About
Contest Objective: For amateurs in the US and Canada (and their possessions) to work as many amateur stations in as many different 2 degrees x 1 degree Maidenhead grid squares as possible using authorized frequencies above 50 MHz. Stations outside the US & Canada (and their possessions) may only work stations in the US (and its possessions) and Canada.
Dates: The third or fourth full weekend in January as announced. (January 18-20, 2025)
Contest Period: Begins 1900 UTC Saturday, ends 0359 UTC Monday.
Click Here for Complete ARRL January VHF Contest Rules (PDF)
For contest information contact contests@arrl.org or (860) 594-0232
All legal modes are permitted (while CW and SSB/Phone are most common, MSK144, FT8 and FM-Only are gaining popularity - other popular modes include PSK31, FSK441 and JT65). For Cabrillo file mode definitions, Digital modes should be represented as "DG" (for all things digital), SSB Phone as "PH", FM voice as "FM", and CW as "CW".
Stations in KH0-9, KL7 & KP1-KP5, CY9 and CY0 count as W/VE stations and can be worked by DX stations for contest credit.
Log Submission Deadline
Logs are due within TEN (10) days after the event is over. Logs may be submitted either online or via mail, but electronic Cabrillo logs are the preferred method. Electronic logs must be submitted via our web app at contest-log-submission.arrl.org/
Logs that have been submitted electronically are listed on the Logs Received page. Click the contest name to see a list of submitted logs sorted by call sign and club name.
Online Log Submission - Cabrillo formatted logs must be uploaded via our web app at contest-log-submission.arrl.org.
Submitting Paper Logs By Mail - Be sure to mail your completed Summary Sheet and Log Sheets postmarked before the log submission deadlines.
Paper Entry Forms:
Send completed Summary Sheets and logs to:
ARRL - January VHF Contest, 225 Main St, Newington, CT 06111
If submitting a paper log, it is strongly suggested you use a delivery method that offers a tracking number.
If you wish to convert your log into a Cabrillo formatted log for electronic submission, visit www.b4h.net/cabforms/ and select the event of interest. You can input your log data which will be converted to a Cabrillo formatted log for you (it will generate a log and return it to you), and then you can in turn submit your Cabrillo log online via the web app at contest-log-submission.arrl.org/.
Awards:
Downloadable Certificates will be awarded in the following categories at https://contests.arrl.org/certificates.php
Single Operator:
- Top Single Operator in each ARRL/RAC Section for high and low power.
- Top Single Operator on each band (50, 144, 222, 432, 902, 1296 and 2304-and-up categories) in each ARRL/RAC Section where significant effort or competition is evident. (Note: Since the highest score per band will be the award winner for that band, an entrant may win a certificate with additional single-band endorsements.) For example, if KA1RWY has the highest single-operator all-band score in the CT Section and her 50- and 222-MHz scores are higher than any other CT single operator’s, she will earn a certificate for being the single-operator Section leader and endorsements for 50 and 222 MHz.
- Top Single Operator Portable in each ARRL/RAC Section where significant effort or competition is evident. (Single Operator Portable entries are not eligible for single-band awards.)
- Top Single Operator, 3-Band in each ARRL/RAC Section where significant effort or competition is evident.(Single Operator, 3-Band entries are not eligible for single-band awards.)
- Top Single Operator, FM Only in each ARRL/RAC Section where significant effort or competition is evident. (Single Operator, FM Only entries are not eligible for single-band awards.)
Rover:
- Top Rover, Limited Rover and Unlimited Rover in each ARRL Division and Canada where significant effort or competition is evident. (Rover entries are not eligible for single-band awards.)
Multioperator:
- Top Multioperator score in each ARRL/RAC Section where significant effort or competition is evident. (Multioperator entries are not eligible for single-band awards.)
- Top Limited Multioperator in each ARRL/RAC Section where significant effort or competition is evident. (Limited Multioperator entries are not eligible for single-band awards.)
DX:
- Top DX stations where significant effort or competition is evident.
