A series of short evening contests on 3.5MHz, promoting competition between Affiliated Societies. Individual scores in every event count towards a Society's overall score. A rolling listing is maintained on the Contest Committee HF Contests web page. If you have any queries about these rules, please e-mail hf.query@rsgbcc.org. 

Changes for 2018:
(i)  A trophy for the leading individual station for the entire series

(ii)  Expanded CW allocation and slow speed section  

(iii)  Local and General Club definition now the same as in AFS contests

(iv)  Local Club scores will also show winners by RSGB Region

(v)  Position certificates available at completion of the series

(vi)  Remote operation clarified

On PSK63 and RTTY, entrants must ensure that their transmitted signal is within the above frequency limits.

Entrants may change power Section from one contest to another.

Only one signal may be transmitted at any one time.

(i) Local Category. Entrants representing a Local Society must operate within a circle having an 80km radius - the centre being the Society's Virtual Meeting Place (VMP). Exceptionally, those whose home QTH is within the circle may operate from an alternative or temporary location elsewhere.

One of the officers of the Society must notify the adjudicators of the chosen VMP - specified by the UK&CD Postcode or 6-digit QTH locator, by email to afs.query@rsgbcc.org before any of the Society members enter an event of the series. In the notification email, Societies that have not already registered a VMP must state their chosen VMP, the Society's RSGB membership number and the Society's call sign. This VMP will be used in all HF and VHF contests in which the Society enters the Local Category. Entrants must state the UK&CD Postcode or 6-digit QTH locator of their location or home QTH, for each event when submitting their entry to the contest Robot.

(ii) General Category. Societies whose members' home QTHs cannot fit within an 80km radius circle, those that do not notify their entry category and those who prefer not to enter the Local Category, will be placed in the General Category.

(b) The operators of Stations representing an Affiliated Society must be members of that Society, but need not be RSGB members themselves. RSGB members and Non-UK stations may enter as individuals.

(c) Where an Affiliated Society has Branches, it may define a separate VMP and enter a separate team, with a different name for each Branch.

(d) A list of Affiliated Societies that enter RSGB contests showing those that have registered a VMP and giving details of each Society's selection of Local or General categories for all relevant contest series, can be found here. Society selections of Local or General Categories will be carried over to future years, but not to other contest series, so please check the list for your society and use the notification email address to request any changes.

(e) If a Society finds it necessary to change their VMP, they should also use the notification email address for this. The new information will apply to contests that take place after the change. Please allow a week for a change to be implemented. Each Society is responsible for checking that a change does not exclude their members from representing the Society.

(f) Stations may be single or multi-operator. Multi-Operator entries by RSGB members may include non-member operators whose highest class of licence is Foundation or Intermediate. Special Contest Callsigns or Club Callsigns may be used. All stations are classified as Assisted.

(g) Operation must be from a single Station location where all transmitters, receivers, and antennas are located within a circle of a radius no greater than 500m. Remote receivers outside the Station location are not permitted.

(h) Remote operation of a station is allowed where the operator is situated within the same country on the DXCC list.  Additionally an operator's home station, as shown in the licensee's licence documents, may be remotely operated from a location in another country. A remotely operated station must obey all station licence, operator licence, and category conditions. The callsign used must be one issued or permitted by the Regulatory Authority of the remote station location. The location of the Station must also comply with the requirements above.

The address of the operator must be included in the 'Address of Operator when operating Remote from Station Address' box on the Station Information Page and the address of the remote station must be included in the Cabrillo header 'ADDRESS:' box. The RSGB HF Contest Committee may place remotely operated stations in a separate results table.

(i) Members of the RSGB Contest Club who are not members of another participating Affiliated Society may enter any of the relevant contest series as representatives of the RSGB Contest Club - in the General Category. To join the RSGB Contest Club, you do not need any previous experience of contesting and you will not be obliged to enter any of the Affiliated Society events on behalf of the club. If you wish to join, or need more information, please register with the Club by sending your name, callsign and RSGB membership number by email to ContestClub@rsgbcc.org.

One point per QSO.

In the Datamodes events, the same station may be worked once on PSK63 and once on RTTY. The score in Datamodes events is the sum of the score on PSK63 and the score on RTTY.

A UK&CD station is required to be at one or both ends of a contact for it to count for points.

Stations operating outside the UK&CD are welcome to participate, and their scores will be listed with UK&CD stations in individual tables.
Non-UK&CD stations can earn certificates by providing points to UK&CD competitors, but scores from non-UK stations do not contribute to Society scores.

An RSGB station (G6XX or a regional variant) may be active during the contest and will submit a Checklog. QSOs with this station will be worth 5 QSO points.

Submit in Cabrillo format here by 23:59:59 (UTC) on the day following the end of the contest. View the correct Cabrillo format for this contest.

Before submission, check that you have used the correct Cabrillo Mode Codes:
RTTY = RY, PSK63 = PS, SSB = PH, CW = CW.

Logs must be uploaded individually, using the appropriate Club Name chosen from the list on the contest entry robot. If the robot finds format errors, it will reject the log and ask for resubmission of a corrected logfile.  Second and subsequent log uploads may be subject to analysis of any changes that have been made.

If you have difficulties preparing or uploading your Cabrillo logfile, please contact the contest adjudicator to ask for assistance, before the submission deadline.

Adjudicated results will be online and will include online logfiles for all entrants.

Errors will incur penalties as outlined in the RSGB HF Adjudication Principles. This penalty will be the loss of an additional 1 QSO point.

The use of CAT control to log the correct frequency and mode is highly recommended - you will lose QSO points for frequency or mode errors.

There will be a listing of Societies for Local and General Categories.

There will be separate listings for CW, SSB & Datamodes entrants, showing UK&CD & non-UK&CD together.

Awards for RSGB HF Contests are shown here. The trophies for this series of contests are for UK&CD entrants.

At the completion of the series, winners of awards and section winners will be indicated in the results tables complete with downloadable certificates. (If you use multiple callsigns during the series they are not able to be combined in the final results) 

Additionally, at completion of the series, certificates may also be downloaded by all entrants showing their final position in the entry sections in which they have participated based on total QSOs and in a combined score table which will use normalised results from each event.

Local Club tables will also be sorted by RSGB Region, with certificates being awarded to the winners in each of the 13 RSGB Regions at the end of the series.

(a)   Any infringement considered to be outside the spirit of the contest may result in QSOs being disallowed, the entry being reclassified as a Checklog, or the entry being disqualified.

(b)   Self-spotting or asking to be spotted is not permitted.

(c)   Call signs logged must be the same as those exchanged over the air by the entrants during the QSO. Correction of logged call signs and exchanges after the contest, by use of any database, recordings, email or other methods, is not allowed.

(d)  All requests for contacts, responses to calls, and copying of call signs and contest exchanges must be accomplished during the contest period using the mode and frequencies of the contest.

(e)  You must send your callsign at least every 3rd QSO and no less often than once a minute.

(f)   Proof of contact e.g. an MP3 audio recording, may be required as part of the adjudication process.

By entering any RSGB HF Contest you declare that:

(a)  Your station was operated strictly in accordance with the rules and spirit of the contest, within the conditions of your licence, and that the power output from your transmitter was no greater than that permitted in the section of the contest that you are entering.

(b)  You agree that decisions of the RSGB HF Contest Committee will be final in cases of dispute.

(c)   By submitting a log entry, you give the RSGB permission to score, amend, publish, republish, print, and otherwise distribute that entry by any means.