Contesting - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Contesting is a competitive activity pursued by amateur radio operators. In a contest, an amateur radio station

Amateur radio station

An amateur radio station is an installation designed to provide radiocommunications in the amateur radio service for an amateur radio operator. Radio amateurs build and operate several types of amateur radio stations, including fixed ground stations, mobile stations, space stations, and temporary...

, which may be operated by an individual or a team, seeks to contact as many other amateur radio stations as possible in a given period of time and exchange information. Rules for each competition define the amateur radio bands

Amateur radio frequency allocations

Amateur radio frequency allocation is done by national telecommunications authorities. Globally, the International Telecommunication Union oversees how much radio spectrum is set aside for amateur radio transmissions...

, the mode of communication that may be used, and the kind of information that must be exchanged. The contacts made during the contest contribute to a score by which stations are ranked. Contest sponsors publish the results in magazines and on web sites.

Contesting grew out of other amateur radio activities in the 1920s and 1930s. As transoceanic communications with amateur radio became more common, competitions were formed to challenge stations to make as many contacts as possible with amateur radio stations in other countries. Contests were also formed to provide opportunities for amateur radio operators to practice their message handling skills, used for routine or emergency

Amateur radio emergency communications

In times of crisis and natural disasters, amateur radio is often used as a means of emergency communication when wireline, cell phones and other conventional means of communications fail....

communications across long distances. Over time, the number and variety of radio contests has increased, and many amateur radio operators today pursue the sport as their primary amateur radio activity.

There is no international authority or governance organization for this sport. Each competition is sponsored separately and has its own set of rules. Contest rules do not necessarily require entrants to comply with voluntary international band plans. Participants must, however, adhere to the amateur radio regulations of the country in which they are located. Because radio contests take place using amateur radio, competitors are generally forbidden by their national amateur radio regulations from being compensated financially for their activity. High levels of amateur radio contest activity, and contesters failing to comply with international band plans, can result in friction between contest participants and other amateur radio users of the same radio spectrum.

Contesting basics

Radio contests are principally sponsored by amateur radio societies, radio clubs, or radio enthusiast magazines. These organizations publish the rules for the event, collect the operational logs from all stations that operate in the event, cross-check the logs to generate a score for each station, and then publish the results in a magazine

Magazine

Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...

, in a society journal, or on a web site. Because the competitions are between stations licensed in the Amateur Radio Service (with the exception of certain contests which sponsor awards for shortwave listeners

Shortwave listening

Shortwave listening is the hobby of listening to shortwave radio broadcasts located on frequencies between 1700 kHz and 30 MHz. Listeners range from casual users seeking international news and entertainment programming to hobbyists immersed in the technical aspects of radio reception and DXing...

), which prohibits the use of radio frequencies for pecuniary interests, there are no professional radio contests or professional contesters, and any awards granted by the contest sponsors are typically limited to paper certificates, plaques, or trophies.

During a radio contest, each station attempts to establish two-way contact with other licensed amateur radio stations and exchange information specific to that contest. The information exchanged could include a signal report

RST

RST is an abbreviation used to stand for the combined parish which includes the areas of Rathfeigh, Skryne and Tara in Co. Meath, Ireland. A published newsletter named the RST is distributed fortnightly in the area....

, a name, the U.S. state

U.S. state

A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...

or Canadian province in which the station is located, the geographic zone in which the station is located, the Maidenhead grid locator in which the station is located, the age of the operator, or an incrementing serial number. For each contact, the radio operator must correctly receive the call sign

Call sign

In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign is a unique designation for a transmitting station. In North America they are used as names for broadcasting stations...

of the other station, as well as the information in the "exchange", and record this data, along with the time of the contact and the band or frequency that was used to make the contact, in a log.

