Next contest: RSGB Autumn Series Data, 2026-09-24 19:00 to 2026-09-24 20:30 UTC, DIGITAL on 80m. 105 contests in the calendar. Server snapshot, refreshed every 5 minutes. The tool below is live.
Amateur Radio Contest Calendar 2026-2027
Updated
Every contest in one list, grouped by day. Filter by band, mode and series, open one for the details and rules, and add the ones you want to your calendar.
Contests
What it does
Lists every amateur radio contest for 2026 and 2027 in one feed grouped by day: RSGB HF and VHF events, the major worldwide contests and the weekly activity series, with duplicates merged.
Data and refresh
Dates come from the RSGB Contest Committee and the WA7BNM calendar, checked against the official rules. Times are shown in your local time or UTC, and each entry links to the rules page.
How to read it
Start with This weekend, then narrow by band, mode or series. Open a row for the times, the bands and a link to the official rules where the exchange is set out, then add one contest or the whole filtered list to your calendar as an .ics file.
Who it is for
Newcomers looking for a friendly first contest, club stations planning the season, and regulars who just want to know what is on tonight without opening six websites.
What it cannot tell you
The calendar tells you when, not how. It carries no scoring rules, no band plan and no exchange, because those change from year to year and only the organiser’s own page is worth trusting on the weekend itself. It also cannot tell you whether a contest suits you: an event that looks small can be fiercely competitive, and a big international weekend is often the friendliest place for a newcomer, because everybody wants your contact and nobody minds repeating themselves.
Using it in practice
Filter to This weekend on a Thursday and you will know what is coming while you can still do something about it. Export the whole filtered season once with Add filtered to calendar, and the reminders arrive without you having to remember. Then follow the rules link a day beforehand and write the exchange on a sticky note before you switch on: knowing it is serial number rather than zone, or county rather than locator, is the difference between a comfortable evening and forty minutes of asking people to repeat themselves.
Frequently asked questions
Where does this calendar come from?
Dates come from the RSGB Contest Committee and the WA7BNM Contest Calendar, checked against the official rules, with duplicates between the two merged. It is republished here in a form you can filter and export instead of reading as one long page, and every entry keeps a link to the organiser’s own rules.
Do the filters stack?
Yes. When, Band, Mode, Origin, Time zone and Series each narrow the list, and what you are left with is whatever satisfies all of them at once. That is how you get from a hundred contests to the three that are on your bands, in your mode, this weekend. Clear filters puts everything back.
Are the times UTC or local?
Both are available and the choice is yours: the Time zone control switches the whole list between UTC and your own local time. Contest rules are always written in UTC, so if you are planning around the rules, set it to UTC. Getting this wrong is the classic way to arrive an hour late.
What does Add to calendar actually download?
A standard .ics file that any calendar application will import, with the start, the end and the contest name. Add filtered to calendar exports everything currently showing, so you can filter down to your bands and take the whole season away in one file.
What exchange do I send?
The exchange is what makes the contact count: both stations have to log the same thing, and the logs are checked against each other afterwards. Almost every contest asks for a signal report plus one more item, and that item is what tells them apart. A serial number starting at 001 in the RSGB club contests and most European events, your CQ zone in CQ WW, your ITU zone in the IARU championship, your section or county in the ARRL and AFS events, your locator in the VHF contests, and in a few sprints your name or your age. The exact wording is set out in each contest’s own rules, so open a row and follow Official Rules before you switch on.
What are the Series buttons for?
They pick out one recurring family of contests: the CQ WW weekends, ARRL, IARU, WAE, the RSGB club contests such as UKAC, AFS and the 80m Club Championship, CWops, Field Day and the rest. It is the fastest way to answer the question most people actually have, which is when the next one of these is.
Why is a contest I know about missing?
Small national and club events often never reach the main calendar, and some appear only weeks beforehand. It is also worth checking the When filter before concluding it is absent: the default view shows what is coming, so anything that has already run sits behind the Past button.
Is a big contest a reason to stay off the bands?
It is a reason to know it is on. During a major CW or SSB weekend the bands fill from end to end and casual operating gets difficult, but the flip side is that rare countries and huge multi-operator stations are on the air and looking for you. Even a hundred watts and a wire will work new DXCC entities on a CQ WW weekend.