Contest Update Issue

The ARRL Contest Update for June 24, 2026 undefined

June 24, 2026


	ARRL Home Page


	Contest Calendar

In this Issue:

Upcoming Contests – Things to Do
Busted QSOs
Contest Summary
News, Press Releases, and Special Interest
Word to the Wise
Club Focus
Sights and Sounds
Results and Records
Operating Tip
Technical Topics and Discussion
Conversation
Contests
Log Due Dates

Upcoming Contests – Things to Do

The ARRL Field Day operating event is the weekend of June 27. Besides being the “open house” for amateur radio, it’s an opportunity to demonstrate good operating practices to newer operators, and identify new contest operators who didn’t even know they might have a talent for contesting.

Even though July 1 is a Wednesday, turn your antennas toward Canada to participate in the RAC Canada Day Contest, starting at 0000z, which is Tuesday night local time on the North American continent.

The next weekend, UHF/VHFers will find the CQ Worldwide VHF SSB/CW Contest to be of interest, and the Marconi Memorial HF Contest might provide some HF DX contacts.

Busted QSOs

Ed Parish, K1EP, wrote in about an error in the last issue: “The (ARRL) VHF contest starts at 18Z which is 14:00 East Coast time. Please correct your Contest Update.”

Contest Summary

June 25, 2026 - July 8, 2026

See the "Contests" section below for complete contest information.

Note: Contest dates and times are in UTC. This means that a contest that is listed to start on a Saturday at 0000z, for example, really starts on a Friday night in US time zones.

June 25

June 26

June 27

June 29

June 30

July 1

July 2

July 3

July 4

July 5

FOC Old School Classic 1960s QSO Party

July 6

July 7

July 8

News, Press Releases, and Special Interest

You had to be quick to get a hotel room at the Hope Hotel for the 2027 Contest University/Hamvention weekend. Remaining rooms were opened for reservation on the morning of June 15, and less than one hour later, the hotel was fully booked.

Bob Witte, K0NR, operating as W1AW/0 for the America250 ARRL event, was at the top of Pikes Peak in Colorado. You can read about his adventure which netted “132 contacts, with 87 of them on 2 meters, 20 on 6 meters, 25 on 70 centimeters. ... Six meters cooperated by opening for a short time to the eastern US, netting 6 contacts with IA, IN, VA, and NC.”

Mark, M0DXR, writes:

“WRTC is almost here!

The Olympics of Amateur Radio Contesting is almost upon us. On July 8, 2026, competitors that have qualified to represent their Qualification Area (unlike the Olympics, which has participants competing for their country) will arrive in the United Kingdom Headquarters for this once every 4 year event. 50 teams of two, each with an assigned referee, will be allocated an HF operating site in South East England, where they will take part in a 24-hour SSB/CW contest over the weekend of July 11/12 (The IARU HF World Championship).

This is your opportunity to work these special stations and apply for your award!

The WRTC contest will be live on a dedicated online platform provided by World Radio League. This is a live scoreboard where you can track your favorite team in real time. Also, when you contact one of the special WRTC stations, you can see it on the WRL platform. What’s more, you can check which of the 50 WRTC stations you still need to contact. Can you work all 50 of them? If you’re an SSB operator, there are 250 possible QSOs across 80, 40, 20, 15 and 10 meters. Similarly, there are 250 possible QSOs if you are a CW operator. If you are both an SSB and CW operator, 500 QSOs are possible with WRTC stations alone!

Certificates will be downloadable after the contest, which will display your total number of QSOs made with these special call signs. There are different award tiers depending on how many you contact. Check out the following webpage for full details of the award program: www.wrtc2026.org/wrtc-2026-competition-awards

So, what are the special call signs? Well, we can't say just yet! These will be announced on Thursday, July 9. You will find this on the WRTC website (www.wrtc2026.org) and also on our social media platforms by searching WRTC2026. You can be sure that these 50 call signs will be all over the bands during this contest! See how many you can find!

A look at the World Radio League platform is a must. Visit www.WorldRadioLeague.com and sign up early for free to stay tuned when the live scoreboard page for WRTC goes live!”

