The Blueprint Hidden in a QSO

It started like a hundred other early-morning QSOs. I was in Turks and Caicos, getting used to K4QPL’s station before my VP5E run in the CQ WPX SSB. Mark Pride, K1RX, was back in New Hampshire. A quick exchange, a signal report, a few pleasantries.

And then—he started offering advice.

It wasn’t packaged like advice. It was just Mark talking, the way you talk when you’ve done this for sixty years and stopped needing to prove anything. But the more he spoke, the more I realized: this wasn’t small talk. It was a philosophy—quietly laid out, casually offered, honed over a lifetime of operating at the highest level.

I said, “Hold on. We need to record this.” Two days later, I turned on the camera—not to simply interview him, but to capture something that felt increasingly rare: a master operator, thinking out loud.

Contesting as Cognitive Load

Mark doesn’t see contesting as a game of gear. He sees it as a test of bandwidth—human bandwidth.

“You’ll have decisions coming at you faster than you can process them,” he said. “You’ve got to get your instincts sharpened before the rate spikes. When the noise rolls in, there’s no time left to think.”

Mark’s home setup is enviable: two Elecraft K3s, Alpha 89 amplifiers, Comtek 4-square controllers for the low bands, and a matrix of yagis, wires, and relays. But he doesn’t teach from behind his hardware. His lessons come from the mental game. Antennas matter. But judgment is what wins.

The Zen of Frequency Ownership

“Own the frequency,” he said. “Don’t just find one.”

It’s one of Mark’s most repeated lines, and like most of his advice, it’s less about tactics than posture. He talks about operating on the low bands—especially 80 and 160 meters—as if it were theater.

“Presence matters. If you sound like someone worth working, people stop tuning. If you sound hesitant, they don’t.”

This isn’t ego. It’s engineering. Strong audio, confident rhythm, good discipline—these aren’t just etiquette; they’re tools. And they’re tools Mark believes every serious operator should master long before the contest begins.

The Shack as a Thinking Tool

Mark’s home QTH isn’t just a station—it’s a statement. His antennas aren’t just erected; they’re placed, tuned, and purposed. A 5-element 15M yagi at 90 feet. A reversible 3-element homebrew 40M beam. Four-squares for 160, 80, and 40. Inverted vees in the trees. Each piece feeds a system designed to shift seamlessly between SO2R and M/2. Everything has its logic.

But what makes the shack remarkable isn’t complexity. It’s clarity.

Control is local—literally. Antenna selection runs through a desktop switchbox mounted to the left of the keyboard. No layers of abstraction. No distractions. “I want to be able to change anything in one motion,” he said. “When you’re tired, simple beats clever.”

It’s not a shrine to tech. It’s a workspace for doing things well.

The Mistakes He Still Makes

What makes Mark approachable isn’t just his track record. It’s that he freely admits what still trips him up.

“I still screw things up,” he laughed. “But now I recognize it faster.”

That, he says, is what separates veterans from the rest—not perfection, but recovery. The faster you catch the wrong decision, the smaller the penalty. That mindset, built over decades, is what he tries to pass on to younger operators: make the mistake, learn the lesson, get back in rhythm.

And yes—he still gets nervous. “If you’re not a little amped up, it doesn’t mean enough to you.”

Paying It Forward, By Design

Mark’s not just building stations anymore—he’s building successors. Whether repping for Momobeam and Mastrant, mentoring youth, or designing antenna arrays for major contests, he’s constantly pushing others into the spotlight.

“I had people like W1IKE helping me early on. It’s not a favor to give back—it’s a responsibility.”

He helped lead the antenna and tower builds for WRTC 2014, installed 65 towers in 72 hours, and later served as a referee in 2018. For him, the contests are the excuse. The real goal is building a generation that understands both how and why ham radio works.

The Operator as Architect

The real lesson in listening to Mark—whether over the air or on camera—is that good operating isn’t reactive. It’s architectural.

You plan the layout. You define the priorities. You rehearse the contingencies. And then, when the chaos hits, you don’t flail—you adapt.

Contesting, in Mark’s world, is about showing up ready. Not just with your logs or your macros, but with your mind already tuned to the rhythm of problem-solving.

And when you hear that calm voice in the middle of your own fog of war, you remember: the blueprint was never about the station.

It was about the way you think.

Curious to hear Mark in action? The full conversation is on YouTube—it’s been viewed over 3,100 times and climbing—and it’s well worth the listen.

Our conversation struck a chord with operators around the world—here’s what they had to say.

“The W1RX interview was outstanding. Your channel is the graduate school for Contest University.” -Tom KA1IS

“He emphasized paying attention to what the other person is hearing when running a frequency more than any other mentor I’ve heard. Excellent interview!”
—Marion W1GRL

“This is all excellent advice. We learned some of this when we were at YJ0V in 2000 for the CQ WW contest. The predictable rhythm is absolutely key. Losing control of the pile can be a disaster.”
—William W8LVN

“Hi, great learning talk! Gather many local contest clubs will use this educational piece in their prep-talks. I recall our many QSOs on 160 & 80 in the 1980s.”
—Bjoern SM6EHY

Want to see the VP5 station that started it all?
Here's a quick walk-through of the VP5/W1DED setup in Turks and Caicos as I geared up for CQ WPX. 6000+ contacts, a bit of beach, and a lot of radio.

Then, go deeper with the Contest Crew.
In this pre-contest strategy session, I sat down with K5ZD, KL9A, and N6MJ to map out the WPX game plan. What we covered applies to anyone aiming to sharpen their approach—and yes, some of it came directly into play once the contest began.