CW : November 27–28
Starts : 0000 GMT Saturday
Ends : 2400 GMT Sunday
OBJECTIVE: For amateurs around the world to contact other amateurs in as many zones and countries as possible.
BANDS: All bands, 1.8 through 28 MHz, except for WARC bands.
TYPE OF COMPETITION (choose only one): For all categories:
1. All entrants must operate within the limits of their chosen category when performing
any activity that could impact their submitted score.
2. All high power categories must not exceed 1500 watts total output power, or the output power of their country, whichever is less, on any band.
3. All transmitters and receivers used by the entrant must be located within a single 500-meter diameter circle or within the property limits of the station licensee’s address, whichever is greater.
4. All antennas used by the entrant must be physically connected by wires to the transmitters and receivers used by the entrant.
5. Only the entrant’s callsign can be used to aid the entrant’s score. 6. A different callsign must be used for each CQ WW entry.
7. An entrant’s remote station is determined by the physical location of the transmitters, receivers, and antennas. A remote station must obey all station and category limitations of Rule III.
8. A competitor who wishes to be judged for a top score in their category must agree to a potential visitation at any time during the contest by an observer appointed by the CQ WW Contest Committee (CQ WW CC). Failure of the entrant to respond to our correspondence or to allow an observer full access to the contest QTH may result in the competitor being removed from award eligibility for 3 years.
A. Single Operator categories: For all single operator categories, only one person (the operator) can contribute to the final score during the official contest period. QSO alerting assistance of any kind (this includes, but is not limited to, packet, local or remote Skimmer and/or Skimmer-like technology, Internet) places the entrant in the Single Operator Assisted category.
1. Single Operator High (All Band or Single Band): One person. One signal at any one time. QSO alerting assistance of any kind is not allowed. Self-spotting or asking to be spotted is not allowed. Total output power per band must not exceed 1500 watts or the output power regulations of the country in which the entrant is operating, whichever is less.
2. Single Operator Low (All Band or Single Band): One person. One signal at any one time. QSO alerting assistance of any kind is not allowed. Self-spotting or asking to be spotted is not allowed. Total output power per band must not exceed 100 watts.
3. Single Operator QRP (All Band or Single Band): One person. One signal at any one time. QSO alerting assistance of any kind is not allowed. Self-spotting or asking to be spotted is not allowed. Total output power per band must not exceed 5 watts.
4. Single Operator Assisted (All Band or Single Band): One person. One signal at any one time. QSO alerting assistance is allowed (this includes, but is not limited to, packet, local or remote Skimmer and/or Skimmer-like technology, Internet). Selfspotting or asking to be spotted is not
allowed. Total output power per band must not exceed 1500 watts or the output power regulations of the country in which the entrant is operating, whichever is less.
B. Multi-Operator (all band operation only):
1. Single Transmitter (MS): Only one transmitter and one band permitted during any 10-minute period. Exception: One—and only one—other band may be used during any 10-minute period if—and only if—the station worked is a new multiplier. Ten-minute periods are defined as starting with the first logged QSO on a band. A multiplier station cannot call CQ. Logs found
in violation of the 10-minute rule will automatically be reclassified as M2. If electronic logging is used (Cabrillo), for each QSO the run transmitter or multiplier transmitter must be indicated in the log.
2. Two Transmitter (M2): A maximum of two transmitted signals at any time on different bands. Both transmitters may work any and all stations. A station may only be worked once per band regardless of which transmitter is used. Each of the two transmitters used must keep a separate
chronological log for the entire contest period, or if electronic logging is used, the electronic log submittal (Cabrillo) must indicate which transmitter made each QSO. Each transmitter may make a maximum of 8 band changes in any clock hour (00 through 59 minutes).
3. Multi-Transmitter (MM): No limit to transmitters, but only one signal and running station allowed per band.
C. Xtreme Contesting: To encourage the development of new technologies in contesting. For the full rules, go to and click on Xtreme category rules for 2010.
D. Team Contesting: A team consists of any five radio amateurs operating in the single operator category. A person may be on only one team per mode. Competing on a team will not prevent any team member from submitting his/her personal score for a radio club. A team score will
be the sum of all the team member scores. SSB and CW teams are totally separate. That is, a member of an SSB team may be on a totally different CW team. A list of a team’s members must be received at CQ Headquarters by the time the contest begins. E-mail to,
or mail or fax the list to CQ, Att: Team Contest, 25 Newbridge Road, Hicksville, NY 11801 U.S.A.; fax 516-681-2926. Awards will be given to the top teams on each mode.