The IARU HF World Championship is coming up on July 11 and 12. As in some other years, coincident with this contest is WRTC2026, being held in the UK. As is per usual, WRTC is a “contest within a contest” and operates during the IARU contest period, but may have different rules than the IARU. The WRTC teams will each have a tent with a generator, and standardized antenna and ancillary equipment. The WRTC committee provides volunteers to make sure the generators stay running, and a referee is on hand at each station to observe operation during the contest. For more information, see the WRTC2026 website. For an exciting account of one competitor’s experience, J.K. George’s “Contact Sport: A Story of Champions, Airwaves, and a One-Day Race around the World” is a great read.

Word to the Wise

S/P/C

When used in the context of a contest, denotes that a State, Province, or Country name is used in the exchange. For example, in a typical QSO party, a station in the QSO party state will give their county and state. A non-QSO party state will provide their state. A DX station will provide their country, or “DX” and typically let the logging program figure it out. Depending on the contest, each unique S/P/C can be a multiplier.

Club Focus

Join the Bavarian Contest Club for dinner next week in Friedrichshafen:

“The annual BCC Buffet will be held again at the [VfB Stadion-Restaurant] on Saturday June 27th, 2026. The online form for booking your tickets for the event is now open. Book early, seats are limited to 200 this year. 73!” (Chris, DL1MGB, President of the Bavarian Contest Club)

Sights and Sounds

Tom Epperly, NS6T, gives you a visualization of all of the contacts made in the CQ WPX 2026 SSB contest in just under 20 minutes.

Frank Donovan, W3LPL, was the guest speaker for the Madison DX Club’s June 2026 program. “How Decline of Solar Cycle 25 Affects DXing.” Pro-tip — it will also affect HF contesting.

“POTA meets Contesting” is the subject for Dean Wood’s, N6DE, video. He tested the thesis of whether a well-planned POTA activation could also be a competitive contesting entry.

Results and Records

Bud Trench, CQ WPX Contest Director, writing in CQ-Contest: “The results of the 2026 CQ WPX SSB contest are now available at: www.cqwpx.com/results.” He noted that over 10,000 operators were represented in over 8,000 logs, and 2.58 million QSOs were made. In a positive sign for the future, he noted that the 2026 contest had the “highest participation ever by Rookies and Youth Operators.”

Operating Tip

Perception is Reality

Little Pistols: “Fake it ‘til you make it” is very much a thing. Elevate your rate by acting like a big station. Run… Run… Run… When you’re operating, command your frequency. If you’re using a voice mode, exude confidence. In the words of John Dorr, K1AR, “If you feel loud in your mind, you’re loud.”

Technical Topics and Discussion

You can catch up on all that you missed at the 2026 Hamvention Antenna Forum by watching it on YouTube (just a short 7:52), and/or peruse the slides. Here are the sessions:

Investigating the End Fed Half Wave (EFHW) Antenna & What Makes a Good RF Connector by Hal Kennedy, N4GG
The Yagi Turns 100 by Greg Ordy, W8WWV
Effective Antennas Without Towers by John Vogel, N1PGA
The C-Match Method of Phasing Vertical Antennas by Lee Barrett, K7NM

Thanks to Tim Duffy, K3LR, for making this material available.

Mike Lewis, K7MDL, sometimes encounters RFI issues among his “18-20 USB devices across with 4 external USB hubs, 3 externally powered,” in his ham shack. He shares his tools and methodology to troubleshoot and fix these issues in a comprehensive post to the Pacific Northwest VHF Society Google Group. By using USB Device Tree Viewer, he can identify the troublesome device to take corrective action.

The QRP Labs QMX series of transceivers encourages experimentation and fun, and has spurred a number of third-party accessories. Steffen Lav, OZ1LAV, has created a panadapter for this radio, using an M5Stack Tab5 — an ESP32-P4 with a 5-inch 720 × 1280 touch display. The display is quite nice. The project is getting active updates, and all of the code is on Github.

Conversation

Curbing Over-Enthusiasm

Sometimes enthusiasm can get the better of us — when we’re passionate about a topic or a hobby, we just want to immerse ourselves. Last week while gathering information on a particular piece of gear, I saw a post from someone that was obviously very excited about their impending delivery, but also was planning a number of modifications to that gear before they’d even really had a chance to explore its capabilities. They were even soliciting the online group dedicated to this gear for additional “improvements” they could make on day 1. I hope that by day 30 they are still as engaged, and also still have a working piece of equipment after all of their planned modifications!

