What defines a good contesting amateur radio transciever ?

[TheBlaster]

Interested to know what facilities and specifications are of greatest importance and why. Thanks.

I am not planning on operating contests myself but I am guessing that there must be some extra high performance requirements that are an advantage.... and that would also be helpful for a normal operator.

 

[Hurricane145]

Mostly depends on how you want to operate in a contest, like what category you want to enter.
A lot of the big boy contesters use Flex radios. Antennas are always more important than the radio. In some situations a rig with two receivers can be a plus.
A rig with good filters that won't get clobbered by big signals is always a plus.
Some guys will like a 200 watt rig so they can drive an amplifier well beyond the legal limit.
A big thing to me is just having a more "full size" HF rig which is just easier to operate and sit in front of without squinting at it all day long, Adequate lighting in the room, a very comfortable chair and comfortable headphones are mandatory to me.
Most all the recent rigs have CAT control and things like that which make operating easier, some with recorded voice keying, etc.

 

[TheBlaster]

Yes true nothing selects and rejects a signal like a massive beam does.. if you have a stash of money and a nice plot of land fill your boots. I don't have that kind of luxury and I am portable so no beams are practical really.

I hear those total idiots with their crackling signal from time to time.... so much for gentlemanly behaviour. I never go back to them... and nor should other contest stations, inconsiderate behaviors on ham bands should not be encouraged.

Actually I usually go tell them they are a crackling QRM station, I don't care what licence class they are... it is my band at a lower licence class as much as it is for them. Nothing will clear the band up faster than hams constanttly telling QRM stations that they are a sh** station. Go for it, make them reduce their drive.. collectively we could make them drop their drive... when the only contact they get is negative they will get the message fast.

Idiotic really, as if distortion makes your voice clearer. Do they not know that that extra 0.5dB clipping makes little difference at the other end but your audio sounding like a crackling distorting mess just repels stations from answering.

Thanks I suspected filters could help with a contest station. I think filters might be a very important and sometimes overlooked part of ham radios. More so than eye candy.

You have helped me there thanks.

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

For a contest station you want twin receive and GOOD filters with narrow bandwidth and steep skirts. You need to hear the other station regardless of QRM and IMD etc.

 

[Slowmover]

Mostly depends

A big thing to me is just having a more "full size" HF rig which is just easier to operate and sit in front of without squinting at it all day long, Adequate lighting in the room, a very comfortable chair and comfortable headphones are mandatory to me.

Comfort AND style

 

[Hurricane145]

I never go back to them... and nor should other contest stations, inconsiderate behaviors on ham bands should not be encouraged.

Well then if you are not going to work some of the stations in contests because of that then I would not contest other than just for casual DX contacts. You'd have a hard time competing seriously if you won't work some people here and there. Contesting and even DXing can be a dog eat dog world. I am not convinced anyone buys an Alpha 77SX for "headroom"!!
Big beams can help with rejecting signals but only in a regional sort of way for the most part on HF. You can reject a lot of the JAs when pointing at Europe for instance but you can't reject one JA or even a lot of Asia when pointed at JA.
This is where a superior receiver is important with good filters, roofing filters etc.A big Yagi on a long boom will also bring in the signals in much greater signal strength than many other antennas so the receiver is even more important when you have those big beams.
Some rigs are much better than others in high signal strength environments. I keep hearing that this is an issue for the IC-7300 for instance.

People complain about the bands being crowded these days at times. They must be newer hams.
Imagine what it was like when the solar flux was closer to 200! When some bands were open to just about everywhere at the same time for the better part of the day. I used to do a lot of single band contesting on 15 meters back then and would end up with 800 to 900 contacts in the ARRL DX contest and work very close to 100 dxcc entities for multipliers in a weekend and that is JUST DX contacts, no US. Work JAs until about 1030 PM local time on 15. Sure can't do that now!!

 

[TheBlaster]

Thanks for the reply..as my original post mentioned I don't have interest in contesting. I just want a rig that has high performance characteristics and common sense suggests that the radios used for contests are likely to have the agility to work the hard and weaker dx signals.I fast learn that adjacent channel stations are the biggest enemy of DX in the weak signals on ham bands. I have done my fair share of 5,000-10,000 mile contacts elsewhere on SSB (the longest being 13,400 with a vertical).. so do know a thing or 2 about operating a radio, at least in the superior 10kc channelized format... it is just there I never had to deal with massive QRM signals appearing 3kHz away... like on ham bands.

I will treat it as a challenge.

To give the ICOM its due it was resolving 2 Australian stations on 20m nicely the other day with one peaking me an S5 at one point. At least on RX before they dropped out. But back on topic...

