UKEICC 80m Contests - Rules (2025-26 series)
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Rules applied during Automatic Adjudication
1. Dates
First and last Wednesdays in the months of September through to April inclusive (7 contests on each mode), excluding December.
Date Mode Times Adjudicator
3rd September 2025
SSB 2000-2100z
Bonus callsigns (Operators)
Chris GM3WOJ
Ei5G (Aidan EI8CE), GM5GEI (Chris GM3WOJ)
24th September 2025
CW
2000-2100z
Tim EI2KA
Ei5G (Tim EI2KA), G5GEI (Dean G4WQI)
1st October 2025
SSB
2000-2100z
Tim G4FJK
Ei5G (Paul EI3ENB), G5GEI (Tim G4FJK)
29th October 2025
CW
2000-2100z
Paul G4PVM
Ei5G (Joe EI7GY), GW5GEI (Stew GW0ETF)
5th November 2025
SSB
2000-2100z
Mark G4MEM
Ei5G (Patrick EI9KA), G5GEI (...)
26th November 2025
CW
2000-2100z
Mark G4MEM
Ei5G (Tom Ei3ER), G5GEI (Mark G4MEM)
7th January 2026
SSB
2000-2100z
Ei5G (...), G5GEI (...)
28th January 2026
CW
2000-2100z
Ei5G (...), G5GEI (...)
4th February 2026
SSB
2000-2100z
Ei5G (...), G5GEI (Stewart G3RXQ)
25th February 2026
CW
2000-2100z
Ei5G (...), G5GEI (...)
4th March 2026
SSB
2000-2100z
Ei5G (...), G5GEI (...)
25th March 2026
CW
2000-2100z
Ei5G (...), G5GEI (...)
1st April 2026
SSB
2000-2100z
Ei5G (...), G5GEI (Stewart G3RXQ)
29th April 2026
CW
2000-2100z
Ei5G (...), G5GEI (...)
2. Times
2000
- 2100 UTC. The contest ends 1 second
after 20:59:59. QSOs
logged at 21:00 or later will not count.
3. Modes / Frequencies
CW 3510-3560 kHz
SSB 3600-3775 kHz
Note - the IARU recommends 3600-3650 and 3700-3775 as 'SSB
contest preferred'.
4. Exchange
Only your 6-character Grid locator - e.g. IO91WS, IO64GH, etc.
No RST should be sent.
Participants are encouraged to work only stations participating in the contest.
Your log should only include exchange information received over the air.
Do NOT insert missing locators from external websites or other off-the-air sources.
5. Callsigns
5.1 Your normal
station callsign or any special contest callsign issued to you
by your national licensing authority may be used.
Any previous or new
callsigns used by team members in the Teams Competition (see
section 7.3) will be linked together.
5.2
UK entrants must use the correct Regional Secondary
Locator to clearly identify which of the seven UK DXCC entities
their station is located in.
Stations operating from England may use the optional RSL
E
if desired.
6. Sections
6.1 High Power
- the
maximum permitted by the entrant's licence or 1500 watts,
whichever is the lower.
6.2
Low Power
- maximum 100 watts output.
6.3
QRP
-
maximum 5 watts output.
Checklogs are not accepted.
Even if you only make a few QSOs, please submit an entry.
7. Operator Categories
7.1 Single Operator
Connected: When the
entrant, at any time during the contest, for the purpose of
finding, facilitating, or making QSOs
(a)
connects, or is
connected, to any network crossing the boundary of the entrant's
station, or
(b) uses
any multi-channel decoder e.g. local skimmer, or
(c)
uses any method of
communication other than RF corresponding to the frequencies
and/or mode(s) of the entry.
7.2 Single Operator Unconnected:
When none of the Connected conditions apply.
One aim of these contests is to improve operating skill,
which is not necessarily the outcome of using the DXCluster,
Skimmer, or RBN. Please
consider entering the Unconnected category.
7.3 Teams Competion
overlay:
These 80m contests are primarily single-operator events, but we
offer an optional and additional Teams Competion overlay.
Individual entrants may form a team of three entrants
with one reserve (i.e., a team of four, but only the highest
three scores count in each contest), and these results are shown
on the Teams Competiton webpage.
Teams may be formed and registered by email to
team@ukeicc.com until the
end of November.
7.4 Entries in all
six Sections/Operator Categories (sections 7.1 and 7.2 above)
will be listed together in the Results, and also in six separate
Section/Operator lists. Separate certificates will be awarded to
the winners in each of the six entry categories. The Results
will also show UK/EI entrants and DX entrants separately, listed
by DXCC entity, with separate certificates being awarded.
8. Antennas
No limits
9. Logging software
Most contest software logging packages now support these
contests. However, you should check in advance that you can log
6-character grid locators correctly.