IV. NUMBER EXCHANGE:
Phone: RS report plus zone (i.e., 5705). CW: RST report plus zone (i.e., 57905).
V. MULTIPLIER:
Two types of multiplier will be used. 1. A multiplier of one (1) for each different zone contacted on each band. 2. A multiplier of one (1) for each different country contacted on each band. Stations are permitted to contact their own country and zone for multiplier credit. The CQ Zone Map, DXCC country list, WAE country list, and WAC boundaries
are standards. Maritime mobile stations count only for a zone multiplier.
VI. POINTS:
1. Contacts between stations on different continents are worth three (3) points. 2. Contacts between stations on the same continent but different countries, one (1) point. Exception: For North American stations only, contacts between stations within the North American boundaries
count two (2) points.
Contacts between stations in the same country are permitted for zone or country multiplier credit but have zero (0) point value.
VII. SCORING:
All stations: the final score is the result of the total QSO points multiplied by the sum of your zone and country multipliers. Example: 1000 QSO points × 100 multiplier (30 Zones + 70 Countries) = 100,000 (final score).
VIII. AWARDS:
First-place certificates will be awarded in each category listed under Sec.III in every participating country and in each call area of the United States, Canada, European Russia, Spain, Poland, and Japan. All scores will be published. To be eligible for an award, a Single Operator station must show a minimum of 12 hours of operation. Multi-operator stations must
operate a minimum of 24 hours. A singleband log is eligible for a single-band award only. If a log contains more than one band it will be judged as an all-band entry, unless specified otherwise.
In countries or sections where the returns justify, 2nd and 3rd place awards will be made. All certificates/plaques will be issued to the licensee of the station used. IX. TROPHIES AND PLAQUES: Plaques and trophies are awarded for top performance in a number of categories.
They are sponsored by individuals and organizations. For a current list of plaques and sponsors, or to learn how to become a sponsor, see the CQ website:
X. CLUB COMPETITION:
1. The club must be a local group and not a national organization.
2. Participation is limited to club members operating within a local geographic area defined as within a 275 km radius from center of club area (except for DXpeditions specially organized for operation in the contest; club contributions of DXpedition scores are percentaged to the number of club members on the DXpedition).
3. To be listed, a minimum of 3 logs must be received from a club, and an officer of the club must submit a list of participating members and their scores, both on phone and CW.
XI. LOG INSTRUCTIONS:
1. All times must be in GMT.
2. All sent and received exchanges are to be logged.
3. Indicate zone and country multiplier only the FIRST TIME it is worked on each band.
4. Electronic log submission: We want your electronic log. The Committee requires an electronic log for any possible high-scoring log. By submitting a log to the CQ WW Contest, the entrant agrees to have the log open to the public. If possible, we would appreciate complete frequencies
in the log. E-mail Required Content: Please submit your log in the Cabrillo file format created
by all major logging programs. Be sure to put the STATION CALLSIGN and the MODE in the “Subject:” line of each message. Your e-mail log will automatically be acknowledged by the server. You will also receive a personal access code from the server at a later time. Electronic
submission implies a signed declaration that all contest rules and regulations for amateur radio in the country of operation have been observed. Submit your CQ WW SSB log to and your CQ WW CW log to .
5. Paper log submission: For paper logs, use a separate sheet for each band. Each paper log entry MUST be accompanied by a summary sheet showing all scoring information, category of competition, and contestant’s name and address in BLOCK LETTERS. Sample log and summary
sheets and zone maps are available from CQ. A large, self-addressed envelope with sufficient postage or IRCs must accompany your request. If official forms are not available, make up your own, 80 contacts to the page on 81/2" × 11" paper. All paper log entrants are required to submit
cross-check sheets (an alphabetical list of calls worked) for each band on which 200 or more QSOs were made.
6. Bad QSO: The bad QSO is removed and a penalty of three more equivalent QSOs is applied to the points only.
7. QRPp and Low Power stations must indicate their category on their summary sheets and state the actual maximum power output used, with a signed declaration.
