CQ WorldWide DX SSB
A quick guide for operators — what to expect, what to say, and how it's scored.
This guide is a draft and hasn't been checked yet. Contest rules change from year to year — the sponsor's official rules are the final word.
What it is
The biggest DX contest of the year: 48 hours of working as many stations around the world as possible. Thousands of stations take part, so the bands are full from start to finish.
The exchange
Signal report and CQ zone. We send "59 03" (VE7 is in CQ zone 3).
A typical contact
Scoring
A contact with a station on another continent is worth 3 points, a different country on our own continent 1 point, and another Canadian station 0 points (but still counts as a multiplier if it's new). Multipliers are each CQ zone and each DXCC country, counted once per band. Final score = points × multipliers.
Bands
160, 80, 40, 20, 15 and 10 m (no WARC bands).
Tips for first-timers
Say the club call clearly in standard phonetics, and only once or twice. The other station's zone is usually filled in by the logging software; just check it matches what you heard. When a band goes quiet, try the next one up or down. 10 and 15 m open to Europe and Asia in daylight; 40 and 80 m come alive after dark.
Official rules
The club in this contest
Last updated 2026-10-29 by draft (Claude).