This is a sample of the correct Cabrillo
format
for
logging software
packages for the UKEICC 80m contests :
START-OF-LOG: 3.0
LOCATION: DX
CALLSIGN:G4PVM
CLUB:ESSEX CW ARC
CONTEST: UKEICC-80M
CATEGORY-OPERATOR: SINGLE-OP
CATEGORY-ASSISTED: ASSISTED
CATEGORY-BAND: 80M
CATEGORY-MODE: SSB
CATEGORY-POWER: LOW
CATEGORY-STATION: FIXED
CATEGORY-TRANSMITTER: ONE
CLAIMED-SCORE:xxx
CREATED-BY: N1MM Logger+ 1.0.9044.0
OPERATORS: G4PVM
NAME: Paul Tittensor
GRID-LOCATOR: JO01FR
EMAIL: xxx@xxx
SOAPBOX: xxxx xxxx
QSO: 3651 PH 2021-04-07 2000 G4PVM 59 JO01FR SM5CSS 59 JO89LS
QSO: 3651 PH 2021-04-07 2001 G4PVM 59 JO01FR G3R
59 IO83SJ
QSO: 3651 PH 2021-04-07 2002 G4PVM 59 JO01FR MM0MUN 59 IO87WD
etc...
For Windows OS :
SD by EI5DI (version 21.35 or later for 6-character
locators and correct scoring)
- Free from www.ei5di.com. Select the "UKEICC 80m CW" or "UKEICC 80m SSB"
option, as appropriate. Also runs on Linux with Wine. (Tnx
Paul EI5DI)
N1MM+ - Click here for info on where to download and how to install
the N1MM+ UDC (User Defined Contest) file for these UKEICC 80m
contests - the file name is UKEI80_VHF.udc. N1MM+ website (Tnx Les G4OGB)
DXLog (version 2.4.30 or later)
- DXlog.net website (Tnx Jim M0CKE, Paul K1XM,
Bjorn SM7IUN )
TR4W - fully supports these contests - TR4W website (Tnx Valery UR7QM)
WriteLog 12.0 - current support level unknown - Writelog
website
Win-Test 4.45.0 - currently does not support our
6-character locator exchange.
For Mac OS :
SkookumLogger (2.6.5 or later)
- Free download from https://k1gq.net/SkookumLogger/ (Tnx Jonathan G0DVJ and Bill K1GQ)
10. Scoring
10.1
Entries from Russian Federation and Belarus stations will
not be accepted in these 80m contests until further notice.
However, entrants making QSOs with stations in the Russian Federation and Belarus will be awarded points.
10.2 The number of
points awarded for each contact depends on the distance between
the two stations. This is computed by taking the distance
between the centres of the two grid squares.
i.e. 0 - 500 km = 1 point
501 - 1000 km = 2
points
1001 - 1500 km = 3 points etc.
For example, a QSO with a station 1850 km away scores 4 points.
The maximum 'distance'
points for any QSO = 10pts (5000km).
10.3 As part of the
adjudication process, if your QSO is with a Low Power or QRP
station (i.e. you were the receiving station in that QSO), your
points (for that QSO) are multiplied by the following factors :
Low Power -
distance points are multiplied by 2
QRP -
distance points are multiplied by 4
No multiplication factor will be applied to QSOs with stations
that did not submit an entry, or to QSOs with any station
signing /QRP or /LP.
10.4 QSOs with either
(or both) of the Bonus Stations, which
may or may not be active in every contest, count for 15 points
each, irrespective of distance or power level.
The Bonus Station
callsigns will be G5GEI (or GW5GEI,
GM5GEI, etc) and EI5G. These stations
will RUN only (depending on QRM they may have to QSY), so
entrants should make an effort to find them which potentially
boosts an entrant's score by 30 points maximum.
11. Entries
11.1 Cabrillo logs
are required, clearly showing your Section, Operator Category
and sent exchange that includes
your sent locator exactly the same as what you were
sending over the air.
N1MM+ users, please ensure you use the new .udc
file and make sure you enter *your* locator in the setup field.
Your Cabrillo log must be
received by the online server within one hour of the contest end
time. The online log submission page (click on the link below)
will ask you to confirm which Section and Operator Category you
are entering. The
Cabrillo files produced after the contest may contain 59(9)
reports even though they are not exchanged on-air during the
contest, and will be ignored during the adjudication process.
It does not matter if the
Cabrillo log does not show points for each QSO or an overall
claimed score.
11.2 By entering this contest, you agree to your
logfile and the associated UBN file created after the
log-checking procedures being available in the public domain.
11.3 Entries from stations attempting to indicate
their power level by e.g. signing /QRP or /LP at any time during
the contest will not be accepted.
11.4 The log submission
deadline, via the log submission robot, is 2200z
i.e., within
ONE hour after end of the contest.
The
*provisional*
results of each monthly contest will be announced on this UKEICC
website
as soon as possible after the one hour log submission deadline. (Many
thanks to Tree N6TR, Mike G3WPH and Pete G4CLA for their
software work.)
12. Penalties
12.1 Callsign and/or exchange logging errors in any QSO will
result in the loss of points to the value of your average points
per QSO value (as calculated from your final unchecked score)
times TWO. There are currently no penalties for
Not-in-Logs.
12.2 Following the completion of the automated log-checking
procedures, you will
be emailed
your UBN/LCR file for that contest. Please note that due to the
short log-submission time and the fast production of results, no
appeals can be made.
However, we reserve the right to retrospectively rescore
logfiles if necessary.
12.3 QSOs with Unique callsigns will not be penalised, but any
logfile showing a higher than normal number of Uniques will be
scrutinised and penalties may be applied.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
Version
60
(Chris GM3WOJ)
:
19th August 2025
E&OE