XII. ACTIONS OF THE CQ WW CC YELLOW card: Not eligible for an award in the entered contest. An entrant or operator issued a yellow card will be listed at the end of the published results. Two YELLOW cards: An entrant or operator receiving two yellow cards in three consecutive CQ WW DX contests will be ineligible for any CQ-sponsored contest award for a period of two years beginning with the publication of the second violation in CQ magazine. If the
entrant is in a multi-operator category, all listed operators are so affected. RED card: Not eligible for an award in the entered contest. Entrants receiving a red card will be listed at the end of the published results. An entrant or operator receiving a red card will be ineligible for any CQ-sponsored contest award for a period of one year beginning with the publication of the violation in CQ magazine. Two RED cards: An entry or operator receiving two red cards within five consecutive CQ WW DX contests will be ineligible for any CQ-sponsored contest award for a period of three years beginning with the month of publication of the second violation in CQ magazine. If the entrant is in a multi-operator category, all listed operators are so affected.
1. The CQ WW CC reserves the right to reject any entry for non-compliance with the rules.
2. Violation of the rules of the contest makes the entrant subject to either a red or yellow card at the discretion of the CQ WW CC.
3. Unsportsmanlike conduct can be grounds for either a red or yellow card at the discretion of the CQ WW CC. Unsportsmanlike conduct includes but is not limited to ANY use by an entrant of any non-amateur means in the contest including, but not limited to, telephones, Internet, instant messaging, chat rooms, VoIP, or the use of any DX cluster/reflector to SOLICIT, ARRANGE, or CONFIRM any contacts during the contest.
4. Taking credit for excessive unverifiable QSOs or unverifiable multipliers may result in a yellow or red card at the discretion of the CQ WW CC.
5. An entrant is free to withdraw his/her submitted log for any reason prior to receiving an official letter from the CQ WW CC. The log will then be handled per the entrant’s request. If after receiving an official letter from the CQ WW CC, an entrant chooses to withdraw their log, the entrant’s call will be listed at end of the results showing their log as having been withdrawn.
6. By submitting a CQ WW DX Contest log, an entrant agrees that the issuing of red cards, yellow cards, and other decisions of the CQ WW CC are official and final.
XIII. DEADLINE:
1. All entries must be sent NO LATER than November 21, 2010 for the SSB section and December 21, 2010 for the CW section.
2. An extension of up to one month may be given if requested by e-mail (questions@cqww.com). The granted extension must be confirmed by the Contest Director, must state a legitimate
reason, and the request must be received before the log mailing deadline. Logs postmarked after the extension deadline may be listed in theresults but will be declared ineligible for an award. Both Phone and CW mailed logs should be sent to CQ Magazine, 25 Newbridge Road, Suite 309, Hicksville, NY 11801. Please mark SSB or CW on the envelope.
BANDS: All bands, 1.8 through 28 MHz, except for WARC bands.
TYPE OF COMPETITION (choose only one): For all categories:
1. All entrants must operate within the limits of their chosen category when performing
any activity that could impact their submitted score.
2. All high power categories must not exceed 1500 watts total output power, or the output power of their country, whichever is less, on any band.
3. All transmitters and receivers used by the entrant must be located within a single 500-meter diameter circle or within the property limits of the station licensee’s address, whichever is greater.
4. All antennas used by the entrant must be physically connected by wires to the transmitters and receivers used by the entrant.
5. Only the entrant’s callsign can be used to aid the entrant’s score. 6. A different callsign must be used for each CQ WW entry.
7. An entrant’s remote station is determined by the physical location of the transmitters, receivers, and antennas. A remote station must obey all station and category limitations of Rule III.
8. A competitor who wishes to be judged for a top score in their category must agree to a potential visitation at any time during the contest by an observer appointed by the CQ WW Contest Committee (CQ WW CC). Failure of the entrant to respond to our correspondence or to allow an observer full access to the contest QTH may result in the competitor being removed from award eligibility for 3 years.
A. Single Operator categories: For all single operator categories, only one person (the operator) can contribute to the final score during the official contest period. QSO alerting assistance of any kind (this includes, but is not limited to, packet, local or remote Skimmer and/or Skimmer-like technology, Internet) places the entrant in the Single Operator Assisted category.
1. Single Operator High (All Band or Single Band): One person. One signal at any one time. QSO alerting assistance of any kind is not allowed. Self-spotting or asking to be spotted is not allowed. Total output power per band must not exceed 1500 watts or the output power regulations of the country in which the entrant is operating, whichever is less.
2. Single Operator Low (All Band or Single Band): One person. One signal at any one time. QSO alerting assistance of any kind is not allowed. Self-spotting or asking to be spotted is not allowed. Total output power per band must not exceed 100 watts.
3. Single Operator QRP (All Band or Single Band): One person. One signal at any one time. QSO alerting assistance of any kind is not allowed. Self-spotting or asking to be spotted is not allowed. Total output power per band must not exceed 5 watts.