Club Competition:
There are ten ARRL-sponsored contests that are designated as Affiliated Club Competitions (ACC) for ARRL and RAC affiliated clubs:
- RTTY Roundup
- January VHF Contest
- International DX Contest
- International Digital Contest
- June VHF Contest
- 222 MHz and Up Distance Contest
- September VHF Contest
- November Sweepstakes
- 160-Meter Contest
- 10-Meter Contest
For full club competition rules, please see the link below:
Additional Information
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Cabrillo Templates for the New SO3B and SOFM categories
The 2013 January VHF Contest is the first ARRL VHF contest to feature two new categories: Single Operator, 3 Band and Single Operator, FM Only. Here are examples of Cabrillo log headers to enter the new categories.
If you are going to copy/paste these templates into your own Cabrillo log, please be sure to substitute your own station info!
Single Operator, 3-Band:
START-OF-LOG: 3.0
CONTEST: ARRL-VHF-JAN
CALLSIGN: W1AW
LOCATION: CT
OPERATORS: W1AW
CATEGORY-ASSISTED: NON-ASSISTED
CATEGORY-BAND: VHF-3-BAND
CATEGORY-MODE: MIXED
CATEGORY-OPERATOR: SINGLE-OP
CATEGORY-POWER: LOW
CATEGORY-STATION: FIXED
CATEGORY-TRANSMITTER: ONE
CLAIMED-SCORE:
CLUB:
SOAPBOX:
SOAPBOX:
NAME: W1AW
ADDRESS: 225 Main St
ADDRESS: Newington, CT 06111
QSO: 50 PH 2013-01-20 1900 W1AW FN31 WD5USA EM04
QSO: 144 PH 2013-01-20 1922 W1AW FN31 WD5USA EM04
QSO: 432 PH 2013-01-20 1924 W1AW FN31 WD5USA EM04
QSO: 144 PH 2013-01-20 2220 W1AW FN31 AF5Q/R EM14
QSO: 144 PH 2013-01-20 0043 W1AW FN31 AF5Q/R EM04
QSO: 432 PH 2013-01-20 0043 W1AW FN31 AF5Q/R EM04
QSO: 50 PH 2013-01-20 0359 W1AW FN31 AF5Q/R EM04
END-OF-LOG:Single Operator, FM Only:
START-OF-LOG: 3.0
CONTEST: ARRL-VHF-JAN
CALLSIGN: W1AW
LOCATION: CT
OPERATORS: W1AW
CATEGORY-ASSISTED: NON-ASSISTED
CATEGORY-BAND: VHF-FM-ONLY
CATEGORY-MODE: FM
CATEGORY-OPERATOR: SINGLE-OP
CATEGORY-POWER: LOW
CATEGORY-STATION: FIXED
CATEGORY-TRANSMITTER: ONE
CLAIMED-SCORE:
CLUB:
SOAPBOX:
SOAPBOX:
NAME: W1AW
ADDRESS: 225 Main St
ADDRESS: Newington, CT 06111
QSO: 50 FM 2013-01-20 1900 W1AW FN31 WD5USA EM04
QSO: 144 FM 2013-01-20 1922 W1AW FN31 WD5USA EM04
QSO: 432 FM 2013-01-20 1924 W1AW FN31 WD5USA EM04
QSO: 144 FM 2013-01-20 2220 W1AW FN31 AF5Q/R EM14
QSO: 144 FM 2013-01-20 0043 W1AW FN31 AF5Q/R EM04
QSO: 432 FM 2013-01-20 0043 W1AW FN31 AF5Q/R EM04
QSO: 50 FM 2013-01-20 0359 W1AW FN31 AF5Q/R EM04
END-OF-LOG: -
Tell us how you did! Send us feedback and photos! Tell us what fun you had, and how you did, what challenges you faced, via our contest Soapbox page.
Send us your photos! Please, send us your high-resolution photos – especially youth! Kids (and us adults wanting to regain our youth!) We love to see activity photos – Kids and adults having fun, operating, setting up antennas! For higher resolution, please send your photos as 500kb to 3mb in size. ARRL is always looking for youth activity photos for Write-Ups, Strays and Upfront in QST!
Please be sure to send a Photo Release for each person shown when submitting youth photos - found at www.arrl.org/photo-video-release-form.
