Contesting for Beginners: Non-Contest Goals

Yesterday I wrote about having "non-contest" goals if you were just starting out contesting in ham radio. There were four reasons to have goals .But, if there are reasons to have non-contest goals, then what non-goals should one have?There are two areas of non-contest goals that make sense to me. The first is personal skill-set goals. The second is station goals.Skill-set goalsSkill-set goals are about what you as an operator can improve upon or learn about during a contest. For example, you have never really listened to 80-meters all night to understand how propagation works on 80-meters when there is lots of activity on the band. How early can you work Europe? Asia? North America? South America?Or perhaps you try and work everything in the contest long-path to determine what works and what doesn't with that mode of propagation.Another skill set area is to learn about different modes in ham radio. Want to test how well you understand RTTY and how your software program works in that mode? A RTTY contest is a great way to find out. Or improve you Morse code speed. Or increase the efficiency at which you work stations moving up and down a band.Learning about different aspects of radio in a compressed time frame is a great thing to do as a goal for a contest.Station goalsAnother aspect of goal setting involves station goals. A contest is a great way to test your station while there is lots of activity -- and competition to work people -- on a band.Want to test that new antenna you just put up? Try it out in a contest. Some new ancillary device? Try it in a contest. New station layout? A contest will quickly tell you what's right and what's not.Or, in a different station aspect, you could have an objective to work DX on 80-meters to get you to DXCC.Contests, in other words, isn't just about contesting. Contests offer a great opportunity to improve your skills or test your station capabilities.Contests are not to be missed.Scot, K9JY