RSGB Contest Results Commonwealth Contest 2026   
v4.182.1 by G4CLA

The 88th Commonwealth Contest in 2025 was run under new management with responsibility being no longer solely that of the RSGB but now including representatives from the national societies of Australia (WIA), Canada (RAC), India (ARSI) and New Zealand (NZART). For the 2026 and the 89th Commonwealth Contest we now have the support of the national society of South Africa, SARL. As a reminder, the overall management from the supporting societies is known as the 'Evans Committee' to honour Trevor Evans VK2NS who was the first winner of the contest in 1931. There were two changes to the rules for this year's contest as agreed by the Evans Committee, these were allowing self-spotting for Assisted entries and allowing remote stations to submit their log to any of the categories appropriate to their entry details.

After a bumper total of entries last year, there was a disappointing reduction in entries for this year, down by around 25%. This was no doubt partly due to the very poor band conditions experienced around the world. Despite the reduced entries, there were patches of brightness resulting from promotion by the Evans Committee, particularly the very welcome additional entries this year from VU. Although the solar flux was still high the sun wasn't playing ball with high A and K indices, auroral flutter and ESP needed to copy some reports. Despite all that, the overall error rate for the CC is still consistently low reflecting the high standard of operating throughout the Commonwealth. The following call areas were active but did not submit logs: 8Q, 9J, 9Y, C6, VE4, VK7, ZD9 and ZS6. As always there is a wealth of information, station details and stories from participants on the CC website. See also this link on the RSGB website: RSGB

There were seventeen HQ stations taking part this year, five from the UK, five from Australia, five from Canada (although one did not submit a log), one from New Zealand and one from India. It was great to have an HQ station again from India, the last time being in 2017. There was a close finish in 2025 for the top spot with VA3RAC just ahead of G6XX. In first place this year the honours are reversed with G6XX, operated this time by Graham G4FNL, ahead of VA3RAC in the hands of Dave VE3KG. The final top three position is GM6XX with GM3WOJ on the key. Last year there was no HQ station from VK4 due to a local cyclone, this year VK4WIA was back and managed a creditable fifth place, just ahead of GB5CC operated by RSGB President Bob GU4YOX. A big thank you to all the HQ stations for providing valuable bonus points, for many on all five bands.

The following table is a list of all the awards and trophies for this year. In some cases, an entrant has qualified for more than one trophy or award, for example a trophy on behalf of the 'Evans Committee' and a local award from their National Society. The award box in the results table shows a 'trophy' symbol where the entrant has received an Evans Committee award and a 'rosette' symbol for a local award. Where an entrant has qualified for both awards, only the Evans Committee citation is tabulated. Note that where 'UK' is mentioned, this means the UK Crown Dependencies of Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man are included, this saves space on the certificates. Note also that not all awards available have been allocated as there were no qualifying entrants, an opportunity for next year!

EVANS COMMITTEE AWARDS:

Winner HP - Single Op Unassisted 12-hour (VP8GQ Trophy): VE3JM

Winner HP - Single Op Unassisted 24-hour (Senior Rose Bowl): ZF2CA (G4CWH)

Winner HP - Single Op Assisted 12-hour: P3X (5B4AMM)

Winner HP - Single Op Assisted 24-hour (Rosebery Shield): 5Z4VJ

Winner LP - Single Op Unassisted 12-hour: VP9I (N2KW)

Winner LP - Single Op Unassisted 24-hour (Junior Rose Bowl): J38YI (G3VYI)

Winner LP - Single Op Assisted 12-hour: VO1HP

Winner LP - Single Op Assisted 24-hour: G3RLE

Winning HQ Station: G6XX (G4FNL)

Winner 5W (Lilliput Cup): G4ARI

Leading self-sufficient traveller (Commonwealth Traveller Award): 5X1DF (G3XTT)

LOCAL AWARDS FOR THE UK ENTRANTS (RSGB):

Leading UK HP - Single Op Unassisted 12-hour (Ross Carey Rose Bowl): GM4YXI

Leading UK HP - Single Op Unassisted 24-hour (Colonel Thomas Rose Bowl): M5DX (G4FAL)

Leading UK HP - Single Op Assisted 12-hour: M0DHO

Leading UK HP - Single Op Assisted 24-hour: G4A (G4TSH)

Leading UK LP - Single Op Unassisted 12-hour, using single element aerials only: G3LET

Leading UK LP - Single Op Unassisted 24-hour, using single element aerials only (John Dunnington G3LZQ Trophy): G4CZB

Leading UK LP - Single Op Assisted 12-hour: MM2N (MM0GPZ)

Leading UK LP - Single Op Assisted 24-hour: G3RLE

Leading UK 5W: G4ARI

LOCAL AWARDS FOR NEW ZEALAND (all ZL/ZM prefixes) ENTRANTS (NZART):

Leading ZL HP - Single Op Unassisted 12-hour: ZM1A (ZL3CW)

Leading ZL HP - Single Op Unassisted 24-hour: ZL2AGY

Leading ZL HP - Single Op Assisted 12-hour: ZL1T (ZL1ANH)

Leading ZL HP - Single Op Assisted 24-hour: ZL4TT

Leading ZL LP - Single Op Unassisted 12-hour: ZL3VZ

Leading ZL LP - Single Op Assisted 12-hour: ZL1TM

LOCAL AWARDS FOR AUSTRALIA (all VK, VJ, VL prefixes) ENTRANTS (WIA):

Leading VK HP - Single Op Unassisted 12-hour: VL6T (VK6VZ)

Leading VK HP - Single Op Unassisted 24 hour: VK6T (VK6LW)