A contest score is computed based on a formula defined for that contest. A typical formula assigns some number of points for each contact, and a "multiplier" based on some aspect of the exchanged information. The rules for most contests held on the VHF

Very high frequency

Very high frequency is the radio frequency range from 30 MHz to 300 MHz. Frequencies immediately below VHF are denoted High frequency , and the next higher frequencies are known as Ultra high frequency...

amateur radio bands in North America assign a new multiplier for each new Maidenhead grid locator in the log, rewarding the competitors that make contacts with other stations in the most locations. Many HF

High frequency

High frequency radio frequencies are between 3 and 30 MHz. Also known as the decameter band or decameter wave as the wavelengths range from one to ten decameters . Frequencies immediately below HF are denoted Medium-frequency , and the next higher frequencies are known as Very high frequency...

contests reward stations with a new multiplier for contacts with stations in each country - often based on the "entities" listed on the DXCC country list

DX Century Club

The DX Century Club, or DXCC, is an amateur radio operating award earned by making contact with 100 or more geographic entities around the world....

maintained by the American Radio Relay League

American Radio Relay League

The American Radio Relay League is the largest membership association of amateur radio enthusiasts in the USA. ARRL is a non-profit organization, and was founded in May 1914 by Hiram Percy Maxim of Hartford, Connecticut...

("ARRL"). Depending on the rules for a particular contest, each multiplier may count once on each radio band or only once during the contest, regardless of the radio band on which the multiplier was first earned. The points earned for each contact can be a fixed amount per contact, or can vary based on a geographical relationship such as whether or not the communications crossed a continental or political boundary. Some contests, such as the Stew Perry Top Band Distance Challenge, award points that are scaled to the distance separating the two stations. Most contests held in Europe on the VHF and microwave bands award 1 point per kilometre of distance between the stations making each contact.

After they are received by the contest sponsor, logs are checked for accuracy. Points can be deducted or credit or multipliers lost if there are errors in the log data for a given contact. Depending on the scoring formula used, the resulting scores of any particular contest can be either a small number of points or in the millions of points. Most contests offer multiple entry categories, and declare winners in each category. Some contests also declare regional winners for specific geographic subdivisions, such as continents, countries, U.S. states, or Canadian provinces.

The most common entry category is the single operator category and variations thereof, in which only one individual operates a radio station for the entire duration of the contest. Subdivisions of the single operator category are often made based on the highest power output levels used during the contest, such as a QRP

QRP operation

In amateur radio, QRP operation means transmitting at reduced power levels while aiming to maximize one's effective range while doing so. The term QRP derives from the standard Q code used in radio communications, where "QRP" and "QRP?" are used to request, "Reduce power," and ask "Should I reduce...

category for single operator stations using no more than five watt

Watt

The watt is a derived unit of power in the International System of Units , named after the Scottish engineer James Watt . The unit, defined as one joule per second, measures the rate of energy conversion.-Definition:...

s output power, or a High Power category that allows stations to transmit with as much output power as their license permits. Multi-operator categories allow for teams of individuals to operate from a single station, and may either allow for a single radio transmitter or several to be in use simultaneously on different amateur radio bands. Many contests also offer team or club competitions in which the scores of multiple radio stations are combined and ranked.

Types of contests

A wide variety of amateur radio contests are sponsored every year. Contest sponsors have crafted competitive events that serve to promote a variety of interests and appeal to diverse audiences. Radio contests typically take place on weekends or local weeknight evenings, and can last from a few hours to forty-eight hours in duration. The rules of each contest will specify which stations are eligible for participation, the radio frequency bands on which they may operate, the communications modes

Modulation

In electronics and telecommunications, modulation is the process of varying one or more properties of a high-frequency periodic waveform, called the carrier signal, with a modulating signal which typically contains information to be transmitted...

they may employ, and the specific time period during which they may make contacts for the contest.

The rules of a contest will indicate which stations are eligible to participate in the competition, and which other amateur radio stations they may contact. Some contests restrict participation to stations in a particular geographic area, such as a continent or country. Contests like the European HF Championship aim to foster competition between stations located in one particular part of the world, specifically Europe. There are contests in which any amateur radio station worldwide may participate and make contact with any other stations for contest credit. The CQ World Wide DX Contest permits stations to contact other stations anywhere else on the planet, and attracts tens of thousands of participating stations each year. In large contests the number of people taking part is a significant percentage of radio amateurs active on the HF bands

High frequency

, although they in themselves are a small percentage of the total amateurs in the world.

