Get locals involved particularly the newly licenced (the new FM contests may help whet some appetites), provide crib sheets, give talks and updates at clubs nights, use mentors and even offer online 'webinars' (we ran a number of online training sessions on Skype conference calls with 'shared screens' to teach Minos logging, use of KST2me, Air Scatter and so on). - Be organised as a group: Send polite reminders and updates to members of your club to let them know what's coming up. - Use UKAC as a springboard to other things including (1) Increased activity on VHF and above outside of contest periods and (2) To stimulate interest in other contests, particularly at a weekend. Top tips for beginners: (1) Use electronic logging if you can - it makes life SO much easier. We recommend Minos for UKAC although other loggers are available. (2) Predictive callsign and locator look-ups in Minos and other loggers are useful but can catch you out, especially with /P stations. (3) Beware the silly UBNs (there is no excuse for getting the callsign of someone in your own group wrong - and I should know!) (4) Do some preparation before the contest. Make sure you have a band allocation chart close to hand and use it! Consider learning to use KST, Air Scatter (eg. Air Scout software) and other resources such as the DX Cluster and DX Maps and consider looking at online Hepburn charts. (5) Read the rules and then read them again! (6) Create a bandmap of stations heard and worked, frequencies etc during the contest - either by hand or electronically. (7) Experiment! Get out portable, build antennas, try new techniques to find the right balance of running a frequency or search and pounce. (8) Learn to use your radio. It probably has a number of functions very useful for contesting which you haven't used before, eg. a voice keyer, filters, memories, split VFO etc (9) After the contest analyse your log and compare it with other UKACs - did you do better or worse? Where there any long gaps between working stations, were any new techniques you tried particular successful or disastrous, what did you learn? Consider keeping notes on what worked and what didn't - store them with your log files and maps, they will be a valuable resource to you. (10) Above all have fun. Remember that contesting is about self-improvement, competition and teamwork. Carl M0ICR