I. Contest Period: 27 hours for all stations, all categories.
Operate any portion of the contest period you wish. (Note: Exception
for QRP Hilltopper.)
II. Objectives: The objectives of this contest are for amateurs
around the world to contact as many amateurs as possible in
the contest period, to promote VHF, to allow VHF operators the
opportunity to experience the enhanced propagation available
at this time of year, and for interested amateurs to collect VHF
Maidenhead grid locators for awards credits.
III. Bands: All authorized amateur radio frequencies on 50
MHz (6 meters) and 144.00 MHz (2 meters) may be used as
authorized by local law and license class.
IV. Categories of Competition:
For all categories: Transmitters and receivers must be located
within a 500-meter diameter circle or within the property limits
of the station licensee’s address, whichever is greater.
Note the following regarding assistance. There are three
types of QSO alerting assistance: (1) Passive is defined as any
technology that provides callsign and frequency information of
potential new contacts to the operator, not initiated by the entrant.
It includes, but is not limited to: The DX Cluster, spotting nets,
packet and web clusters, Skimmer, and the like. (2) Active
involves the direct initiation of QSO alerting information by—and
with the direct participation of—the entrant to benefit the entrant’s
score. It includes, but is not limited to, self-spotting or by stealth
(such as asking other stations to spot you). (3) Interactive includes
any two-way conversation (or variation thereof) between
stations to effect a QSO. This includes use of the telephone, and
website posts providing information beyond that of callsign, frequency,
and sequence.
Passive QSO alerting assistance is permitted for ALL categories.
Active QSO alerting assistance is permitted only by stations
attempting digital EME or digital meteor-scatter contacts. Stations
calling CQ using such modes are limited to spotting callsign, frequency,
and sequence only. Caution: To ensure strict compliance
with these rules, the adjudication process will include review
of real-time and archived transcripts from websites used to coordinate
active alerting data during the contest period.
Interactive QSO alerting is prohibited for all categories.
1. Single Op—All Band. Only one signal allowed at any one
time; the operator may change bands at any time.
2. Single Op—Single Band. Only one signal allowed at any
one time.
3. Single-Op All-Band QRP. There are no location restrictions
– home or portable – for stations running 10 watts output or less.
4. Hilltopper. This is a single-op QRP portable category for an
all-band entry limited in time to a maximum of 6 continuous hours.
Backpackers and portables who do not want to devote resources
and time to the full contest period are encouraged to participate,
especially to activate rare grids. Any power source is acceptable.
5. Rover. A Rover station is one manned by no more than two
operators, travels to more than one grid location, and signs “Rover”
or “/R” with no more than one callsign.
6. Multi-Op. A multi-op station is one with two or more operators
and may operate 6 and 2 meters simultaneously with only
one signal per band.
Stations in any category, except Rover and QRP Hilltopper,
may operate from any single location, home or portable.
V. Exchange: Callsign and Maidenhead grid locator (4 digits,
e.g., EM15). Signal reports are optional and should not be
included in the log entry.
VI. Multipliers: The multiplier is the number of different grid
locators worked per band. A “grid locator” is counted once per
band. Exception: The rover who moves into a new grid locator
may count the same grid locator more than once per band as
long as the rover is himself or herself in a new grid locator location.
Such change in location must be clearly indicated in the
rover’s log.
A. A rover station becomes a new QSO to the stations working
him or her when that rover changes grid locator.
B. The grid locator is the Maidenhead grid locator to four digits
(FM13).
VII. Scoring: One (1) point per QSO on 50 MHz and two (2)
points per QSO on 144 MHz. Work stations once per band,
regardless of mode. Multiply total QSO points times total number
of grid locators (GL) worked.
Rovers: For each new grid locator visited, contacts and grid
locators count as new. Final Rover score is the sum of contact
points made from each grid locator times the sum of all grid
locators worked from all grids visited.
Example 1. K1GX works stations as follows:
50 QSOs (50 × 1 = 50) and 25 GL’s (25 multipliers) on 50 MHz
35 QSOs (35 × 2 = 70) and 8 GL’s (8 multipliers) on 144 MHz
K1GX has 120 QSO points (50 + 70 = 120) × 33 multipliers
(25 + 8 = 33) = 3,960 total points.