There are regional contests that invite all stations around the world to participate, but restrict which stations each competitor may contact. For example, Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

ese stations in the Japan International DX Contest (sponsored by Five Nine
Five Nine
Five Nine is a monthly magazine published in Japan. The magazine covers topics related to amateur radio DXing and contesting. The magazine is published in Japanese and draws its subscription base primarily from Japan...

magazine) may only contact other stations located outside of Japan and vice versa. There are also contests that limit participation to just the stations located in a particular continent or country, even though those stations may work any other station for points.

All contests use one or more amateur radio bands on which competing stations may make two-way contacts. HF contests use one or more of the 160 meter

160 meters

Just above the mediumwave broadcast band, 160 meters is the lowest radio frequency band allocation available to amateur radio operators in most countries. Seasoned operators often refer to 160 meters as the Top Band...

, 80 Meter

80 meters

The 80 meter or 3.5 MHz band is a core amateur radio frequency band, allocated frequencies from 3.5 to 4.0 MHz in IARU Region 2, and generally 3.5 to 3.8 or 3.9 MHz in Regions 1 and 3 respectively. The portion of the band used for phone communications is sometimes referred to as 75 meters...

, 40 Meter

40 meters

The 40-meter or 7-MHz band is an amateur radio frequency band, spanning 7000 to 7300 kilohertz , allocated to radio amateurs in all countries worldwide.40 meters is considered one of the most reliable all-season DX bands....

, 20 Meter

20 meters

The 20-meter or 14-MHz amateur radio band is a portion of the shortwave radio spectrum, comprising frequencies stretching from 14.000 MHz to 14.350 MHz. The 20-meter band was first made available to amateurs in the United States by the Third National Radio Conference on October 10, 1924...

, 15 Meter

15 meters

The 15-meter band is an amateur radio frequency band spanning the shortwave spectrum from 21 to 21.45 MHz. Almost all countries permit amateur communications on the entire band....

, and 10 Meter

10 meters

The 10-metre band is a portion of the shortwave radio spectrum internationally allocated to amateur radio and amateur satellite use on a primary basis. The band consists of frequencies stretching from 28000 to 29700 kHz.-History:...

bands. VHF contests use all the amateur radio bands above 50 MHz. Some contests permit activity on all HF or all VHF bands, and may offer points for contacts and multipliers on each band. Other contests may permit activity on all bands but restrict stations to making only one contact with each other station, regardless of band, or may limit multipliers to once per contest instead of once per band. Most VHF contests in North America are similar to the ARRL June VHF QSO Party, and allow contacts on all the amateur radio bands 50 MHz or higher in frequency. Most VHF contests in the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

, however, are restricted to one amateur radio band at a time. An HF contest with world wide participation that restricts all contest activity to just one band is the ARRL 10 Meter Contest.

Contests exist for enthusiasts of all modes. Some contests are restricted to just CW

Continuous wave

A continuous wave or continuous waveform is an electromagnetic wave of constant amplitude and frequency; and in mathematical analysis, of infinite duration. Continuous wave is also the name given to an early method of radio transmission, in which a carrier wave is switched on and off...

emissions using the Morse code

Morse code

Morse code is a method of transmitting textual information as a series of on-off tones, lights, or clicks that can be directly understood by a skilled listener or observer without special equipment...

for communications, some are restricted to telephony

Telephony

In telecommunications, telephony encompasses the general use of equipment to provide communication over distances, specifically by connecting telephones to each other....

modes and spoken communications, and some employ digital emissions modes such as RTTY or PSK31

PSK31

PSK31 or "Phase Shift Keying, 31 Baud" is a digital radio modulation mode, used primarily in the amateur radio field to conduct real-time keyboard-to-keyboard informal text chat between amateur radio operators.- History :...