And I am not using a beam just a 1/2 wave un un fed wire but I only ever saw the OV light once on the ICOM and I never use the ATT.. in the vids I posted on the other thread there was a moment where I thought wow... I can hear that S0 calling CQ very very quiet and I can still hear him crystal clear.. it is a VERY quiet RX on the ICOM I will give it that... resolves the audio of a voice deep, deep down in there... a good window into the deep... assuming there is not massive signal next door by 3kHz or so.

00.25 on the video called " My working noise floor"

https://we.tl/t-JcKyh0RZnl

Nothing (at least personally) says it is time to leave the band like insane robotic "recorded voice keying"... yuck. That should be banned by the ITU globally. If you cannot even be bothered to call and use your voice anymore.

I guess it comes down to whatever floats your boat, each to their own... to me contests just seem like QRM stations, albeit legitimate... reducing the enjoyment of hunting down weak signal dx for others. Pressing a button to TX your pre recorded call is hardly engaging to me... but you know if that is your thing.. I will just keep clear... I guess we all have to get along.. I just wish the power stations would think of the smaller guys a bit before you stick twice the power you need up the ar** of your broadband interference unit.

What is best 250 stations over a weekend at S-7/S-9 or a 6-7 interesting ones at S0-S3 from further afield.. I know my preferences.

 

[sp5it]

Even 7851 will get bleedover when 3kc or less from strong, station. When it comes to excessive grid current in amp, compression and wide TX setting no chance to have GSM quality.
Get used to it.
You have nice rig, but crap antenna. I would suggest to try something else. It may be, that this s1 (there is no such a a thing as s0) station will become s5, s7 or even better.
I bet sloping dipole or VDA will outperform that something you name "antenna".
Mike

 

[Moleculo]

I am not a contester, but...

...Cap't already mentioned the filters as a requirement. You want a rig with the best dynamic range you can afford, dual RX is nice, and a panadapter to see the band. Great DSP noise reduction is a huge plus. Interfaced with a PC for logging or eve rig control. If you want to run an amp, a solid state amp with an autotuner that can handle your power level and antenna situation for quick retune. Someone mentioned the Flex rigs; a lot of contesters run the Elecraft stuff, as well.

 

[Beetle]

I'd check the manual and make sure it has "transceiver" spelled correctly.

 

[TheBlaster]

I see my error... I did say radio is an error prone hobby.
Thanks to those who made meaningful replies.

 

[Hurricane145]

As far as QRM goes, My early DXing experience was learning to live with the Russian Woodpecker, Duga 3. For a number of years it was completely wiping out my receiver at random intervals most of the morning and somewhat less as the day progressed on 20 meters. Being on the west coast (Seattle) it was particularly bad.
It was EVERY day for a handful of years back in the early 80s. I don't complain about QRM at all any more!!

 

[TheBlaster]

We all expect some QRM... that is radio, hiss, noises, static, Ionosonde blips (I like those).. but actual stations so close is the worst of all for me at the moment, big signals bleeding seriously onto a freq I have started calling on is annoying... mainly I move, but you know finding space can be tricky at times.

New thing to deal with, I'll manage.

 

[WECSOG]

Filters are where it's at. Can't work them if you can't hear them, and you need good filtering so you can dig out the weak signals.
It's also good to have a dedicated rx-only antenna port, especially on the lower bands. That way your rx antenna can be optimized for noise reduction, then bring up the signal with a preamp.
The importance of CAT, logging software, twin receive and a band scope has already been mentioned. Those things save time, which helps your overall score.

On the transmit side, just make sure you have good, clean audio with a bit of punch. Beyond that it is mostly technique.

Don't worry too much about power. The big guns have huge towers and huge amps largely for the prestige and the feeling of having a super station. Sure they will probably get the contact before you do, but then you tailend them and snag the contact next, or a few more down the line. All part of the fun.
Think of the big guns as the same guy who drives a Ferrari. In fact one of the local big gun contesters I used to know, actually did drive a Ferrari. Neither the big gun station nor the Ferrari are necessary to get the job done; they're just what the owner wants.

I used to occasionally enter contests for fun. I was running a basic triband beam at about 20 feet, and about a kilowatt. That's a pretty modest station, but it's better than most hams have and with proper technique, it was enough to break through the pileup most of the time within two or three calls.

 

[TheBlaster]

Yes I drive a Ferrari as well, I just like 1/4 and 1/2 wave pieces of wire.

Thanks for the info... yes.. I bet a good idea is to type "amateur radio contest station in google" and see what rigs keep appearing. First then when you see the price.