Ham radio contesting has lots of information in many different places — including the most popular articles here on K9JY.com — 30 days, 30 contesting tips. Pete, N4ZR, has spearheaded the creation of a Wiki site devoted to contesting called the Contesting Compendium. The idea for ham radio contesting is to have a single site to point to that will help new and experienced contesters.

A quick look at the table of contents shows a great start:

Ham radio contest operating

This section is devoted to everything operational. Sections are already up on contesting from a city lot, 40-meters, SO2R and my favorite – A sleep strategy for DX Contests.

Ham radio contest technology

Technology for contesting is broad and specific at the same time. Already up are articles on Contest logging software and CW Skimmer with more to come. This one has a potential to grow to monstrous size.

Ham radio station design

How you design a station for contest operations is different than design for DXing or casual operating. This section reflects that design. My favorite? Tours of Famous Contest Stations. And, no, my station isn’t included in the tours…

Ham radio towers and antennas

Antennas for contesting are different than for other modes of operating. Sure, you can contest with a dipole and vertical antennas (and there are many instances in contests where these types of antennas are superior), but contesting requires a broader perspective for which antennas are right for different contests.

Ham radio contest propagation

Let’s just say that you can learn more about ham radio propagation working a single band in a 48-hour contest than you will with months of on and off operating on the band. String a few of those together and you can really sense the difference in propagation without the numbers.

And many more

This is a work in progress from the contesting community. So bookmark the site and check it often (no RSS feeds?) as there are some good contributions there already with more coming.

Props to Pete, N4ZR, for doing this. It’s no small job.

Related posts:

1. 30 Days — 30 Ham Radio Contesting Tips For September, I gave myself a challenge: post one ham radio contesting tip a day to kick off the fall contesting season. The subject matter...
2. 30 Ham Radio Contesting Tips — Join a contesting club 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: Join a...
3. Ham radio contesting on your terms We’re coming to the end of the major contests this spring ham radio contesting season. Did you contest on your terms? It is an important...
4. 30 Ham Radio Contesting Tips — Find joy in contesting 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: Find joy...
5. Single Band Contesting One of my favorite types of contesting is working a single band. There are few better ways to learn about propagation of any kind than...