Updated 19-October-2026.

I’ve been contesting since 2010, when I discovered I could find many DX stations without pileups. That was on HF CW. In 2013, I moved to RTTY contests, partly for the same reason. By 2014, I moved to VHF contesting.

On VHF, I found that I could finish in the top 10 or 20 rather than in the top 100 or so; I had great fun, earned some awards, and even won a few categories. Plus, high-gain directive antennas could actually fit in my backyard!

This guide to VHF contesting introduces the joys of contesting in general, examines the aspects particular to VHF contesting, guides your efforts to get on the air, and provides plenty of references for further information.

What is Amateur Radio Contesting, a.k.a. RadioSport?

Amateur radio contesting, also known as RadioSport, is a genuine sport. Competing in a full contest requires considerable skill in making contacts, along with stamina and endurance; contests can last up to 48 hours. It also requires technical knowledge to build a station suited to the contests and categories you want to enter.

Contesting is also a great way to compare your operating skills and station with others in your region and category, see how you stack up, and find motivation to improve. You’ll also learn how you rank in the contest—and you may even win.

While winning a contest or category and comparing your results with others would be nice, it can be just as helpful to compare your results year to year or from one contest to the next. Are you improving on your past results? Then comes the fun part: What antenna or gear could help you improve? What practice do you need? And can you improve your physical condition so you can stay in the chair longer than you did in the last contest?

Of course, RadioSport doesn’t have to be an all-or-nothing endeavor; you can participate casually, too. Try a contest weekend for a few hours on Saturday afternoon—or whenever it suits your schedule. You can even choose a time that targets the DX you’re seeking. For example, try late Friday or Saturday evening to pick up new countries on 80 meters.

In summary, RadioSport offers:

• More stations are on the air.
• Significantly increased activity levels.
• Working HF DXCC or WAS in one weekend.
• Competing in categories that align with your station and operating preferences.
• Measuring operating improvement over time.
• Building your station against competitive benchmarks.

VHF Contesting Overview

Almost all of it applies equally to VHF contesting, except for working DXCC or WAS in a single weekend. A few key differences also make it a lot of fun and add to its appeal.

I learned about VHF contesting at the Dayton Hamvention’s Contest University. Amid all the great sessions, one focused on VHF contesting and was led by Joel Harrison, W5ZN. Here’s how he summarized it.

Magic Bands with Super Results from Average Stations

— Joel Harrison, W5ZN

Let’s start with antennas. The big guns in HF contests use towers, large triband Yagis, or even monoband Yagis. On VHF (50 MHz and above), you can achieve substantial gain and directivity in minimal space. Nearby, I’m holding a 3-element 6-meter Yagi for size comparison. Even smaller is the 6-meter Stressed Moxon shown below. Antennas for 2 meters and up are even smaller and offer more gain.

That also means they are lightweight and easily mounted on a push-up mast in your backyard. See the nearby photo of a push-up mast in my backyard with a five-element 6-meter Yagi and an 8-element 2-meter Quad.

I don’t use a rotator, but I point the antennas using the Armstrong method. However, you’ll find that the antennas are so lightweight that a simple, relatively low-cost rotator will work well.

Power levels are another point of comparison. VHF contests include low-power categories at 10, 100, and 200 watts, as well as higher power levels. Low power, coupled with high-gain antennas, can make for a very effective VHF station.

Large stations on the air have high power, many high-gain antennas, and operate around the clock. They add extra fun to the contest, as you are sure to work them at some point, usually across all the VHF bands you have at your station.

There’s also a much smaller group of competitors in VHF contests. For example, the CQ WW VHF Contest had 1,344 entries in 2026 across the two weekends of analog-only and digital-only. By contrast, the 2025 CQ WW DX SSB Contest had 10,576 entries. That generally means you have a much better chance of ranking higher in the results, even if you’re last in your category!

VHF Contest Listing

There are four major VHF contests each year and several VHF sprints.

The ARRL supports three VHF Contests:

• January VHF is the third or fourth full weekend in January. (701 entries in 2026).
• June VHF is the second full weekend in June. (1,203 entries in 2026).
• September VHF is the second full weekend in September. (506 entries in 2026).

You can see that June is the big contest. That’s because it’s most likely to see Sporadic E openings, which greatly extend the range of VHF stations on 6 meters and lead to high activity. The ARRL contests run from Saturday afternoon to Sunday evening, a total of 33 hours.