. Many popular contests are offered on two separate weekends, one for CW and one for telephony, with all the same rules. The CQ World Wide WPX Contest, for example, is held as a phone-only competition one weekend in March, and a CW-only competition one weekend in May. Some contests, especially those restricted to a single radio frequency band, allow the competing stations to use several different emissions modes. VHF contests typically permit any mode of emission, including some specialty digital modes designed specifically for use on those bands. As with the other variations in contest rules and participation structure, some contest stations and operators choose to specialize in contests on certain modes and may not participate seriously in contests on other modes. Large, worldwide contests on the HF bands can be scheduled for up to forty-eight hours in duration. Typically, these large worldwide contests run from 0000 UTC

Coordinated Universal Time

Coordinated Universal Time is the primary time standard by which the world regulates clocks and time. It is one of several closely related successors to Greenwich Mean Time. Computer servers, online services and other entities that rely on having a universally accepted time use UTC for that purpose...

on Saturday morning until the end of 2359 UTC Sunday evening. Regional and smaller contests often are scheduled for a shorter duration, with twenty-four hours, twelve hours, and four hours being common variations.

Many contests employ a concept of "off time" in which a station may operate only a portion of the available time. For example, the ARRL November Sweepstakes is thirty hours long, but each station may be on the air for no more than twenty-four out of the thirty hours. The off-time requirement forces competitive stations to decide when to be on the air making contacts and when to be off the air, and adds a significant element of strategy to the competition. Although common in the 1930s, only a small number of contests today take place over multiple weekends. These competitions are called "cumulative" contests, and are generally limited to the microwave

Microwave

Microwaves, a subset of radio waves, have wavelengths ranging from as long as one meter to as short as one millimeter, or equivalently, with frequencies between 300 MHz and 300 GHz. This broad definition includes both UHF and EHF , and various sources use different boundaries...

frequency bands. Short "sprint" contests lasting only a few hours have been popular among contesters that prefer a fast-paced environment, or who cannot devote an entire weekend to a radio contest. A unique feature of the North American Sprint contest is that the operator is required to change frequency

Frequency

Frequency is the number of occurrences of a repeating event per unit time. It is also referred to as temporal frequency.The period is the duration of one cycle in a repeating event, so the period is the reciprocal of the frequency...

after every other contact, introducing another operational skills challenge. Whatever the length of the contest, the top operators are frequently those that can best maintain focus on the tasks of contest operating throughout the event.

The wide variety of contests attracts a large variety of contesters and contest stations. The rules and structure of a particular contest can determine the strategies used by competitors to maximize the number of contacts made and multipliers earned. Some stations and operators specialize in certain contests, and either rarely operate in others, or compete in them with less seriousness. As with other sports, contest rules evolve over time, and rule changes are one of the primary sources of controversy

Contesting controversies

Like most other sports, amateur radio contesting has its share of disputes and controversy. These disputes are long-standing and may see no thorough resolution for a long time. They are presented for their informational value, with the positions in dispute summarized...

in the sport.

History of contesting

The origin of contesting can be traced to the Trans-Atlantic Tests of the early 1920s, when amateur radio operators first attempted to establish long distance radiocommunications across the Atlantic Ocean

Atlantic Ocean

The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...

on the short wave amateur radio frequencies. Even after the first two-way communications between North America and Europe were established in 1923, these tests continued to be annual events at which more and more stations were successful in establishing two-way contacts over greater and greater distances. In 1927, the American Radio Relay League

American Radio Relay League

, which had been principal in organizing and publicizing these tests, proposed a new format for the annual event, encouraging stations to make as many two-way contacts with stations in other countries as possible. The 1928 International Relay Party, as the event was renamed, was the first organized amateur radio contest. The International Relay Party was an immediate success, and was sponsored annually by the ARRL from 1927 through 1935. In 1936, the contest name changed to the ARRL International DX Contest, the name under which it is known today.

