A new contest to promote activity between stations in the UK and in Ireland (UK/EI) and the rest of the world will debut with an SSB event in December and a CW event in January. The SSB weekend will be December 5-6, and the CW weekend will be January 23-24. Both events get under way at 1200 on Saturday and end 24 hours later. The United Kingdom and Ireland Contest Club (UKEICC) is sponsoring the new contest.

“All UK and EI contesters, including those with modest stations and antennas, will experience the fun of being a multiplier in a worldwide contest,” the announcement said. While the eventual goal is to have UK/EI stations work the rest of the world, all entrants may work all other entrants for points and multipliers.

“For the first year or two we have to take into account that UK/EI participation may take time to build up and that there are long periods when DX stations cannot work UK/EI stations, because there is no propagation,” the announcement pointed out. “Accordingly, we are initially allowing DX-to-DX contacts, which will make the contest more interesting for DX stations.”

The number of points per contact depends upon location. For example, contacts between UK/EI stations and other stations in UK/EI or in Europe will count for 2 points. Contacts between UK/EK stations to stations located outside Europe will be worth 4 points. There are 2 types of multipliers: DXCC entities and UK/EI district codes. Stations will exchange signal report and serial number, plus a two-letter district code for UK/EI participants.

In another twist, to encourage UK/EI multipliers to remain available overnight, all contacts made by UK/EI participants between 0100 and 0459 UTC will count for twice their point value, in addition to any other bonus points.

The contest will make use of 80, 40, 20, 15, and 10 meters. Entry classes include Single Operator, both unassisted and assisted, with the option to enter a single-element antenna category. UK/EI stations may choose to operate as Multioperator, Single Transmitter, intended for club members taking shifts at a single transmitter. Power categories will include high, low, and QRP.

Contest adjudication will be automated, and log files must be submitted within 2 hours of the end of the contest. Several popular logging programs, including N1MM Logger+, support this event.

Full information is on the UK/EI DX Contest web page.