Oceania DX Contest 2026

Oceania DX contest (OCDX) patrí medzi najtradičnejšie a najvýznamnejšie rádioamatérske súťažné podujatia na krátkych vlnách. Jeho história sa začala písať v 30. rochoch 20. storočia, kedy bol založený ako VK/ZL Contest pod záštitou austrálskej organizácie Wireless Institute of Australia (WIA) a novozélandskej New Zealand Association of Radio Transmitters (NZART). V roku 2000 prešiel kľúčovou transformáciou na Oceania DX Contest s cieľom otvoriť súťaž pre všetky geografické subjekty podľa zoznamu DXCC ARRL patriace do oblasti Oceánie.

For European contesters, the OCDX represents a challenging operational and technical challenge. Surpassing a distance of over 15,000 km requires precise planning, accurate estimation of ionospheric propagation along both Short Path and Long Path routes, as well as low-angle radiation antenna systems. The contest showcases operators' abilities to work under low signal-to-noise conditions and overcome attenuation in polar areas.

The contest is divided into two separate 24-hour weekend blocks during the first two full weekends of October:

The 24-hour contest limitation requires operators to tactically plan transitions between bands. From a Central European station, the higher bands 10m, 15m, and 20m are typically open during the local afternoon and evening under direct propagation (Short Path). In the early morning hours around dawn, a window opens on the 40m and 80m bands through the far side of the Earth (Long Path), which requires adjusting the azimuth of the antennas.

The competition takes place on six amateur bands: 160 m, 80 m, 40 m, 20 m, 15 m, and 10 m. WARC bands (30 m, 17 m, and 12 m) are strictly excluded from the competition.

Conditions for establishing connections vary depending on the geographical location of the station:

Stations in the Oceania region make scored connections with all stations in the world (both within and outside Oceania).

Stations outside Oceania (including Slovak and Czech stations) only count connections with stations located in the prefix areas of Oceania (e.g., VK, ZL, YB, DU, KH6, FK, 3D2, 9M6, P29). Connections between two stations outside Oceania do not earn any points or multipliers. If a station outside Oceania makes a connection with another station outside Oceania, there is no need to delete the log entry; the scoring system assigns a zero point value without penalty.

The rules define categories for individual and collective stations, graded by power:

The following technical rules and restrictions apply to operations:

Assistance in finding connections (QSO alerting assistance, e.g., DX cluster, RBN) is allowed for all competition categories. Self-spotting or requesting other stations to insert a spot is prohibited and leads to disqualification.

During SO2R (Single Operator Two Radios) operation, the operator must ensure that they do not hold up stations waiting on the second frequency. Alternating CQs on two different frequencies within the same band is not allowed.

All transmitters, receivers, and antennas of the station must be located within a radius of up to 500 meters or within the boundaries of the station's property. Remote operation is permitted, with the station's local affiliation determined by the physical location of the transmitter and antenna system.

The contest code for SSB consists of the RS report and a sequential connection number starting from 001 (e.g., 59 001). Multi-operator stations may use a common series of numbers for the entire log or a separate series of numbers for each band. If the other station does not send a contest number, the value 001 is recorded in the log.

The point value for one valid QSO depends on the band used:

The point scaling takes into account the physical difficulty of the attenuation on the lower bands. While establishing a DX connection at 20 m is relatively accessible (1 point), making a connection on 160 m and 80 m requires high power and directional antenna systems in high atmospheric noise levels, hence it is rated at 20 or 10 points.

A multiplier is each valid prefix worked on each band separately. The prefix consists of the initial combination of letters and numbers of the call sign (e.g., VK3, ZL1, YB0, DU1, KH6). In portable operation, the prefix determines the identifier (e.g., PA/N8BJQ forms the prefix PA0, the entry XEFTJW without a number receives the generated zero XE0).

The overall score of the station is calculated as the product of the total number of points for QSO from all bands and the total number of multipliers from all bands.

Each participant with at least one valid QSO is entitled to an electronic participation certificate, downloadable from the official portal ocdx.contesting.com. Certificates for category victories are awarded for each continent in the IARU WAC and for each country.

Winners of the categories will receive commemorative plaques and trophies (e.g., Ron Wills ZL2TT Memorial Trophy or Frank Hine VK2QL Memorial Trophy). The awarding is subject to the plaque hierarchy rule: if a competitor wins a plaque at a higher level (e.g., continental), they will not simultaneously receive a plaque for a lower level (e.g., national). The national plaque is then passed to the second competitor in order (runner-up), with the inscription on the plaque indicating the award for the second tier due to the shift in hierarchy.

The contest log must be processed in electronic Cabrillo format. The file must contain a header with summary information about the category and power. The file name corresponds to the call sign of the competitor (e.g., om3xxx.log). For stations with more than 50 connections, an electronic log in Cabrillo format is mandatory. Stations with fewer than 50 QSO may use a web form to transcribe a paper log.

The submission of the log is done through the web form at ocdx.contesting.com/submitlog.phpwhich performs an automatic syntax check of the header and the format of QSO lines after uploading.

The deadline for submitting logs for the 2026 edition is set for Sunday, October 25, 2026, at 23:59:59 UTC.

Log processing is carried out using the cross-checking software of the OCDX Committee. The software compares data consistency between the logs of both stations (time in UTC, band, callsign, exchanged and received code). Incorrectly recorded callsigns or inconsistent contest numbers lead to the connection being marked as unverifiable, resulting in point annulment.