's perfectly OK. You don't exchange both calls and no 'tnx fer' but just TU or CFM or QSL. Then straight into 599 (or 5NN) plus serial or other ID. But I guess you have meanwhile figured that out yourself. You did very well, so my compliments! 73 de HA7RJA