RSGB contest committees launch ‘Hope QSO Party’

To help and support radio amateurs who are isolated at home and would appreciate contact with other people, the RSGB Contest Committees are launching a new six-week initiative starting on Monday 6 April, called the ‘Hope QSO Party’. Open to every radio amateur, not just RSGB members, this contest will also welcome international participation with the scoring being on an “Anyone works Anyone” basis.

The initiative follows a recent survey to discover people’s views on how to support radio amateurs in these challenging times. By 1 April, 571 responses had been received and a significant majority of respondents wanted to participate in a series of short QSO party-style weekday contests. The committees appreciate that not everyone is keen on the proposal but the majority view supports this new activity on a temporary basis. The survey will remain open until Friday 3 April and we’ll present the full results next week.

The series format will be:

A 90-minute event for single operators with an incremental start time each weekday, starting on Mondays at 8:30 UTC and incrementing to start on Fridays at 14:30 UTC
A single mode will be used each day: SSB, CW, FT4, SSB, CW, RTTY, with this six-day cycle repeating
The series will use defined frequency ranges on 80m, 40m, 20m, 15m and 10m with double QSO points scored on the highest two bands
Results will be shown separately for UK&CD and non-UK entrants
QSOs are encouraged before and after the contest periods

You can find the series rules online and all the series events will be shown on the RSGB HF Contest Calendar