RAC Canada Winter Contest Rules 2025

RAC Contest Managers
Bart Ritchie, VE5CPU and Sam Ferris, VE5SF

Contest Periods:

RAC Canada Day Contest:
Canada Day Tuesday, July 1, 2025 – 00:00:00 UTC to 23:59:59 UTC

RAC Canada Winter Contest:
Saturday, December 20, 2025 –
00:00:00 UTC to 23:59:59 UTC

Radio Amateurs of Canada sponsors two radio sport contests each year. The RAC Canada Day Contest celebrating Canada’s Birthday on Confederation Day and a celebration of the winter holiday season with the Canada Winter Contest. Amateurs all over the world are invited to join us in these celebrations.

For the previous year’s contest results, visit the RAC website in the Contest section at: http://wp.rac.ca/contesting-results/

Bands and Modes:

Bands and Modes: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10,
6 and 2 metres, CW and phone (SSB, FM, AM, etc.)

Suggested frequencies: CW – 25 kHz up from the band edge and for SSB – 1850, 3775, 7060*, 7225, 14175, 21250 and 28500 kHz. Check for CW activity on the half-hour.

*Note: For 7060 kHz please watch for conflicts in the band plan where there are overlaps with other modes of operation.

Exchange: Stations in Canada send RS(T) and province or territory. VEØs and stations outside Canada send RS(T) and a serial number.

QSOs: Contacts with stations in Canada or VEØs (maritime mobile Canadian stations)are worth 10 points. Contacts with stations outside Canada are worth 2 points. Contacts with RAC official stations are worth 20 points. RAC official stations are: VA2RAC, VA3RAC, VE1RAC, VE3RHQ, VE4RAC, VE5RAC, VE6RAC, VE7RAC, VE8RAC, VE9RAC, VO1RAC, VO2RAC, VY0RAC, VY1RAC and VY2RAC.

You may work any station once on each of the two modes, on each of the eight contest bands. It is prohibited to make CW contacts in the conventional phone sub-bands and phone contacts in the conventional CW sub-bands. Contacts or soliciting QSOs through a repeater during the contest period is not allowed. Contacts in the RAC Canada Contests also count towards the RAC Canadian Portable Operations Challenge Award.

Multipliers: Thirteen in total, Canada’s 10 provinces and three territories. Each multiplier may be counted once on each mode on each of the eight contest bands.

The multipliers, with their postal abbreviations and prefixes are: Nova Scotia [NS] (VE1, VA1, CY9, CYØ); Quebec [QC] (VE2, VA2); Ontario [ON] (VE3, VA3); Manitoba [MB] (VE4, VA4); Saskatchewan [SK] (VE5, VA5); Alberta [AB] (VE6, VA6); British Columbia [BC] (VE7, VA7); Northwest Territories [NT] (VE8); New Brunswick [NB] (VE9); Newfoundland and Labrador [NL] (VO1, VO2); Nunavut [NU] (VYØ); Yukon [YT] (VY1); and Prince Edward Island [PE] (VY2).

Certain special Canadian prefixes in use at the time of the contest may also apply; however, there may be no more than
13 multipliers on each band/mode. Please use the multiplier abbreviations, in square brackets, noted above.

Note: in the event a station is unable to make a contact with a Canadian station, there will be granted a multiplier count of 1 to facilitate the proper calculation of the final score since a multiplier of zero (0) would not create a valid calculation of a final score.

Final Score: The total sum of QSO points (2, 10 and 20-point QSOs) from all bands multiplied by the total number of multipliers from all bands. Table 1 in the PDF document in the left column provides an example score calculation.

We look forward to your participation in the RAC Contests.

—

• Bart Ritchie, VE5CPU at 
 for the 
Canada Day Contest
• Sam Ferris, VE5SF at 
 for the Canada Winter Contest