Mark the calendar and warm up the amplifier: the CQ WW DX Contest SSB — the most popular amateur radio competition on the planet — runs from 0000Z Saturday, October 24 to 2359Z Sunday, October 25, 2026. Always held on the last full weekend of October, it is sponsored by the World Wide Radio Operators Foundation, and for 48 hours the HF bands turn into a wall-to-wall celebration of working the world on voice.
The format is beautifully simple. Stations work each other on 160 through 10 meters, exchanging a signal report plus their CQ zone. You can work a station once per band, and every country and every CQ zone counts as a multiplier on each band. QSO points reward distance: contacts within your own country score little, while contacts with other continents are worth the most. Multiply your total QSO points by your total multipliers, and you have a score. It is a formula simple enough to fit on a sticky note, yet deep enough to keep multi-multi superstations strategizing for months.
There is an entry class for everyone. Single operators compete at QRP (5 watts), low power (100 watts), or high power, with assisted and unassisted divisions, single-band categories, and rookie and youth overlays for newcomers. Multi-operator teams range from multi-single all the way to full multi-multi. But here is the secret the big guns will not tell you: you do not have to be competitive to matter. Casual check-ins hand out precious multipliers to stations chasing records, and the contest log page thanks every participant who uploads a log.
First-timers, take this advice: get on early, when the bands are fresh and the rate is high. Work the easy ones first and hunt multipliers later. Keep your exchange crisp — callsign, report, zone — and let the running station set the rhythm. A modest 100-watt station and a wire antenna can easily log a hundred countries over the weekend. Check the solar forecast before the weekend, since conditions shift constantly and 10 meters can open or close with little warning.
After the contest, submit your log in Cabrillo format at cqww.com/logcheck. Logs are due five days after the contest ends, and your log is not officially received until it appears on the logs-received page. Even a handful of contacts is worth sending in — every log helps the cross-checking that keeps the results honest. Whether you are chasing a plaque or just want to work a pileup from the other side, October 24-25 is the weekend to be on the air. See you in the log.