Bernd VK2IA and Jacky ZL3CW are world-class contesters from Australia and New Zealand—operators forged in weak-signal territory who’ve spent decades proving that geography is no excuse. Jacky’s story begins in the French Air Force in 1970, where radio was a job before it was a passion. Stationed in Africa in 1979, he watched amateur operators run pileups through the night and realized what he’d been missing: freedom. Since then, contesting and DXpeditions have been his fuel. From Djibouti to Japan to New Zealand, he chased CW pileups not just for the adrenaline, but to give operators the rare contacts they crave. Bernd’s introduction came through family. As a teenager in Germany, he wrote QSL cards for his blind cousin and memorized call signs from around the world. CQ Worldwide CW hooked him early. By 17, he was operating in a multi-single team decades older than he was. That curiosity became a global operating résumé—and eventually a long-running partnership with Jacky that now leads to WRTC 2026 in England. Operating from VK and ZL is not for the faint of heart. Europe and North America sit 10,000 kilometers away. Daylight brings noise and painfully low rates. When the bands open, they’re competing against locals with S9 signals while they strain to pull S2 whispers from the mud. New Zealand may have five to ten serious CW contesters. Australia, a bit more. It’s not pileup country—it’s persistence country. They’ve felt both fortune and misfortune—like the WRTC in Bologna when a slipping Yagi cost them nearly two hours at peak propagation and sent them tumbling down the live scoreboard. They clawed back. Because that’s what seasoned operators do. In England, they’re looking forward to big signals—but even more to the camaraderie. The shared grind of 24 hours among the world’s best. Running trusted K3s and leaning on fifteen years of partnership, they know competition matters. But friendship matters more. From the edge of the map to the center of the contesting world, Bernd and Jacky remind us that greatness isn’t about signal strength. It’s about resilience. Join the conversation and subscribe to Q5 Worldwide Ham Radio. Special thanks to Icom, the choice of operators who know that peak performance is never optional

Mark Pride K1RX returns for Episode 4 of the How to Contest series with a timely warning: misplaced expectations can ruin a perfectly good contest weekend. In this episode, Mark and host Kevin Thomas W1DED explore the psychological side of contesting—how to set goals that motivate rather than frustrate, how to factor in location and operating time, and how clubs and communities can ground your ambitions in reality. Mark shares what many new contesters eventually learn the hard way: location matters, participation matters, and physics is not negotiable. Whether you’re working a 48-hour marathon or grabbing a few bursts of time around walking the dog, success comes from matching goals to real-world conditions. That might mean working only the high-band European openings or chasing a top-ten finish in QRP. The right category choice can transform an uphill battle into a personal win. He also reminds us that contest clubs are a force multiplier. As a longtime leader in the Yankee Clipper Contest Club, Mark explains how even small scores can add up to big results—and how surrounding yourself with operators of all levels accelerates learning. For those struggling with noise, location, or time constraints, he offers a simple solution: go where the fun is. Visit another station. Operate with a team. Or jump into high-participation events like WWA or CQWW, where every QSO becomes part of a global conversation. This is Episode 4 of 7 in the How to Contest series. Join the conversation and subscribe to Q5 Worldwide Ham Radio. Thanks to DX Engineering for supporting Q5 Ham Radio and empowering operators wherever they operate from—from mountaintop DXers to apartment-bound dreamers.