Contesting — weekends, logs, and local parties

Amateur radio contests are timed operating events with published rules, an exchange, and a log you submit afterward. This page is a prep + orientation landing for getontheair.app. It is not a contest logger, live scoreboard, spotting client, or awards desk. Official rules for each event always win.

Independent guide — not affiliated with CQ, ARRL, OSPOTA/PCARS, or any contest sponsor as a product.

Contesting v1.2 · updated 2026-10-06 · replaces the dated QSO party table with an evergreen guide to finding what is running

What a contest weekend is

Practice the exchange cadence before the weekend: Exchange Drill · RST Flash · Phonetics · UTC Field Clock.

Cabrillo and logging basics

Most HF contests expect a Cabrillo log (v2 or v3). Typical header lines include START-OF-LOG, CONTEST:, CALLSIGN:, CATEGORY-*, LOCATION: (or ARRL-SECTION:), optional CLUB: / OPERATORS:, then QSO lines, ending with END-OF-LOG:.

• Use a third-party contest logger for the QSOs; this site does not score or submit logs for you.
• Draft a header for practice with the Cabrillo header helper — paste into your logger; it does not upload.
• Always match the exact CONTEST: token and category lines the sponsor publishes.
• Deadlines vary (hours to days after the end). Put the sponsor’s deadline on your calendar in UTC.

State QSO parties

State QSO parties are regional contests—usually one weekend per state/province—focused on working that state’s counties (or the reverse from outside). They are excellent first contests: shorter windows, friendlier rates, and exchanges that often look like RST + county or serial + state.

• Find dates and rules on the WA7BNM Contest Calendar and each party’s own site.
• In-state stations often “run” counties; out-of-state stations hunt multipliers.
• Logging/Cabrillo tokens are per party—do not reuse another contest’s CONTEST: line.
• Working the PA QSO Party? The PA QSO Party log checker fixes county and section abbreviations, flags dupes, and estimates your score in your browser. It is not affiliated with the sponsor.

Finding what's running, when, and where

No dated list on this page stays current. Use the calendars below to see what is on, then treat the sponsor's own rules page as the final word.

Where to look

• WA7BNM Contest Calendar — the broadest listing of HF contests and QSO parties. Useful views:

- 8-Day Calendar — this weekend and the next few days. - 5-Week Calendar and 12-Month Calendar — planning further out. - State QSO Parties — QSO parties only, by state/province. - Log Due Dates — when logs are due for recent events. - Cabrillo Names — the CONTEST: token many events expect.

• ARRL Contest Calendar — ARRL-sponsored events plus other listings.
• The sponsor's own site — linked from each calendar entry. This is where the current rules, exchange, and log upload live.

How to read a listing

• Times are UTC. A start of 0000Z Sunday is Saturday evening in North America. Convert to local time before you plan the drive (the UTC Field Clock helps), and note whether the event crosses 0000Z.
• Bands and modes. Check which bands (often no WARC bands: 60, 30, 17, 12 m) and which modes count, and whether phone, CW, and digital are separate events.
• Who works whom. Some events let everyone work everyone. Others only count contacts with the sponsoring area, or with stations outside it.
• Exchange. Note exactly what to send (for example report + county, serial + section, or zone).
• Rules link. The calendar entry is a summary. The official rules page is the source of truth.

For where: who can take part

• QSO parties are state, province, or regional. Stations inside the area usually send a county or similar. Stations outside usually send their state, province, or country and work the in-area stations.
• Contests can be worldwide (for example CQ WW), national (for example ARRL Sweepstakes in the US and Canada), or regional.
• To tell whether you can enter and score from where you are, read the rules for entry categories and scoring: look for an out-of-state / out-of-area category, and for which contacts count for points and multipliers. If there is no category for your location, you can still give contacts to people who are entered.

Check every year

• Dates, times, exchanges, and categories change. Re-read the sponsor's rules page each year, not last year's notes.
• Note the log deadline (often a few days to a few weeks after the event).
• Logs usually go in Cabrillo format, with the exact CONTEST: token the sponsor publishes. Start the header with the Cabrillo header helper.

Weekend planning checklist

1. Open the 8-Day Calendar for the weekend you plan to activate.
2. Pick one event that fits your bands, modes, power, and time on site.
3. Read its rules: categories, who works whom, and any portable or park entry class.
4. Write down the exchange and the UTC start and end times in local time.
5. Use the park activation + QSO party recipe below to log both in one file.

