Amateur Radio Contests Explained — Modes, Scoring, How to Start

Amateur Radio Contests Explained — Modes, Scoring, How to StartHow ham radio contests work — exchange formats, multipliers, scoring. The major categories (CW, SSB, digital, VHF, QSO parties) and the canonical WA7BNM calendar BloomWX sources from.A ham radio contest is an organized event where operators race to make as many contacts as possible within a window — typically 12 to 48 hours.How it works1. Window opens 2. Make QSOs — each contact follows a brief scripted exchange 3. Track multipliers — each unique state/country/zone counts 4. Score = QSOs x multipliers 5. Submit log within deadlineMajor categories

CW (Morse code) — CQ WW CW, ARRL DX CW

SSB / Phone — CQ WW SSB

Digital (FT8/FT4)

VHF/UHF — ARRL VHF contests

QSO Parties — state/country events

The Ham Shack contests panel sources from WA7BNM's contest calendar — the de-facto authority every contester uses.Part of the BloomWX learn library — beginner-friendly explainers covering every surface of the BloomWX weather dashboard. Open BloomWX to see live data for any U.S. county.