The Christmas Contests are the last ones of the year. They offer a chance for stations to win just a band or to compete for the overall win, and there are many other opportunities to win certificates. For the last time these contests are mult contests rather than bonus contests. The 2026 edition will be scored under B8 - 200 point bonus for each different DXCC countries and large QTH locator squares (e.g. JO01,IO91 etc.) worked on each band.

The tropo gods had dealt some excellent conditions on 27/28 December, and there was still some enhancement by 29 December. This gave some stations some good DX and extra mults.

Stations mainly reported an enjoyable sets of contests though activity could have been better on all bands. The award for the strangest experience goes to M0DAL in IO94 who reports that he was 'Visited by police to check I wasn't spying on our local "secret" spy base!'

Congratulations to all certificate winners.

Stephen Purser GW4SHF