To complement the burst of activity and interest being generated in DX

DXing

DXing is the hobby of tuning in and identifying distant radio or television signals, or making two way radio contact with distant stations in amateur radio, citizens' band radio or other two way radio communications. Many DXers also attempt to receive written verifications of reception from the...

communications by the popularity of the International Relay Parties, the ARRL adopted a competitive operating format for events designed for non-international contacts. The first ARRL All-Sections Sweepstakes Contest was started in 1930. The Sweepstakes required a more complicated exchange of information for each two-way contact that was adapted from the message header structure used by the National Traffic System

National Traffic System

The National Traffic System is an organized network of amateur radio operators sponsored by the American Radio Relay League for the purpose of relaying messages throughout the US and Canada....

. The competition was immediately popular, both with those operators active in the NTS who participated as an opportunity to gauge the merits of their station and operating skills, and among those for whom the competitive excitement of the event was the primary attraction. The contest, sponsored annually by the ARRL, became known as the ARRL November Sweepstakes in 1962.

Another important innovation in early contesting was the development of Field Day
Field Day
Field Day is an annual amateur radio exercise, widely sponsored by IARU regions and member organizations, encouraging emergency communications preparedness among amateur radio operators...

operating events. The earliest known organized field day activity was held in Great Britain

Great Britain

Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

in 1930, and was soon emulated by small events through Europe and North America. The first ARRL International Field Day was held in July, 1933, and publicized through the ARRL's membership journal QST
QST
QST is a magazine for amateur radio enthusiasts, published by the American Radio Relay League . It is a membership journal that is included in membership with the ARRL. The publisher claims that circulation of QST in the United States is higher than all amateur radio-related publications in the...

. Field day events were promoted as an opportunity for radio amateurs to operate from portable locations, in environments that simulate what might be encountered during emergency or disaster relief situations. Field day events have traditionally carried the same general operating and scoring structures as other contests, but the emphasis on emergency readiness and capability has historically outweighed the competitive nature of these events.

Modern contests draw upon the heritage of DX communications, traffic handling, and communications readiness. Since 1928, the number and variety of competitive amateur radio operating events have increased. In 1934, contests were sponsored by radio societies in Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, Poland

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

, and Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

, and the ARRL sponsored a new contest specifically for the ten meter amateur radio band. By the end of 1937, contests were also being sponsored in Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

, France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

, Great Britain

Great Britain

, Hungary

Hungary

Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...

, Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

, and New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

. The first VHF contest was the ARRL VHF Sweepstakes held in 1948, and the first RTTY contest was sponsored by the RTTY Society of Southern California in 1957. The first publication dedicated exclusively to the sport, the National Contest Journal
National Contest Journal
The National Contest Journal is a bimonthly magazine published by the American Radio Relay League, with an independent volunteer editor. The magazine covers topics related to amateur radio contesting...

, began circulation in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

in 1973. Recognizing the vitality and maturity of the sport, CQ Amateur Radio
CQ Amateur Radio
CQ Amateur Radio is a magazine for amateur radio enthusiasts. The magazine has a worldwide readership base for its English language edition. A Spanish language edition is published in Spain with some translations of articles from the English language edition and some original European content...

magazine established the Contest Hall of Fame in 1986. By the turn of the century, contesting had become an established world wide sport, with tens of thousands of active competitors, connected not just through their on air activities, but with specialist web sites, journals, and conventions.

Without a single world wide organizing body or authority for the sport, there has never been a world ranking system by which contesters could compare themselves. The vast differences contesters face in the locations from which they operate contests, and the effect that location has on both radio propagation

Radio propagation

Radio propagation is the behavior of radio waves when they are transmitted, or propagated from one point on the Earth to another, or into various parts of the atmosphere...

and the proximity to major populations of amateur radio operators also conspired to make comparisons of the top performers in the sport difficult. The first World Radiosport Team Championship

World Radiosport Team Championship

The World Radiosport Team Championship is an amateur radio contest. WRTC is an invitation-only event in which the world's elite contesters compete against one another using amateur radio stations that are in one geographic area of the world and are equipped with similar antennas and operating...

event was held in July, 1990 in Seattle, Washington

Seattle, Washington

Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...