The CQ WW VHF Contest occurs on the first and third weekends of July. It, too, often features Sporadic E openings that generate significant activity. The CQ contest runs for 24 hours, from 1200 UTC Saturday to 1200 UTC Sunday.

The Central States VHF Society hosts a series of four-hour sprints in the spring, and the Mt. Airy VHF Radio Club hosts similar sprints in the fall. These sprints are band-specific, with separate days and times for 50 MHz, 144 MHz, 222 MHz, 432 MHz, and microwave.

Other ARRL VHF and higher contests include 222 MHz and up, EME, and 10 GHz. You can find a complete listing and details at https://contests.arrl.org

VHF Contest Entry Categories

Here’s where VHF contesting begins to depart significantly from HF contesting. There are quite a few different categories. A key category is rover, where the station moves from grid to grid during the contest.

ARRL VHF Contest Entry Categories

Here are the ARRL contest entry categories.

Single Operator — Both Analog-Only and All-Mode subcategories.

• Low Power (200 watts at 50 and 144 MHz — 100 watts at 222 and 432 — 50 watts 902 and above).
• High Power (exceeds low power).
• Portable (10 watts with portable power, equipment, and antennas).
• 3-Band (50-144-432 – 100 watts at 50 and 144 MHz — 50 watts at 432 MHz).
• FM Only (100 watts, 50 MHz to 1.2 GHz).

Multi-Operator — no power limitations.

• Limited (4 bands maximum, all-band operation allowed, only submit 4-band logs).
• Unlimited (no band limits).

Rovers — This category is somewhat unique to VHF contesting, although they also operate in state QSO parties. They make for fun contesting: follow the rover from one grid to the next and add QSOs and multipliers.

• Classic Rover (two operators only, no power or band restrictions).
• Limited Rover (low 4 bands — 200/100 watts as per single operator rules).
• Unlimited Rover (all bands, high power, multiple operators).

There are several other rules for rover operations. For example, the rover must sign their callsign followed by /R for every QSO. In addition, once they move to a new grid, they may work the same stations again for QSO credit. These are not considered duplicates.

Here’s a short gallery of my rover operations. You can learn more about my results at K5ND/R Operations. I’ve written extensively about my operations on this website, as well as in a series of articles in the National Contest Journal, with links on that page.

Club Contest Competition — There is also a club competition within the VHF and other contests. Here are the categories.

• ARRL Categories: Unlimited 51+ entries, Medium 50 or fewer, Local 10 or fewer.
• CQ Contest needs just 3 entries for the club competition.

ARRL VHF Contest Assistance Rules

You may be familiar with HF contests that often have separate categories for assisted and unassisted entries. Some contests also disqualify you if you use assistance. For the ARRL VHF contests, the assistance level doesn’t matter.

They allow chat rooms, social media, texting, phone calls, APRS reporting, and even self-spotting on DX Clusters, including DX Maps.

It’s mainly used to initiate a QSO. Because VHF bands and highly directional antennas require you to point toward the other station, you need to know its location. Chat rooms like PingJockey, VHF-Chat Slack, and ON4KST are used to coordinate this.

However, note that despite this open sharing of information, you cannot provide information once the QSO has started or request repeats. For further background, see my post Valid QSOs and Online Chat.

CQ WW VHF Contest Categories

The CQ WW VHF Contest differs from the ARRL VHF contests in several ways. For starters, it is limited to 6 and 2 meters. The assistance rules are also different. There are two contest weekends. The SSB/FM/CW contest is held the first weekend of July, and the Digital contest is held the third weekend of July. Both run from 1200 UTC Saturday to 1200 UTC Sunday.

Entry Categories

• Single Operator – All Band or Single Band — High Power 1500 watts, Low Power 100 watts, QRP 10 watts.
• Hilltopper – 100 watts and 6 hours only. Any power source is acceptable.
• Rover
• Multi Operator

The exchange is a 4-digit grid. QSO points are 1 for 6 meters and 2 for 2 meters.

There is no rover grid activation multiplier. However, the grids worked from each activated grid go into the total multipliers, which makes a substantial difference to a rover’s score.

CQ WW VHF Contest Assistance Rules

• Spotting assistance or nets, including but not limited to DX-alerting nets, internet chat rooms, APRS, and other packet, reverse beacon networks, and repeaters to identify stations available for contacts and to announce their availability for contacts.
• Assistance can’t be used once a QSO has started except to verify the successful conclusion of the QSO.

You can see that the CQ WW VHF contest is quite different and has its own ways of having fun throughout the weekend.