Recipe: park activation + QSO party in one log

Pick a QSO party running that weekend (see Finding what's running). You can activate a park and work it at the same time. POTA does not require any particular exchange, so sending the party's exchange is fine. Your contacts can count for both, but each program gets its own file.

1. Read the party rules first. Check whether portable or park stations have their own category, how rovers and county lines work, and whether self-spotting or assistance is allowed. Some parties also have a power class that changes your score.
2. Use one logger that writes both ADIF and Cabrillo. Load the party's template if the logger has one. If it only does Cabrillo-style contest logging, export ADIF afterward and add the park in ADIF Doctor.
3. Put your park on every QSO. MY_SIG = POTA and MY_SIG_INFO = your park (Polo does this when the POTA activity is added). Park-to-park goes in SIG_INFO on that line.
4. Send the party exchange on every QSO. Typically a report plus your county (in-state) or state/province (out-of-state). Use the party's own format, including any county abbreviation list. You can mention the park in your CQ (for example “CQ QSO Party and POTA”), but the exchange follows the party rules.
5. Watch 0000Z. Many parties run through Saturday or Sunday evening in North America, which crosses the UTC date change. The party treats it as one contest. POTA counts 10 QSOs per park per UTC day.
6. Two exports, two destinations, same QSOs. The Cabrillo file goes to the party's log robot, with the exact CONTEST: token they publish (start the header with the Cabrillo header helper). The ADIF goes through ADIF Doctor to make the POTA pack, which you upload to pota.app (from the club account if you used a club call). Never send the Cabrillo file to POTA, and never send the POTA pack to the party.
7. Dupes differ. A QSO party dupe (same station, band, mode, maybe county) is not the same thing as a POTA dupe (same call, band, mode, UTC day, park). Log everything and let each checker sort it out. Don't delete rows to please one of them.

Club call during a QSO party on Support Your Parks weekend? Use the club call in STATION_CALLSIGN, each person in OPERATOR, and list the operators in the Cabrillo OPERATORS: line. See the Support Your Parks ops card.

OSPOTA — Ohio State Parks on the Air

OSPOTA (Ohio State Parks On The Air) is a one-day contest focused on Ohio’s state parks. Sponsored by PCARS (K8BF). It is not Parks on the Air® (POTA) and is not affiliated with the POTA program—even when you operate from a park that also has a POTA reference.

Conservative framing (always re-check ospota.org before you treat dates as frozen):

• Usually the first Saturday after Labor Day (e.g. 12 Sep 2026 was the 19th running).
• Typical window on the order of 1400–2200 UTC (morning–afternoon Eastern); CW and SSB on a published HF band set—no FT8/FT4/digital per OSPOTA rules.
• Park stations operate inside park boundaries; Ohio non-park and out-of-state stations have their own contact limits toward park stations.
• Entries are Cabrillo electronic logs (plus any summary sheet the rules require)—not ADIF/photos/paper as the primary entry.

Official: ospota.org · rules / FAQs / planned activations on that site.

Major contests (category, not a countdown)

Treat these as examples of the class, not a shipping deadline for this site:

Calendars: contestcalendar.com · sponsor sites (cqww.com, arrl.org, ospota.org, etc.).

CQ WW (example only): phone and CW are separate weekends; exchange is typically RS(T) + CQ Zone; submit only via the sponsor’s published upload path. Re-read that year’s rules for deadlines and assisted/robot language.

Ethics card (every contest)

• Official rules and FAQ for that event beat any summary here.
• Human initiates tuning, calling, and logging unless the rules say otherwise.
• No self-spotting / prohibited assistance.
• Correct category and location in the Cabrillo header.
• Do not advertise getontheair.app over RF (Part 97).

Practice tools on this site

• Field Day — the June club weekend: classes, GOTA station, exchange, submission (Cabrillo accepted, not required). Find a club to join: Clubs and Elmers
• Support Your Parks ops card (Oct 17–18, 2026: club calls, OPERATOR, busy weekend)
• Cabrillo header helper
• ADIF Doctor (park stamp + POTA pack from a contest-logger ADIF) · Grid helper
• Exchange Drill
• UTC Field Clock
• RST Flash · Phonetics

Sources / verify before you freeze a plan

• WA7BNM Contest Calendar (home · state QSO parties)
• ARRL Contest Calendar
• Individual sponsor rules pages (CQ WW, ARRL, OSPOTA, state QSO parties)
• Cabrillo field definitions from the contest you are entering

v1.2, last editorial pass 2026-10-06. This page is orientation, not an awards authority.