Example 2. W9FS/R works stations as follows:
From EN52: 50 QSOs (50 × 1 = 50) and 25 GL’s (25 multipliers)
on 50 MHz
From EN52: 40 QSOs (40 × 2 = 80) and 10 GL’s (10 multipliers)
on 144 MHz
From EN51: 60 QSOs (60 × 1 = 60) and 30 GL’s (30 multipliers)
on 50 MHz
Announcing:
The 2012 CQ World-Wide
VHF Contest
Starts: 1800 UTC Saturday, July 21, 2012
Ends: 2100 UTC Sunday, July 22, 2012
Last year’s rules reflected several significant changes, and we
are repeating them here as a reminder. Please read them carefully.
Rationale: Single-op stations now routinely use web- and packet-
based clusters for spots to locate potential contacts. Further,
VHF antennas are often of narrow beamwidths which must be pointed
directly at each other to make the contact.
1. Thus, to facilitate making more QSOs, and to prevent stations
from inadvertently falling into the multi-op category for using the
cluster (as previously), passive QSO alerting assistance is now
permitted in ALL categories. This means anyone can look at packet/
web clusters.
2. Self-spotting is defined as active assistance and is not permitted
with the following exception:
3. Accommodation is made for stations attempting digital EME
or digital meteor-scatter contacts. Such stations calling CQ may
self-spot callsign, frequency, and sequence only and no other information.
“Chats” that potentially facilitate making or completeing a
contest QSO are not permitted (example: I see your trace now”).
Caution: Reflectors will be monitored for any violations that may
result in punitive action.
48 • CQ • June 2012 Visit Our Web Site
From EN51: 20 QSOs (20 × 2 = 40) and 5 GL’s (5 multipliers)
on 144 MHz
W9FS/R has 230 QSO points (50 + 80 + 60 + 40) × 70 multipliers
(25 + 10 + 30 + 5) = 16,100 total points
VIII. Awards: Certificates suitable for framing will be awarded
to the top-scoring stations in each category in each country.
Certificates may also be awarded to other top-scoring stations
who show outstanding contest effort. Certificates will be
awarded to top-scoring stations in each category in geographic
areas where warranted.
Geographic areas include states (U.S.), provinces (Canada),
and countries, and may also be extended to include other subdivisions
as justified by competitive entries. U.S. rover certificates
are issued on a regional basis.
Plaques again will be awarded to the highest scoring stations.
They are offered in various categories on a sponsored
basis. Clubs and individual plaque donors are sought and may
find information on how to sponsor a CQ WW VHF Contest
plaque at <http://www.cqww-vhf.com/plaques.htm>.
IX. Club Competition: Credit your club for aggregate club
score. See <http:/ www.cqwww.com/clubnames. htm> for a list
of registered clubs. Follow directions for resistering your club if
not already registered.
X. Miscellaneous: An operator may sign only one callsign
during the contest. This means that an operator cannot generate
QSOs by first signing his callsign, then signing his daughter’s
callsign, even though both callsigns are assigned to the
same location.
A station located exactly on a dividing line of a grid locator
must choose only one grid locator from which to operate for exchange
purposes.
A different multiplier cannot be given out without moving the
complete station at least 100 meters.
Making or soliciting QSOs on the national simplex frequency,
146.52 MHz, or your country’s designated national simplex frequency,
or immediately adjacent guard frequencies, is prohibited.
Use of commonly recognized repeater frequencies is prohibited.
Recognized FM simplex frequencies such as 146.49,
.55, and .58, and local-option simplex channels may be used for
contest purposes.
Aeronautical mobile contacts do not count.
Contestants should respect use of the DX window,
50.100–50.125 MHz, for intercontinental QSOs only.
UTC is the required logging time.
XI. Declaration: Your submission of a log entry affirms that:
(1) you have abided by all the rules of the contest as well as
those of your country’s licensing authority; (2) you accept any
decisions made regarding your entry by the contest’s adjudication
process which are official and final.
XII. Log Submissions: Log entries must be submitted by
September 1, 2012 to be eligible for awards. Submit your electronic
log in the Cabrillo format created by all major logging programs.
Send via e-mail attachment to <cqvhf@cqww-vhf.com>.
Subject line: Callsign [used in the contest] only.
Entrants are reminded to be sure their log indicates their grid
location. For USA/VE stations operating away from their home
address, be sure to indicate the state or province location of
operation.
It is strongly recommended that paper logs be entered on-line
for automatic Cabrillo submission. Click on the “Web Form for
Typing in Paper Logs” link on the contest website at <http://www.
cqww-vhf.com>. Computer-generated logs must be e-submitted.
Callsigns of electronic logs received are posted and updated regularly
on the website.
For those without web access, paper logs may be mailed to:
Paper Logs, P.O. Box 481, New Carlisle, OH 45344. Questions
may be sent to <help@cqww-vhf.com>.
50 • CQ • June 2012 Visit Our Web Site
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