You’ll have a new Contest Update editor starting with the next issue! Max Freedman, N4ML, is taking the helm. Licensed since 2016, Max is an active contester, DXer, and DXpeditioner. Max is a member of the Caribbean Contesting Consortium, Northern California DX Foundation, Yankee Clipper Contest Club, and more. He’s been on a few DXpeditions. You’ll be able to hear his WRTC2026 team on the bands (though won’t know it at the time) as he competes from the UK with teammate W7WLW — I’m sure he’ll bring back some stories to share. Please continue to send your contest-related (and contest-adjacent!) information to contest-update@arrl.org.

That's all for this time. Remember to send contesting-related stories, book reviews, tips, techniques, press releases, errata, schematics, club information, pictures, stories, blog links, and predictions to contest-update@arrl.org.

73, Brian, N9ADG

Contests

June 25, 2026 - July 8, 2026

An expanded, downloadable version of QST's Contest Corral is available as a PDF. Check the sponsors' website for information on operating time restrictions and other instructions.

HF CONTESTS

CWops Test (CWT), Jun 25, 0300z to Jun 25, 0400z; CW; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10; Member: Name + Member No./"CWA", non-Member: Name + (state/province/country); Logs due: Jun 27.

CWops Test (CWT), Jun 25, 0700z to Jun 25, 0800z; CW; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10; Member: Name + Member No./"CWA", non-Member: Name + (state/province/country); Logs due: Jun 27.

RSGB 80m Club Championship, SSB, Jun 25, 1900z to Jun 25, 2030z; SSB; Bands: 80; RS + Serial No.; Logs due: Jun 26.

QRP Fox Hunt, Jun 26, 0100z to Jun 26, 0230z; CW; Bands: 20; RST + (state/province/country) + name + power output; Logs due: Jun 27.

NCCC FT4 Sprint, Jun 26, 0100z to Jun 26, 0130z; FT4; Bands: (see rules); 4-character grid square; Logs due: Jun 28.

Weekly RTTY Test, Jun 26, 0145z to Jun 26, 0215z; RTTY; Bands: 80, 40, 20, 15, 10; Name + (state/province/country); Logs due: Jun 28.

NCCC Sprint, Jun 26, 0230z to Jun 26, 0300z; CW; Bands: (see rules); Serial No. + Name + QTH; Logs due: Jun 28.

K1USN Slow Speed Test, Jun 26, 2000z to Jun 26, 2100z; CW; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10; Maximum 20 wpm, Name + (state/province/country); Logs due: Jun 28.

His Maj. King of Spain Contest, SSB, Jun 27, 1200z to Jun 28, 1200z; SSB; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10; EA: RST + province, non-EA: RST + Serial No.; Logs due: Jul 13.

ARRL Field Day, Jun 27, 1800z to Jun 28, 2100z; All; Bands: All, except 60, 30, 17, 12m; W/VE: Number of transmitters (see rules) + Operating class + ARRL/RAC section, DX: Number of transmitters (see rules) + Operating class + "DX"; Logs due: Jul 28.

K1USN Slow Speed Test, Jun 29, 0000z to Jun 29, 0100z; CW; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10; Maximum 20 wpm, Name + (state/province/country); Logs due: Jul 1.

QCX Challenge, Jun 29, 1300z to Jun 29, 1400z; CW; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10; RST + Name + (state/province/country) + Rig; Logs due: Jul 5.

ICWC Medium Speed Test, Jun 29, 1300z to Jun 29, 1400z; CW; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10; Name + QSO No.; Logs due: Jul 2.

OK1WC Memorial (MWC), Jun 29, 1630z to Jun 29, 1729z; CW; Bands: 80, 40; RST + Serial No.; Logs due: Jul 3.

QCX Challenge, Jun 29, 1900z to Jun 29, 2000z; CW; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10; RST + Name + (state/province/country) + Rig; Logs due: Jul 5.

ICWC Medium Speed Test, Jun 29, 1900z to Jun 29, 2000z; CW; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10; Name + QSO No.; Logs due: Jul 2.

Worldwide Sideband Activity Contest, Jun 30, 0100z to Jun 30, 0159z; SSB; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10, 6; RS + age group (OM, YL, Youth YL or Youth); Logs due: Jul 1.

QCX Challenge, Jun 30, 0300z to Jun 30, 0400z; CW; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10; RST + Name + (state/province/country) + Rig; Logs due: Jul 5.