VHF Contest Exchange

The VHF contest QSO exchange consists of the callsign and a 4-digit Maidenhead grid locator. A Maidenhead grid locator is a geocoding system that provides precise location data. In the USA, VHF contesting uses 4-digit grids that are roughly 70 miles north-south by 100 miles east-west. The UHF and Microwave contests use more digits in their exchanges to achieve more precise location and distance measurements.

The grids are multipliers, much like DXCC or states in HF contests. So, if you work 50 stations and collect ten grids, the score is 500 points. You’ll collect grid multipliers for each band.

Note that each band offers different QSO points. For the ARRL June and September Contests, 50 and 144 MHz QSOs are worth 1 point each. 222 and 432 MHz QSOs are worth 2 points. 902 and 1296 MHz provide 3 points each. QSOs above 2.3 GHz are worth 4 points. For the ARRL January Contest, contacts at 902 and 1296 MHz count 4 points, and contacts at 2.3 GHz and above count 8 points.

VHF Contest Participation Levels

I mentioned that activity levels are higher during contests. Here’s a chart showing changes in the logs submitted for the ARRL VHF contests over the past three years.

Here’s the participation level in the CQ WW VHF contest, showing increased participation in 2025 and 2026 after the contest was divided into two weekends, one for analog modes and one for digital modes.

Average VHF Contest Stations

What about Joel, W5ZN’s insight into using average stations for super results? Here’s what he suggests for each of the major VHF bands.

• HF – 6-meter rig at 100 watts, 3-element Yagi at 30 feet.
• 2 meters greater than 50 watts, Yagi at 50 feet is outstanding.
• 222 and 432 greater than 50 watts, Yagi at 50 feet, and more elements.
• Preamps are helpful at 6 and 2 meters and essential for higher bands.

You can see that even a minimal amount of power can get you on the bands. The antennas are also crucial and should be fed with low-loss coax.

VHF Contest Propagation

Line-of-sight propagation should help you pick up stations in your immediate area or city. Here are the other types of propagation to expect.

• Sporadic E – primarily on 6 meters with spectacular results; pray for Es during the contest.
• Tropospheric Ducting – can bring great results at 2 meters and above; watch for this on Sunday mornings.
• Meteor Scatter – can significantly extend your range on 6 and 2 meters. Early morning is best.
• Moon Bounce is not for average stations but is used during the contest.

Sporadic E and Tropospheric ducting are the main types of propagation to expect.

VHF Contest Strategy

Here’s the cardinal rule for any contesting:

Pick the Category that Fits You and Your Station

My first purpose is to have fun. The second is to achieve a reasonable score and then compare it across contests.

Along my contesting journey, I started on HF, working as many new DXCC entities as possible. In those days, nearly every DXCC was new. Then I reviewed my results and considered how to rank higher, which led me to consider QRP and single-band entries. That process led me to VHF contesting and the various categories and operating styles.

Six meters and two meters are the standard bands for operating. Since QSO points increase on higher bands, the next step is to add more bands to your station. Often, you can work a station on 2 meters, then ask them to move to higher or lower bands for more QSOs and points. That approach has become more challenging with WSJT-X, but it still works.

Another strategy is to offer more modes. WSJT-X is a must-have mode unless you choose an analog-only entry category. That mostly involves FT8, FT4, and MSK144. SSB and CW are the modes used to run stations when the bands are open.

I’ve also started using more than one radio. That way, I can monitor two or more bands at every moment of the contest. In this way, I can catch a glimpse of the very low level of activity when someone does try a CQ. This is easier to do with the digital modes.

Butt-in-chair is critical in all contests. You’re not working QSOs or multipliers if you’re not at your station. Even so, nights during VHF contests are generally dead.

VHF Contest Operating Practices

Two meters is the go-to meeting place. If 6 meters is open, work as many stations as possible on 6 meters. As noted above, the next practice is to move stations to other bands to earn more points per QSO.

Because we’re using high-gain antennas on VHF and UHF, it’s important to aim yours precisely at the other station. Depending on the distance, a difference of just a few degrees can determine whether or not you make contact.

Sunday morning tropospheric and meteor scatter can provide multipliers. This may be the only chance to work distant stations when six-meter Es aren’t available. That’s particularly true during the January and September contests.

One thing I enjoy is monitoring https://contestonlinescore.com. This website displays real-time scores for contest stations that submit their log data. It gives you a sense of where you stand, grabs your attention, and encourages you to stay in the chair.