4. Single Operator Assisted (All Band or Single Band): One person. One signal at any one time. QSO alerting assistance is allowed (this includes, but is not limited to, packet, local or remote Skimmer and/or Skimmer-like technology, Internet). Selfspotting or asking to be spotted is not
allowed. Total output power per band must not exceed 1500 watts or the output power regulations of the country in which the entrant is operating, whichever is less.
B. Multi-Operator (all band operation only):
1. Single Transmitter (MS): Only one transmitter and one band permitted during any 10-minute period. Exception: One—and only one—other band may be used during any 10-minute period if—and only if—the station worked is a new multiplier. Ten-minute periods are defined as starting with the first logged QSO on a band. A multiplier station cannot call CQ. Logs found
in violation of the 10-minute rule will automatically be reclassified as M2. If electronic logging is used (Cabrillo), for each QSO the run transmitter or multiplier transmitter must be indicated in the log.
2. Two Transmitter (M2): A maximum of two transmitted signals at any time on different bands. Both transmitters may work any and all stations. A station may only be worked once per band regardless of which transmitter is used. Each of the two transmitters used must keep a separate
chronological log for the entire contest period, or if electronic logging is used, the electronic log submittal (Cabrillo) must indicate which transmitter made each QSO. Each transmitter may make a maximum of 8 band changes in any clock hour (00 through 59 minutes).
3. Multi-Transmitter (MM): No limit to transmitters, but only one signal and running station allowed per band.
C. Xtreme Contesting: To encourage the development of new technologies in contesting. For the full rules, go to
D. Team Contesting: A team consists of any five radio amateurs operating in the single operator category. A person may be on only one team per mode. Competing on a team will not prevent any team member from submitting his/her personal score for a radio club. A team score will
be the sum of all the team member scores. SSB and CW teams are totally separate. That is, a member of an SSB team may be on a totally different CW team. A list of a team’s members must be received at CQ Headquarters by the time the contest begins. E-mail to
or mail or fax the list to CQ, Att: Team Contest, 25 Newbridge Road, Hicksville, NY 11801 U.S.A.; fax 516-681-2926. Awards will be given to the top teams on each mode.
IV. NUMBER EXCHANGE:
Phone: RS report plus zone (i.e., 5705). CW: RST report plus zone (i.e., 57905).
V. MULTIPLIER:
Two types of multiplier will be used. 1. A multiplier of one (1) for each different zone contacted on each band. 2. A multiplier of one (1) for each different country contacted on each band. Stations are permitted to contact their own country and zone for multiplier credit. The CQ Zone Map, DXCC country list, WAE country list, and WAC boundaries
are standards. Maritime mobile stations count only for a zone multiplier.
VI. POINTS:
1. Contacts between stations on different continents are worth three (3) points. 2. Contacts between stations on the same continent but different countries, one (1) point. Exception: For North American stations only, contacts between stations within the North American boundaries
count two (2) points.
Contacts between stations in the same country are permitted for zone or country multiplier credit but have zero (0) point value.
VII. SCORING:
All stations: the final score is the result of the total QSO points multiplied by the sum of your zone and country multipliers. Example: 1000 QSO points × 100 multiplier (30 Zones + 70 Countries) = 100,000 (final score).
VIII. AWARDS:
First-place certificates will be awarded in each category listed under Sec.III in every participating country and in each call area of the United States, Canada, European Russia, Spain, Poland, and Japan. All scores will be published. To be eligible for an award, a Single Operator station must show a minimum of 12 hours of operation. Multi-operator stations must
operate a minimum of 24 hours. A singleband log is eligible for a single-band award only. If a log contains more than one band it will be judged as an all-band entry, unless specified otherwise.
In countries or sections where the returns justify, 2nd and 3rd place awards will be made. All certificates/plaques will be issued to the licensee of the station used. IX. TROPHIES AND PLAQUES: Plaques and trophies are awarded for top performance in a number of categories.
They are sponsored by individuals and organizations. For a current list of plaques and sponsors, or to learn how to become a sponsor, see the CQ website:
X. CLUB COMPETITION:
1. The club must be a local group and not a national organization.
2. Participation is limited to club members operating within a local geographic area defined as within a 275 km radius from center of club area (except for DXpeditions specially organized for operation in the contest; club contributions of DXpedition scores are percentaged to the number of club members on the DXpedition).
3. To be listed, a minimum of 3 logs must be received from a club, and an officer of the club must submit a list of participating members and their scores, both on phone and CW.