ICWC Medium Speed Test, Jun 30, 0300z to Jun 30, 0400z; CW; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10; Name + QSO No.; Logs due: Jul 2.

Tuesday's Telegraphy Contest, Jun 30, 1930z to Jun 30, 2030z; CW; Bands: 80, 40; RST + Serial No.; Logs due: Jul 1.

RAC Canada Day Contest, Jul 1, 0000z to Jul 1, 2359z; CW, Phone; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10, 6, 2; VE: RS(T) + province/territory, non-VE: RS(T) + Serial No.; Logs due: Jul 15.

Phone Weekly Test, Jul 1, 0230z to Jul 1, 0300z; SSB; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15; NA: Name + (state/province/country), non-NA: Name; Logs due: Jul 3.

A1Club AWT, Jul 1, 1145z to Jul 1, 1300z; CW; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10; Member: RST + Name; Logs due: Jul 6.

CWops Test (CWT), Jul 1, 1300z to Jul 1, 1400z; CW; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10; Member: Name + Member No./"CWA", non-Member: Name + (state/province/country); Logs due: Jul 4.

Mini-Test 40, Jul 1, 1700z to Jul 1, 1759z; CW; Bands: 40; RST + Serial No.; Logs due: Jul 3.

Mini-Test 80, Jul 1, 1800z to Jul 1, 1859z; CW; Bands: 80; RST + Serial No.; Logs due: Jul 3.

CWops Test (CWT), Jul 1, 1900z to Jul 1, 2000z; CW; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10; Member: Name + Member No./"CWA", non-Member: Name + (state/province/country); Logs due: Jul 4.

Walk for the Bacon QRP Contest, Jul 2, 0000z to Jul 3, 0300z; CW; Bands: 40; Maximum 13 wpm, RST + (state/province/country) + Name + (Member No./power); Logs due: Jul 9.

CWops Test (CWT), Jul 2, 0300z to Jul 2, 0400z; CW; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10; Member: Name + Member No./"CWA", non-Member: Name + (state/province/country); Logs due: Jul 4.

CWops Test (CWT), Jul 2, 0700z to Jul 2, 0800z; CW; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10; Member: Name + Member No./"CWA", non-Member: Name + (state/province/country); Logs due: Jul 4.

SKCC Sprint Europe, Jul 2, 2000z to Jul 2, 2200z; CW; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10, 6; RST + (state/province/country) + Name + (SKCC No./"NONE"); Logs due: Jul 9.

QRP Fox Hunt, Jul 3, 0100z to Jul 3, 0230z; CW; Bands: 20; RST + (state/province/country) + name + power output; Logs due: Jul 4.

NCCC FT4 Sprint, Jul 3, 0100z to Jul 3, 0130z; FT4; Bands: (see rules); 4-character grid square; Logs due: Jul 5.

Weekly RTTY Test, Jul 3, 0145z to Jul 3, 0215z; RTTY; Bands: 80, 40, 20, 15, 10; Name + (state/province/country); Logs due: Jul 5.

NCCC Sprint, Jul 3, 0230z to Jul 3, 0300z; CW; Bands: (see rules); Serial No. + Name + QTH; Logs due: Jul 5.

K1USN Slow Speed Test, Jul 3, 2000z to Jul 3, 2100z; CW; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10; Maximum 20 wpm, Name + (state/province/country); Logs due: Jul 5.

NZART Memorial Contest, Jul 4, 0800z to Jul 4, 1100z; CW, SSB; Bands: 80; RS(T) + Serial No.; Logs due: Jul 31.

Marconi Memorial HF Contest, Jul 4, 1400z to Jul 5, 1400z; CW; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10; RST + Serial No.; Logs due: Jul 19.

Original QRP Contest, Jul 4, 1500z to Jul 5, 1500z; CW, SSB; Bands: 80, 40, 20; RST + Serial No. + "/" + Power category; Logs due: Jul 31.

PODXS 070 Club 40m Firecracker Sprint, Jul 4, 2000z to Jul 5, 2000z; PSK31; Bands: 40; RST + (state/province/country); Logs due: Jul 12.

FOC Old School Classic 1960s QSO Party, Jul 5, 1200z to Jul 6, 1200z; CW; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10, 6; Real RST + 3-letter class + year first licensed + name; Logs due: Jul 13.