Leading VK HP - Single Op Assisted 12-hour: VK2GR

Leading VK HP - Single Op Assisted 24-hour: VK6DW

Leading VK LP - Single Op Unassisted 12-hour: VL2Y (VK2EZF)

Leading VK LP - Single Op Unassisted 24-hour: VK3MI

Leading VK LP - Single Op Assisted 24-hour: VK2COS

Leading VK 5W: VK4DRK

LOCAL AWARDS FOR CANADIAN ENTRANTS (RAC):

Leading Canadian HP - Single Op Unassisted 12-hour: VE3JM

Leading Canadian HP - Single Op Unassisted 24-hour: CF3A (VE3AT)

Leading Canadian HP - Single Op Assisted 12-hour: VE3EJ

Leading Canadian HP - Single Op Assisted 24-hour: VO2AC

Leading Canadian LP - Single Op Unassisted 12-hour: VE3KI

Leading Canadian LP - Single Op Unassisted 24-hour: VE3BR

Leading Canadian LP - Single Op Assisted 12-hour: VO1HP

Leading Canadian LP - Single Op Assisted 24-hour: VE3MGY

Leading Canadian 5W: VE3DN

LOCAL AWARDS FOR INDIAN ENTRANTS (ARSI):

Leading Indian HP - Single Op Unassisted 12-hour: VU2TT

Leading Indian HP - Single Op Assisted 24-hour: VU2TMP

Leading Indian LP - Single Op Unassisted 12-hour: VU2JOS

Leading Indian LP - Single Op Assisted 12-hour: VU2TUM

LOCAL AWARDS FOR ITU REGION 1 OUTSIDE UK:

Leading Region 1 HP - Single Op Unassisted 12-hour: ZD7BG

Leading Region 1 HP - Single Op Assisted 12-hour: V51YJ

Leading Region 1 HP - Single Op Assisted 24-hour: ZS1C

Leading Region 1 LP - Single Op Unassisted 12-hour: 9H1CG

Leading Region 1 5W: ZS2M

LOCAL AWARDS FOR ITU REGION 2 OUTSIDE CANADA (RAC):

Leading Region 2 HP - Single Op Unassisted 12-hour: VP5T (KB3MMW)

Leading Region 2 LP - Single Op Unassisted 12-hour: VP9I (N2KW)

LOCAL AWARDS FOR ITU REGION 3 OUTSIDE AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND:

Leading Region 3 HP - Single Op Assisted 24-hour: 5W1SA

Leading Region 3 LP - Single Op Unassisted 24-hour: 3D2AG

The Commonwealth Contest requires a unique knowledge of propagation and perseverance to achieve a good result so congratulations to all Trophy and Certificate winners.

Bob Whelan G3PJT was very much in our thoughts this year. His endeavours in researching and publishing the history of the contest, and promoting participation throughout the Commonwealth, have contributed hugely to making the contest what it is today. His recent loss has been very sad to those of us that had the pleasure of knowing him.

Next year will be the 90th year for this contest and we will be looking to mark the occasion appropriately. Please put Saturday 13th March 2027 to Sunday 14th March 2027 in your diary and join with us in the celebrations.

John G4CZB obo The Evans Committee



This contest is part of the following contest series HF Championship 




1 / 21
G3XYF
2 / 21
G3BJ
One of the less sparkling BERU events I can remember. Poor solar conditions meant many signals were close to ESP and resulted in poor DX propagation on all but ....
3 / 21
VK3MI
Portable operation from Mt Dandenong Ranges near Melbourne
4 / 21
VU2TUM
5 / 21
G6XX
Conditions were awful at the start and slightly improved throughout the contest. Thanks to everyone for the QSO. I admire your perseverance and endurance. My s....
6 / 21
VE9EX
It was a pleasure participating. Most of the QSOs were with Bill, VE9OA, as the operator.
7 / 21
VO1NA
Delighted to have convinced myself to partake. 100W 10m tower with snow-covered ASTU at base.
8 / 21
ZF2CA
9 / 21
G0TSM
Just a part time entry dipping in and out but conditions seemed very poor with even VE big guns barely copied whereas they would be 9+ on 20M. I have a noise is....
10 / 21
J38YI
Poor conditions at first,improving later.The dipole nearly fell out of the palm tree, but all worked ok, thanks for all the retries on my sigs..most enjoyable c....
11 / 21
VA3RAC
Let's pause to remember the late Bob Whelan G3PJT. Bob worked very hard to promote the Commonwealth Contest. We will do our best to keep it growing. The t....
12 / 21
ZS2M
Wind destroyed antenna after 1 hor and lighting killed laptop so had to start again with efhw
13 / 21
ZL3VZ
Was expecting bad conditions due to solar storm and aurora reports but in practice it didn't seem to be too bad except for a little auroral flutter on occas....
14 / 21
MM1E
Very poor conditions but nice to work VK ZL and Western VE. Thanks to the AF stations active too, especially the travellers.
15 / 21
VU2TT
16 / 21
M5DX
Tricky conditions this year without any VK, ZL or VE QSOs on 10m and few on 15m. My QSO count in almost every hour was lower than two years ago. Nonetheless the....
17 / 21
VU27MJ
18 / 21
VP5T
Home call: KB3MMW. Local personal call: VP5/KB3MMW
19 / 21
VY0ERC
When I started, I wasn't sure I was going to be able to make 1 viable qso, but I ended with 41 that have a chance. Very difficult to work from this far nort....
20 / 21
G4BUO
Tough conditions and I had to have an enforced break for 2 hours on Saturday afternoon which impacted my score. But 'Beru' is always fun and good to wor....
21 / 21
G3LET
Log entered post contest as laptop produced too much QRN.
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