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We made it through the poor high-band conditions during CQWW RTTY this past weekend and are on to some more great contests in this next period.
This weekend there are a couple of events to talk about with some neat synergies. The phone edition of the Oceania DX Contest is this weekend, as is the California QSO Party (CQP). Both are really fun events, so how do you pick which one to do? The organizers of both contests have made some decisions that ensure you don’t have to pick. When you set up your logger for either contest, both exchanges are recognized and accepted. Then, at the end of the contest, you can submit your full log to both Oceania DX and CQP, and the valid QSOs for both are accepted. So, whether you want to get on for one event or the other, submit your log to both contests; you’ll be surprised at your results! Also this weekend is the Collegiate QSO Party, an event designed to encourage college club activity. It’s open to all types of entrants, and over the years has successfully seen more colleges on the air participating in radiosport. For those that enjoy Oceania DX, the CW event is next weekend. Also next weekend is the SSB running of the Scandinavian Activity Contest, Makrothen RTTY, and the Pennsylvania, South Dakota, and Arizona QSO parties. |
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No mults lost this week! As always, feel free to email us if you identify any errors! |
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October 1, 2026 - October 14, 2026 See the "Contests" section below for complete contest information. Note: Contest dates and times are in UTC. This means that a contest that is listed to start on a Saturday at 0000z, for example, really starts on a Friday night in US time zones.
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October 1 October 2 October 3 October 4 October 5 October 6 October 7 October 8 October 9 October 10 October 11 October 12 October 13 October 14 |
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Still running a Kenwood TS-850S, or an old amplifier that just works better than something new? The Digital Library of Amateur Radio & Communications (DLARC) has recently uploaded over ten thousand manuals donated from the now-defunct Manuals Plus company. Curator Kay Savetz, K6KJN, says:
“Big news: the Manuals Plus project is done. Like, done done, put a bow on it. This massive manual scanning project started more than a decade ago, in 2015 when a company called Manuals Plus went out of business and donated pallets of rare manuals to Internet Archive. Then, a couple of years ago, DLARC scanned four pallets of the radio-related manuals. In September 2025, I announced in this space that we were back for another bite of the apple, with nine more pallets of tech manuals going to the scanning center. There was no way to know ahead of time what products the manuals were for: some would be for radio-related equipment, some wouldn’t. Internet Archive scanned it all, then we separated out the material relevant for DLARC. More than 10,600 manuals were deemed “DLARC-worthy” out of a total collection of 13,046 manuals. You’ll find manuals for rare amplifiers, radios, and all sorts of tools and test equipment. My colleague Jason Scott wrote a blog post titled Manuals Plus: The Wrap-Up that nicely summarizes the whole adventure.” |
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Action Produces Information If you’re not sure what to do in contesting, do anything. That action will produce the needed information to move forward, even if the action itself isn’t productive. |
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Pim, PC8M, at the helm of the PI4CC station during CQWW RTTY. PI4CC appears to have made it into the top three for Multi 2 in Europe! [Pim Polderman, PC8M, photo] |
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Push to Pass
“What’s the easiest way to get more mults? Pass the mults that work you to bands you need them. If they called you, they’ll probably be more than happy to get a new band from your station, and you get a multiplier that you might not otherwise get.” |
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In the world of digital modes, a neat paper about a new weak-signal mode was published to Arxiv. Luis Quesada proposes a new encoding method to fit grid locator and signal report into a single reply. This could become very advantageous to high-rate activities like contesting, DXing, and more. |
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I finished up my first leg of the CQWW triathalon, being on the NJ4P Multi 2 effort for CQWW RTTY. Ron gave a great presentation on the station at Mini CTU, and it lives up to the hype. The station performed amazingly during the weekend, and the operating team was Johnny-on-the-spot when it came to band changes, in band, and hunting those rare multipliers. It looks like we’re #1 for North America, and #2 overall. Most important, it was a ton of fun! With it being a remote-focused station, I didn’t have to hear the amplifier fans running for 48 hours, travel to the station, and deal with the sleep deprivation associated with getting a station ready for a major contest. We still were able to do all the things you need to do for a successful multioperator effort. Using mumble, run and inband pairs were able to relay information and coordinate band changes, and both runs were able to pass mults to each other. Overall it was a ton of fun and a great result. Thanks to Ron, WV4P, for having me on the team. This past weekend proved what we all suspected; 10 meters is on the downturn. Conditions during the contest were not conducive to anywhere near the same performance as last year, and it’s only going to get worse. This comes with the tradeoff of much better low-band performance on 80 and 160 meters, so make sure to put some effort into those bands for the rest of the year! You have 25 days until CQWW SSB.
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That's all for this time. Remember to send contesting-related stories, book reviews, tips, techniques, press releases, errata, schematics, club information, pictures, stories, blog links, and predictions to contest-update@arrl.org.
73, Max, N4ML |
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October 1, 2026 - October 14, 2026 An expanded, downloadable version of QST's Contest Corral is available as a PDF. Check the sponsors' website for information on operating time restrictions and other instructions. |
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October 1 October 2 October 3 October 4 October 5 October 6 October 7 October 8 October 9 October 10 October 11 October 12 October 13 October 14 |
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October 1 October 2 October 3 October 4 October 5 October 6 October 7 October 8 October 9 October 10 October 11 October 12 October 13 October 14 |
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Click here to advertise in this newsletter, space subject to availability. Your One-Stop Resource for amateur radio News and Information.
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The ARRL Contest Update is published every other Wednesday (26 times each year). ARRL members may subscribe at no cost or unsubscribe by editing their Member Data Page at www.arrl.org/opt-in-out.
Copyright © 2026 American Radio Relay League, Incorporated. Use and distribution of this publication, or any portion thereof, is permitted for non-commercial or educational purposes, with attribution. All other purposes require written permission. |
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