, USA, and was an effort to overcome some of these issues by inviting the top contesters from around the world to operate a single contest from similar stations in one compact geographic area. Twenty-two teams of two operators each represented fifteen countries, and included some top competitors from the Soviet Union

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

and nations of the former Eastern Bloc

Eastern bloc

The term Eastern Bloc or Communist Bloc refers to the former communist states of Eastern and Central Europe, generally the Soviet Union and the countries of the Warsaw Pact...

for whom the trip was their first to a western nation. Subsequent WRTC events have been held in 1996 (San Francisco

San Francisco, California

San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...

, California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

, USA), 2000 (Bled

Bled

Bled is a municipality in northwestern Slovenia in the region of Upper Carniola. The area, within the Julian Alps, is a popular tourist destination.-History:...

, Slovenia

Slovenia

Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...

), 2002 (Helsinki, Finland

Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

), and 2006 (Florianópolis

Florianópolis

-Climate:Florianópolis experiences a warm humid subtropical climate, falling just short of a true tropical climate. The seasons of the year are distinct, with a well-defined summer and winter, and characteristic weather for autumn and spring. Frost is infrequent, but occurs occasionally in the winter...

, Brazil

Brazil

). The closest thing to a world championship in the sport of contesting, WRTC 2010 will take place in Moscow, Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

Contesting activity

The scale of activity varies from contest to contest. The largest contests are the annual DX contests that allow world wide participation. Many of these DX contests have been held annually for fifty years or more, and have devoted followings. Newer contests, those that intentionally restrict participation based on geography, and those that are shorter in duration tend to have fewer participating stations and attract more specialized operators and teams. Over time, contests that fail to attract enough entrants will be abandoned by their sponsor, and new contests will be proposed and sponsored to meet the evolving interests of amateur radio operators.

In a specialised contest in the microwave

Microwave

frequency bands, where only a handful of radio amateurs have the technical skills to construct the necessary equipment, a few contacts just a few kilometers away may be enough to win. In the most popular VHF contests, a well-equipped station in a densely populated region like Central Europe

Central Europe

Central Europe or alternatively Middle Europe is a region of the European continent lying between the variously defined areas of Eastern and Western Europe...

can make over 1,000 contacts on two meters

2 meters

The 2-meter amateur radio band is a portion of the VHF radio spectrum, comprising frequencies stretching from 144.000 MHz to 148.000 MHz in International Telecommunication Union region Regions 2 and 3 and from 144.000 MHz to 146.000 MHz in ITU Region 1...

in twenty-four hours. In the CQ World Wide DX Contest, the world's largest HF contest, leading multi-operator stations on phone and CW can make up to 25,000 contacts in a forty-eight hour period, while even single operators with world-class stations in rare locations have been known to exceed 10,000 contacts, an average of over three per minute, every minute. Over 30,000 amateur radio operators participated in the phone weekend of the 2000 CQ World Wide DX Contest, and the top-scoring single operator station that year, located in the Galápagos Islands

Galápagos Islands

The Galápagos Islands are an archipelago of volcanic islands distributed around the equator in the Pacific Ocean, west of continental Ecuador, of which they are a part.The Galápagos Islands and its surrounding waters form an Ecuadorian province, a national park, and a...

, made over 9,000 contacts. Other HF contests are not as large, and some specialty events, such as those for QRP enthusiasts, can attract no more than a few dozen competitors.

Station locations

The geographic location of a station can impact its potential performance in radio contests. In almost all contests it helps to be in a rare location close to a major population center. Because the scoring formula in most contests uses the number of different locations contacted (such as countries, states or grid locators) as a multiplier, contacts with stations in rare locations are in high demand. In contests on the VHF and higher frequency bands, having a location at a high altitude with unobstructed line of sight in all directions is also a major advantage. With range limited to around 1000 kilometers in normal radio propagation conditions, a location on high ground close to a major metropolitan area is an often unbeatable advantage in VHF contests. In the large international HF DX contests, stations in the Caribbean Sea

Caribbean Sea

The Caribbean Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean located in the tropics of the Western hemisphere. It is bounded by Mexico and Central America to the west and southwest, to the north by the Greater Antilles, and to the east by the Lesser Antilles....

and the North Atlantic Ocean, close to Europe and eastern North America with their high densities of active contest stations, are frequently the winners. Aruba

Aruba

Aruba is a 33 km-long island of the Lesser Antilles in the southern Caribbean Sea, located 27 km north of the coast of Venezuela and 130 km east of Guajira Peninsula...

