To: N2OO
Dear fellow contester,
USKA (Union of Swiss Shortwave Amateurs) and The World Amateur Radio Contest Association (WARCA) invite you to participate in the Helvetia Contest this upcoming weekend.
The contest starts on Saturday, 25 April 2026 at 13:00 UTC and finishes on Sunday, 26 April 2026 at 12:59 UTC.
The 2026 rules can be found here:
Rules and Regulations for Helvetia Contest (EN):
https://uska.ch/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/2026-01-Rules-and-Regulations-for-Helvetia-Contest-issued-March-2026.pdf
Bestimmungen für den Helvetia Wettbewerb (DE):
https://uska.ch/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/2026-01-Rules-and-Regulations-for-Helvetia-Contest-issued-March-2026.pdf
Real-Time Contesting (RTC)
This year, we introduce Real-Time Contesting (RTC), as described in Section 2.3 (Categories). The following loggers have been successfully tested and work with the scoreboard: N1MM+, DXLog, QARtest, and SDC.
https://hamscore.com/scoreboard/
Help with logger setup can be found here: https://blog.contestonlinescore.com/documents/
How does RTC work?
Your logger uploads all new or modified QSOs every 2 minutes (default value) to the scoreboard.
After the contest finishes on Sunday at 12:59:59 UTC, you have 10 minutes to finalize your log, and a few minutes later the final results will be published.
Callsign validation: If a callsign appears in two real-time logs, it is treated as valid.
Additional RTC Test Session
A last-minute offer from the RTC Team:
An additional test session is scheduled for Thursday, 23 April 2026, from 18:00 UTC to 24:00 UTC.
This session is highly recommended for anyone planning to use RTC during the contest to become familiar with the logger setup and the scoreboard.
Classic Log Submission
As stated in the contest rules (Section 2.3.2, Classic), you can also submit your QSOs the traditional way:
https://contestlog.uska.ch
Good luck in the contest!