K1USN Slow Speed Test, Jul 6, 0000z to Jul 6, 0100z; CW; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10; Maximum 20 wpm, Name + (state/province/country); Logs due: Jul 8.

ICWC Medium Speed Test, Jul 6, 1300z to Jul 6, 1400z; CW; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10; Name + QSO No.; Logs due: Jul 9.

OK1WC Memorial (MWC), Jul 6, 1630z to Jul 6, 1729z; CW; Bands: 80, 40; RST + Serial No.; Logs due: Jul 10.

RSGB 80m Club Championship, CW, Jul 6, 1900z to Jul 6, 2030z; CW; Bands: 80; RST + Serial No.; Logs due: Jul 7.

ICWC Medium Speed Test, Jul 6, 1900z to Jul 6, 2000z; CW; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10; Name + QSO No.; Logs due: Jul 9.

ARS Spartan Sprint, Jul 7, 0000z to Jul 7, 0200z; CW; Bands: 80, 40, 20, 15, 10; RST + (state/province/country) + Power; Logs due: Jul 9.

Worldwide Sideband Activity Contest, Jul 7, 0100z to Jul 7, 0159z; SSB; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10, 6; RS + age group (OM, YL, Youth YL or Youth); Logs due: Jul 8.

ICWC Medium Speed Test, Jul 7, 0300z to Jul 7, 0400z; CW; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10; Name + QSO No.; Logs due: Jul 9.

Tuesday's Telegraphy Contest, Jul 7, 1930z to Jul 7, 2030z; CW; Bands: 80, 40; RST + Serial No.; Logs due: Jul 8.

Phone Weekly Test, Jul 8, 0230z to Jul 8, 0300z; SSB; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15; NA: Name + (state/province/country), non-NA: Name; Logs due: Jul 10.

A1Club AWT, Jul 8, 1145z to Jul 8, 1300z; CW; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10; Member: RST + Name; Logs due: Jul 13.

CWops Test (CWT), Jul 8, 1300z to Jul 8, 1400z; CW; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10; Member: Name + Member No./"CWA", non-Member: Name + (state/province/country); Logs due: Jul 11.

Mini-Test 40, Jul 8, 1700z to Jul 8, 1759z; CW; Bands: 40; RST + Serial No.; Logs due: Jul 10.

Mini-Test 80, Jul 8, 1800z to Jul 8, 1859z; CW; Bands: 80; RST + Serial No.; Logs due: Jul 10.

CWops Test (CWT), Jul 8, 1900z to Jul 8, 2000z; CW; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10; Member: Name + Member No./"CWA", non-Member: Name + (state/province/country); Logs due: Jul 11.

VHF+ CONTESTS

VHF-UHF FT8 Activity Contest, Jul 1, 1700z to Jul 1, 2100z; FT8/4; Bands: 144 MHz; 4-character grid square; Logs due: Jul 4.

VHF-UHF FT8 Activity Contest-NA, Jul 2, 0000z to Jul 2, 0500z; FT8/4; Bands: 144; 4-character grid square; Logs due: Jul 7.

TA VHF/UHF Contest, Jul 4, 1200z to Jul 5, 1200z; CW, SSB, FM; Bands: 6, 2, 432; RS(T) + Serial No. + 6-character grid square; Logs due: Jul 19.

ARAM 50 MHz Contest, Jul 4, 1200z to Jul 4, 2359z; CW, Phone; Bands: 6; RS(T) + Serial number + 6-character grid square; Logs due: Aug 15.

CQ Worldwide VHF SSB/CW Contest, Jul 4, 1400z to Jul 5, 1400z; CW, SSB, FM; Bands: 6, 2; 4-character grid square; Logs due: Jul 10.

VHF-UHF FT8 Activity Contest, Jul 8, 1700z to Jul 8, 2100z; FT8/4; Bands: 432 MHz; 4-character grid square; Logs due: Jul 11.

Also, see Worldwide Sideband Activity Contest, RAC Canada Day Contest, SKCC Sprint Europe and FOC Old School Classic 1960s QSO Party, above.

Log Due Dates

June 25, 2026 - July 8, 2026

June 25

June 26

June 27

June 28

June 29

A1Club AWT

June 30

July 1

July 2

ICWC Medium Speed Test

July 3

July 4

July 5

July 6

July 7

July 8

ARRL Information

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Acknowledgements

ARRL Contest Update wishes to acknowledge information from WA7BNM's Contest Calendar.

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