XI. LOG INSTRUCTIONS:
1. All times must be in GMT.
2. All sent and received exchanges are to be logged.
3. Indicate zone and country multiplier only the FIRST TIME it is worked on each band.
4. Electronic log submission: We want your electronic log. The Committee requires an electronic log for any possible high-scoring log. By submitting a log to the CQ WW Contest, the entrant agrees to have the log open to the public. If possible, we would appreciate complete frequencies
in the log. E-mail Required Content: Please submit your log in the Cabrillo file format created
by all major logging programs. Be sure to put the STATION CALLSIGN and the MODE in the “Subject:” line of each message. Your e-mail log will automatically be acknowledged by the server. You will also receive a personal access code from the server at a later time. Electronic
submission implies a signed declaration that all contest rules and regulations for amateur radio in the country of operation have been observed. Submit your CQ WW SSB log to
5. Paper log submission: For paper logs, use a separate sheet for each band. Each paper log entry MUST be accompanied by a summary sheet showing all scoring information, category of competition, and contestant’s name and address in BLOCK LETTERS. Sample log and summary
sheets and zone maps are available from CQ. A large, self-addressed envelope with sufficient postage or IRCs must accompany your request. If official forms are not available, make up your own, 80 contacts to the page on 81/2" × 11" paper. All paper log entrants are required to submit
cross-check sheets (an alphabetical list of calls worked) for each band on which 200 or more QSOs were made.
6. Bad QSO: The bad QSO is removed and a penalty of three more equivalent QSOs is applied to the points only.
7. QRPp and Low Power stations must indicate their category on their summary sheets and state the actual maximum power output used, with a signed declaration.
XII. ACTIONS OF THE CQ WW CC YELLOW card: Not eligible for an award in the entered contest. An entrant or operator issued a yellow card will be listed at the end of the published results. Two YELLOW cards: An entrant or operator receiving two yellow cards in three consecutive CQ WW DX contests will be ineligible for any CQ-sponsored contest award for a period of two years beginning with the publication of the second violation in CQ magazine. If the
entrant is in a multi-operator category, all listed operators are so affected. RED card: Not eligible for an award in the entered contest. Entrants receiving a red card will be listed at the end of the published results. An entrant or operator receiving a red card will be ineligible for any CQ-sponsored contest award for a period of one year beginning with the publication of the violation in CQ magazine. Two RED cards: An entry or operator receiving two red cards within five consecutive CQ WW DX contests will be ineligible for any CQ-sponsored contest award for a period of three years beginning with the month of publication of the second violation in CQ magazine. If the entrant is in a multi-operator category, all listed operators are so affected.
1. The CQ WW CC reserves the right to reject any entry for non-compliance with the rules.
2. Violation of the rules of the contest makes the entrant subject to either a red or yellow card at the discretion of the CQ WW CC.
3. Unsportsmanlike conduct can be grounds for either a red or yellow card at the discretion of the CQ WW CC. Unsportsmanlike conduct includes but is not limited to ANY use by an entrant of any non-amateur means in the contest including, but not limited to, telephones, Internet, instant messaging, chat rooms, VoIP, or the use of any DX cluster/reflector to SOLICIT, ARRANGE, or CONFIRM any contacts during the contest.
4. Taking credit for excessive unverifiable QSOs or unverifiable multipliers may result in a yellow or red card at the discretion of the CQ WW CC.
5. An entrant is free to withdraw his/her submitted log for any reason prior to receiving an official letter from the CQ WW CC. The log will then be handled per the entrant’s request. If after receiving an official letter from the CQ WW CC, an entrant chooses to withdraw their log, the entrant’s call will be listed at end of the results showing their log as having been withdrawn.
6. By submitting a CQ WW DX Contest log, an entrant agrees that the issuing of red cards, yellow cards, and other decisions of the CQ WW CC are official and final.
XIII. DEADLINE:
1. All entries must be sent NO LATER than November 21, 2010 for the SSB section and December 21, 2010 for the CW section.
2. An extension of up to one month may be given if requested by e-mail (questions@cqww.com). The granted extension must be confirmed by the Contest Director, must state a legitimate
reason, and the request must be received before the log mailing deadline. Logs postmarked after the extension deadline may be listed in theresults but will be declared ineligible for an award. Both Phone and CW mailed logs should be sent to CQ Magazine, 25 Newbridge Road, Suite 309, Hicksville, NY 11801. Please mark SSB or CW on the envelope.