Here’s a case in point from the January 2024 VHF contest. It shows my score for each contest hour compared with that of one of my nearest competitors. Only in the last hour of the contest did my score exceed the competitors’. This was primarily because my competitor likely had a conflict that evening and had to leave the station. But it shows what’s possible.

Another helpful tool is N3FJP’s HamDash. It works with the N3FJP logs, which is very convenient since I like their VHF Contest Logger.

I also recommend that you look at your log check reports. You can find them for the ARRL contests at https://contests.arrl.org/logcheckreports.php. These reports can help you identify issues such as incorrect callsigns, exchanges, and more. However, be careful not to take these reports too seriously. They are meant to identify significant problems, but the score adjustments seldom affect the contest standings.

One case in point: for the June 2023 VHF contest, I got a little riled when I found three stations considered not-in-log, one station with the incorrect call, and two stations receiving not-in-log from me. All those stations were confirmed in the Logbook of the World. So, they happened and were logged correctly. Of course, losing those points didn’t affect my ranking in the contest results. So, I guess they didn’t matter in the overall scheme. A reference that can provide more insight is by Doug Grant, K1DG, from the National Contest Journal at http://ncjweb.com/features/julaug19feat.pdf

Get on the Air and Have Fun in VHF Contests

VHF contesting can be a great deal of fun. It brings lots of activity to the bands. That alone makes it an excellent time to be on the air to add grids to your VUCC totals. You can also find fun categories that fit your station and operating interests. That, in turn, can provide insight into what you want to improve for the next contest.

So get on the air and have fun.

For still more insight, see my interview on HamNation from June 3, 2026.

Links to More Information

I’ve listed links below for further information that may prove helpful.

VHF Contests

• ARRL January VHF Contest
• ARRL June VHF Contest
• CQ WW VHF Contest Separate weekends for SSB/CW and Digital.
• ARRL 222 MHz and Up Distance Contest August
• ARRL September VHF Contest

VHF Contesting Magazines

• ARRL QST Magazine. Monthly VHF Column, contesting coverage, how-to articles. The archives of back issues can also be very helpful.
• ARRL National Contest Journal. Great coverage of all contesting with many articles with a VHF focus.

VHF Contesting Websites

• Central States VHF Society. Awards, programs, sprints, conferences, lots of stuff of interest.
• Society of Midwestern Contesters — FAQ, see the VHF/UHF contesting information.
• Contest University. This link is to the files section with all past presentations, including many for VHF contesting.
• DX Maps. It’s an excellent site for monitoring openings on VHF bands.
• Ping Jockey. The chat system is used to coordinate meteor scatter contacts.
• PSK Reporter. Monitor how well your signal is getting out, by VHF band.
• Contest Online Scoreboard. A fascinating source of information during and after contests.
• ON4KST online chat. Excellent at coordinating VHF contacts.
• VHF/UHF Beacons. Listing of beacons published by WZ1V.
• ARRL VUCC Award. The rules and application for the VHF-UHF Century Club Award.

VHF Contesting Online Groups

I encourage you to connect with some Facebook Groups, including the VHF/UHF Weak Signal Amateur Radio group. The groups.io email lists are helpful, but they are primarily about rigs, logging software, WJST-X, and more. Connect with your areas of interest. Many local clubs can also be very supportive and helpful.

K5ND Presentation Slide Decks

• VHF Contesting presentation for QSO Today Ham Expo. Slide deck from the March 2021 presentation. K5ND VHF Contesting Presentation Video on YouTube. Video presentation, including Q & A on Vimeo.
• VHF Contesting for Richardson Wireless Klub. Slide deck from February 2021 presentation.
• VHF Rover Virtual Tour. Slide deck from February 2021 presentation to North Texas Microwave Society.
• VHF Contesting for Front Range 6 Meter Group. Slide deck from May 2020. You can find the video at VHF Contesting by Jim K5ND.

K5ND VHF Blog Articles

Here are a few highlights that might prove interesting.

• 222 MHz Transverter and Power Amplifier.
• Fiberglass Push-Up Mast.
• Cheap Yagis for VHF and UHF.
• RSGB 2020 Online Convention VHF Videos. Great videos on six-meter sporadic E and radios for VHF contesting.
• Logbook of the World for Rovers.

VHF Contesting Summary

That’s my attempt to provide some insight and a few resources to help you launch or continue your VHF Contesting journey. It’s not all-encompassing and, at best, reflects only my limited perspective and experience.

Nonetheless, it will be of value in your efforts. I look forward to working you in the contests.