, Curaçao

Curaçao

Curaçao is an island in the southern Caribbean Sea, off the Venezuelan coast. The Country of Curaçao , which includes the main island plus the small, uninhabited island of Klein Curaçao , is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands...

, the Canary Islands

Canary Islands

The Canary Islands , also known as the Canaries , is a Spanish archipelago located just off the northwest coast of mainland Africa, 100 km west of the border between Morocco and the Western Sahara. The Canaries are a Spanish autonomous community and an outermost region of the European Union...

, the Cape Verde Islands, Madeira Island, coastal Morocco

Morocco

Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...

and the islands of Trinidad and Tobago

Trinidad and Tobago

Trinidad and Tobago officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago is an archipelagic state in the southern Caribbean, lying just off the coast of northeastern Venezuela and south of Grenada in the Lesser Antilles...

have been the sites of some of the most famous radio contesting victories in the large world wide contests. Competition between stations in large countries, such as Canada

Canada

, Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

, or the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

can be greatly affected by the geographic locations of each station. Because of these variations, some stations may specialize in only those contests where they are not at a disadvantage, or may measure their own success against only nearby rivals.
Many radio amateurs are happy to contest from home, often with relatively low output power and simple antennas

Antenna (radio)

An antenna is an electrical device which converts electric currents into radio waves, and vice versa. It is usually used with a radio transmitter or radio receiver...

. Some of these operators at modest home stations operate competitively and others are simply on the air to give away some points to serious stations or to chase some unusual propagation. More serious radio contesters will spend significant sums of money and invest a lot of time building a potentially winning station, whether at home, a local mountain top, or in a distant country. Operators without the financial resources to build their own station establish relationships with those that do and "guest operate" at other stations during contests. Contesting is often combined with a DX-pedition

DX-pedition

A DX-pedition is an expedition to what is considered an exotic place by amateur radio operators, perhaps because of its remoteness or because there are very few radio amateurs active from that place. This could be an island, a country, or even a particular spot on a geographical grid.The activity...

, where amateur radio operators travel to a location where amateur radio activity is infrequent or uncommon.

Several contests are designed to encourage outdoor operations, and are known as field day

Field Day

Field Day is an annual amateur radio exercise, widely sponsored by IARU regions and member organizations, encouraging emergency communications preparedness among amateur radio operators...

s. The motivating purpose of these events is to prepare operators for emergency readiness, but many enjoy the fun of operating in the most basic of circumstances. The rules for most field day events require or strongly incent participating stations to use generator

Electrical generator

In electricity generation, an electric generator is a device that converts mechanical energy to electrical energy. A generator forces electric charge to flow through an external electrical circuit. It is analogous to a water pump, which causes water to flow...

or battery

Battery (electricity)

An electrical battery is one or more electrochemical cells that convert stored chemical energy into electrical energy. Since the invention of the first battery in 1800 by Alessandro Volta and especially since the technically improved Daniell cell in 1836, batteries have become a common power...

power, and temporary antennas. This can create a more level playing field, as all stations are constructed in a similar manner.

Typical contest exchange

Contacts between stations in a contest are often brief. A typical exchange between two stations on voice — in this case between a station in England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

and one in New Zealand

New Zealand

in the CQ World Wide DX Contest — might proceed as follows:

Station 1: CQ contest Mike Two Whiskey, Mike Two Whiskey, contest.

(Station M2W is soliciting a contact in the contest)

Station 2: Zulu Lima Six Quebec Hotel

(The station calling, ZL6QH, gives only his callsign. No more information is needed.)

