Wirral & District Amateur Radio Club

RSGB UK Activity Contests

General advice about the RSGB UK Activity Contests  (UKAC)

General Information

The RSGB UK Activity Contests have settled into a monthly format as follows:-

1st Tuesday is now 144MHz

2nd Tuesday is now 432MHz

2nd Thursday is now 50MHz

3rd Tuesday is now   1.3GHz

3rd Thursday is now  70MHz

4th Tuesday is now for   SHF

(NB.  Be aware .. in some months (eg. May, September and November 2022) the 2nd Thursday in the month comes right after the first Tuesday
  bringing the 2nd and 3rd Thursday's forward a week !!)

The contest is always on the same UK clock time each week (8pm - 10.30pm) but during British Summer Time you must log it in GMT as per your license. 

Also, on the 144MHz, 432MHz and 70MHz nights there is also a FM Contest during the hour before the UKAC ie.  19.00 - 20.00 hours GMT

You can work from your home QTH, or portable /P or from an alternative location /A or any mix of these in a month or band BUT this depends on Covid-19 requirements from RSGB Contest Committee's instructions. 

You only have to work the contests you have equipment for .. e.g. just 144MHz on the first Tuesday of each month of the year, but the more bands you work for just 2½ hours each week the more points you generate for your Club - WADARC in our case, and you must be a member.

You don't have to operate for the full 2½ hours .. you can start and finish when you like !  sometimes controlled by working hours & weather.

99% of activity is on Horizontal SSB, but you can operate FM or use a vertically polarised antenna if you so wish but it will make your job a lot more difficult.

Report is RS(T), Serial Number (starting at 001 on each date) and your 6 character Maidenhead locator (e.g. IO92JL) for each location which will depend if you are operating from your station address, out portable or an alternative location.

When you enter your paper log on line via the link above, the scoring and multipliers are all worked out in the software for you .. it is that easy !

For 'paper-free' contesting, the 'Minos' Contest Logging Software is recommended .. which also does all the scoring and hard work for you.  Download the latest version version 2.5.0 (December 2021) from here  Click  

You can also log with a paper log and transfer it to your Minos software on your computer next day.  This gives you time to check for errors and also the ease of uploading your log file automatically.  Please ask for details on how to do it if you are not sure.

There are now three operating sections for 144MHz, 70MHz, 50MHz, 432MHz and 1.3GHz contests :-

AO  OPEN  Standard Licence conditions, No antenna restrictions and up to maximum permitted power for your licence.

AR  RESTRICTED  The Power output must be not more than 100W PEP (50W on 4m) at the final output stage or external amplifier connection to the antenna.  Only one antenna may be used.  Stacked or bayed antennas are not allowed. Backfire or parabolic dish type antennas must not exceed 2m in diameter

AL  LOW POWER  The power output must not exceed 10W PEP at the final output stage or external amplifier connection to the antenna. Only one antenna may be used. Stacked or bayed antenna arrays may not be used.  Backfire or parabolic dish type antennas must not exceed 2 metres in diameter.

SHF (which covers 2300-2302MHz, 2320-2350MHz Logs of the two 13cm segments are combined and stations worked on both segments are only counted once for points per session) 9cms, 6cms and 3cms.

SHF  Open Section (SAO) Standard licence conditions and no antenna restrictions, the power output must be greater than 50W on 2.3GHz, more than 10W on 3.4 and 5.7GHz and more than 5W on 10GHz.

SHF  Restricted (SAR)  The output at the final output stage or external amplifier connection to the antenna must be no more than 50W on 2.3GHz, no more than 10W on 3.4 & 5.7GHz and no more than 5W on 10GHz.  No antenna restrictions.

NB Stations wishing to take part in the 2.3GHz events are reminded that they must register their station with Ofcom, and also hold the relevant notice of variation if they wish to use 2300-2302MHz

The use of DX Cluster / ON4KST like assistance is allowed in all events and sections from 2016 onwards

All changes to rules for each year Click here and for all RSGB VHF/UHF/SHF contests can be found by clicking on "General Rules" on left menu of the above link.   

Register here to join the ON4KST 'Chat' website used by many UKAC operators.

A UK station is required to be at one or both ends of a QSO for it to be valid.

Please submit an entry after each session in which you are active, and in order to speed adjudication, entries must be sent within 7 days of the contest.

Stations may change section and move location between individual activity periods.

Certificates will be awarded to the overall winners and runners-up in each section and on each band in the same way as per the general rules. No certificates will be awarded for the individual events.

a. The individual entries by a club's members to the UK activity contests which take place on each Tuesday in every month all count towards a society's overall score for the year for each UKAC. To maximise the club score, it's important for the club contest organiser to get as many members to come on for as many sessions as possible. A rolling club listing will be maintained on the Contest Committee web site www.rsgbcc.org/vhf/results for each band.

b. Stations enter the UKAC contests in the normal way, but need to include an AFS (affiliated society) name in the cover sheet of their entry. Entries to all sections of the UKAC count towards the overall club score which is the simple sum of the normalised scores of each team member operating that month.

c. Stations who enter on behalf of an affiliated society must be members of that affiliated club/society, but not necessarily full RSGB members themselves.

d. All 12 monthly sessions will count towards the total club score.

If you would like to join in .. then clearly the more members contributing points to our overall Wirral & District Amateur Radio Club score the better !

Any further help or questions ? .. please ask any of those involved at a Club Meeting or D&W.

(Finally if you spot any errors .. please advise me ASAP.. thanks g4oar-at-wadarc.com )

BACK to Main UKAC Contest Page