Wednesday, September 7, 2011

TUTORIAL SO2R OPERATING MODE

TUTORIAL SO2R OPERATING MODE


SO2R stands for Single Operator 2 Radios and it is a quite common Contesting technique used by Single Op All Bands all over the world.




Why is it used? Well, if you want to maximize your score in the 24 or 48 hours contests and you have a “limited” set-up, SO2R is a MUST.

It gives you the opportunity to use two radios on two different frequencies, usually a RUN freq and an S&P one. The main idea with this concept is that if you are not calling CQ you are losing and, at the same time, you need to grab onto some new multipliers on the other bands. In any event, sometimes the second radio can be very useful in looking for a band opening while continuing to keep the frequency occupied on the first radio. As things go, operating SO2R is not that simple and you have to be very “skilled” and comfortable playing around with one radio only. If you can work a pile-up in a contest and watch TV or do other things without messing up with the calls and the exchanges, well, you are prepared!! The following are some videos of a big contester, K5ZD, Randy Thompson, who is a well known SO2R Contester.







Many thanks to Randy for this useful tutorial about this contesting technique. I really hope many more contesters will try this out.

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