Station 1: ZL6QH 59 14 (said as "five nine one four").

(M2W confirms the ZL6QH call sign, sends a signal report of 59, and is in Zone 14 (Western Europe).)

Station 2: Thanks 59 32 (said as "five nine three two").

(ZL6QH confirms reception of M2W's exchange, sends a signal report of 59, and is in Zone 32 (South Pacific).)

Station 1: Thanks Mike Two Whiskey

(M2W confirms ZL6QH's exchange, is now listening for new stations.)

On Morse code, suitable well-known abbreviations are used to keep the contact as brief as possible. Skilled contesters can maintain a "rate" over four contacts per minute on Morse code, or up to ten contacts per minute on voice during peak propagation periods, using this short format. The peak rate of contacts that can be made during contests that employ longer exchanges with more information that must be sent, received, and acknowledged, will be necessarily lower.

Logs and log checking

Most serious competitive stations log their contest contacts using contest logging software

Contest logging software

Contest logging software refers to specialized computer software programs designed for use by competitors in amateur radio contesting. Most contest logging software is written by individual programmers who are active radio contesters.- Purpose :...

, although some continue to use paper and pencil. There are many different software logging programs written specifically for radio contesting. Computer logging programs can handle many additional duties besides simply recording the log data; they can keep a running score based upon the formula of the contest, track which available multipliers have been "worked" and which have not, and provide the operator with visual clues about how many contacts are being made on which bands. Some contest software even provide a means to control the station equipment via computer, retrieve data from the radio and send pre-recorded morse code, voice or digital messages. After the conclusion of a contest, each station must submit its operational log to the contest sponsor. Many sponsors accept logs by e-mail

E-mail

Electronic mail, commonly known as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. Modern email operates across the Internet or other computer networks. Some early email systems required that the author and the recipient both be online at the...

, by upload on web sites, or even by postal mail.

Once a contest sponsor receives all the logs from the competitors, the logs undergo a process known as "cross-checking." In cross-checking, the contest sponsor will match up the contacts recorded in the logs and look for errors or omissions. Most contests enforce stiff points penalties for inaccuracies in the log, which means that the need for speed in operation must be balanced against the requirement for accuracy. It is not uncommon for a station to lead in points at the end of the contest, but slip behind a more accurate competitor after the cross-checking process has assessed penalties. Some contest sponsors provide custom log checking reports to participating stations that offer details about the errors in their log and how they were penalized.

Results and awards

Most contests are sponsored by organizations that either publish a membership journal, or sell a radio enthusiast magazine as their business. The results of radio contest events are printed in these publications, and often include an article describing the event and highlighting the victors. Contest results articles might also include photographs of radio stations and operators in the contest, and a detailed listing of the scores of every participating station. In addition to publication in magazines and journals, many contest sponsors also publish results on web sites, often in a format similar to that found in print. Some contest sponsors offer the raw score results data in a format that enables searching or other data analysis. The American Radio Relay League, for example, offers this raw line score data to any of its members, and offers the summary report of the winners and the line score data in a non-searchable format to anyone through their web site.

Because radio contests take place using amateur radio, competitors are forbidden by regulation from being compensated financially for their activity. This international regulatory restriction of the Amateur Radio Service precludes the development of a professional sport. In addition to the recognition of their peers, winners in radio contests do, however, often receive paper certificates, wooden plaques, trophies, engraved gavels, or medals in recognition of their achievements. Some contests provide trophies of nominal economic value that highlight their local agricultural or cultural heritage, such as smoked salmon

Smoked salmon

Smoked salmon is a preparation of salmon, typically a fillet that has been cured and then hot or cold smoked. Due to its moderately high price, smoked salmon is considered a delicacy.-Presentation:...

(for the Washington State Salmon Run contest) or a bottle of wine

Twisted Oak Winery

Twisted Oak Winery is a family-owned boutique winery in Vallecito, California specializing in wine made from grape varieties native to the Mediterranean regions of western Europe. The winery is located on a hilltop at 2280 ft above sea level in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, and...

(for the California