Contesting
| Contesting | |
|---|---|
| What it is | Competitive operating: as many contacts and multipliers as possible in a set time |
| Length | From an hour or two to 48 hours |
| Score | Contact points × multipliers |
| Exchange | Set by each contest, e.g. signal report and zone, or serial number and location |
| Taking part | |
| Categories | Single or multi-operator; QRP, low or high power; assisted or unassisted |
| Log format | Cabrillo |
| Popular software | N1MM Logger+ (free, Windows) |
| Contest-free bands | 30, 17 and 12 m (the WARC bands) |
Contesting is competitive operating. During a set period, stations try to contact as many others as possible, exchanging a short, specified piece of information with each and working as many different places as they can. Contests run from sprints of an hour or two to 48-hour weekends, on HF, VHF and UHF, in Morse code (CW), voice ("phone") and digital modes. To an outsider a contest sounds like a band full of people saying the same thing very quickly; to participants it is the sport of radio, a test of station, skill and stamina, and the fastest way to fill a log.
How a contest works
Each contest defines an exchange, the information both stations must send and copy. In the CQ World Wide DX Contest it is a signal report and the station's CQ zone, one of 40 zones dividing the world. In the ARRL Sweepstakes it is a serial number, a power category letter called the precedence, the call sign, a "check" (the last two digits of the year the operator or club was first licensed) and the station's ARRL section. The signal report in an exchange is almost always 59 or 599, a formality.
Operators either run, holding one frequency and calling CQ while others answer, or search and pounce, tuning the band and answering stations that are running.
The score is usually contact points × multipliers. Contact points depend on whom you work; a contact with another continent might be worth more than one next door. Multipliers are the things a contest rewards collecting: states, sections, zones, countries, call sign prefixes or grid squares, each counted once, and in many contests once per band. A log of 500 contacts worth 2 points each with 60 multipliers scores 500 × 2 × 60 = 60,000 points. Working the same station twice on the same band is a dupe and earns nothing.
After the contest, the sponsor cross-checks every submitted log against the others. Miscopied call signs and contacts that don't appear in the other station's log cost points, so accuracy matters as much as speed.
Major contests
| Contest | When | Who works whom | Exchange |
|---|---|---|---|
| CQ World Wide DX | Phone: last full weekend of October; CW: last full weekend of November | Everyone works everyone | Report and CQ zone |
| ARRL International DX | CW: third full weekend of February; phone: first full weekend of March | US and Canada work the rest of the world | Report plus state or province; other stations send their power |
| ARRL Sweepstakes | November, separate CW and phone weekends | US and Canada | Number, precedence, call, check, section |
| IARU HF World Championship | Second full weekend of July | Everyone | Report and ITU zone |
| State QSO parties | Throughout the year, one state at a time | Everyone works that state's stations | Usually county in-state, state or province outside |
| ARRL VHF contests | January, June and September | Mainly US and Canada | Grid square |
Field Day, on the fourth full weekend of June, looks like a contest and has an exchange and a score, but it is not strictly one: its aims are emergency preparedness and public outreach, and bonus points reward things like running on emergency power.
Categories and software
Contests divide entrants into categories so that like competes with like. The main divisions are single operator and multi-operator; power, usually QRP (5 watts or less), low power (typically 100 or 150 watts, depending on the contest) and high power up to the legal limit; assisted entries, which may use spotting networks, versus unassisted; and all-band versus single-band entries. Each contest's rules spell out the details.
Contest logging software is built for speed. N1MM Logger+, a free Windows program, is the most widely used. These programs flag dupes, track multipliers, show band maps, send CW and recorded voice messages from function keys, and control the radio. Unlike general logging programs, they produce a Cabrillo file at the end: the standard contest log format, a plain-text file with a header giving the call sign and category followed by one line per contact. Logs are uploaded to the sponsor's website by a deadline in the rules. Small logs are welcome too, since every log helps the checking.
Etiquette
- Contests are kept off the 30, 17 and 12-meter bands, the "WARC bands" added at the 1979 World Administrative Radio Conference, by long-standing international agreement. Anyone who wants a quiet band during a big contest weekend can find one there.
- Listen, and ask "QRL?" or "Is this frequency in use?" before starting to run, as when calling CQ at any other time.
- Stay clear of established net frequencies, and give way at once to emergency traffic.
- Keep the signal clean; over-driven audio splatters across neighboring contacts.
- Identify regularly, as the rules require, even when running at full speed.