30 Ham Radio Contest Tips -- Read the Contest Rules

This month, I’m providing a ham radio contest tip-a-day (along with other posts) to help you trigger your own contesting activities.Today’s tip: Read the contest rules.You think I'm kidding? I'm not. One of the things on my checklist to take with me on DXpeditions for contesting is a paper copy of the rules.It amazes me, too, that every time I take the rules with me and read through them, I find out something new about the contest that I didn't know. Even big contests like CQ WW or a big ARRL contest -- the rules vary.Besides, we never remember exactly how the multipliers are counted. Or how the points are exactly constructed. Or where the log is to be submitted. We think we remember, but the truth of the matter is that we don't.Reviewing the rules before the contest is always a good idea. Weird. But, a good thing to do.Scot, K9JY