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    GR2HQ Challenge

    GR2HQ Challenge

    The “GR2HQ Challenge” is an Award Programme, organised by the RSGB Contest Committee, encouraging all stations to work the UK's Headquarter station GR2HQ during the “IARU HF Championship” contest, which runs from 12:00 UTC Saturday 12 July to 12:00 UTC Sunday 13 July 2025.

    Stations that wish to enter the GR2HQ Challenge do not need to upload a log file. Instead, stations must simply register on the RSGBCC website, up to five days after the contest has finished, that is by 23:59UTC on Friday 18 July 2025.

    The GR2HQ Challenge is open to Single-op and Multi-op stations.

    Each station entering the GR2HQ Challenge scores points for working GR2HQ on each of the twelve Band-Mode combinations, 160m-80m-40m-20m-15m-10m, CW or SSB, according to the points allocation table below.

    Certificates of Achievement will be available for all stations, and those stations achieving high scores will receive Certificates of Merit.

    In addition, Clubs and other teams are invited to enter the “Teams Competition”, with their score being the total of the individual scores of all their team members.

    Individual stations may identify their club or team name when registering on the RSGBCC website.


    IARU HF World Championship

    The IARU HF World Championship contest is organised by the ARRL, with single-op and multi-op stations from across the globe working each other for points and multipliers, and exchanging their ITU zone numbers.

    RSGB encourages individual stations to enter the IARU HF World Championship, with those entrants sending their own log-entry to ARRL for adjudication.

    It is not necessary to enter the IARU Championship if you only wish to enter the GR2HQ Challenge. See Section 6 (below) for details on how to register an entry.

    A unique element of this contest is that national organisations (such as the RSGB) activate “Headquarters Stations” representing their countries, competing against each other in a mini-league of HQ Stations.

    In the UK, the RSGB contest committee organises the HQ station, actually a network of about a dozen or so stations around the UK and islands, all using the call sign GR2HQ.

    Each of the GR2HQ stations in this network is allocated one or more of the twelve Band-Mode combinations, 160m-80m-40m-20m-15m-10m, CW or SSB, throughout the 24hrs of the IARU HF World Championship.

    Note, the 160m SSB and CW stations will only be QRV during the hours of darkness.

    1. Objective The “GR2HQ Challenge” is an Award Programme, organised by the RSGB HF Contest Committee, to recognise stations for  working the UK's Headquarter station GR2HQ during the “IARU HF Championship” contest.

    We hope this award programme will encourage you to make QSOs with GR2HQ which will benefit the UK's HQ entry in the “IARU HF Championship”.

    2. Date & Time 12:00 UTC Saturday 12th July to 12:00 UTC Sunday 13th July 2025

    3. Frequency, Mode, Exchange

    Frequency: 1.8, 3.5, 7, 14, 21 and 28 MHz

    Mode: CW and SSB

    Exchange: RS(T) + ITU Zone Number

    The Full rules of the IARU HF Championship are available on the ARRL Contest website.
    [ URL : https://contests.arrl.org/ContestRules/IARU-HF-Rules.pdf ]


    4. Entrants and Sections
    a)
    Entrants are individual stations where a single call sign has been used in the IARU HF Championship contest. They may be a Single or Multi-operator entry.
    b)
    Operators do not have to be members of the RSGB.
    c)
    Clubs/Teams may be RSGB Affiliated Societies or may be other non-affiliated groups.

    In the case of non-affiliated groups please be sure to agree a unique name among your members; to ensure this, we ask that you include the call sign of your group’s coordinator in the name. (“Friends of G4FAL”, or whatever.)
    d)
    There is no limit to the number of individual stations who can participate on behalf of a Club/Team.

    5. Scoring

    Scoring will be 1 or 2 points per Band-Mode-slot as shown in the table below, with a maximum of 20 points available.

    GR2HQ Challenge - Points Allocation

    160m
    80m
    40m
    20m
    15m
    10m
    SSB
    2
    1
    1
    2
    2
    2
    CW
    2
    1
    1
    2
    2
    2

    If a Club name or Team name is included when uploading the log, the score from your entry will also be added to the aggregate score for that Club or Team.



    6. Registering an entry
    for the GR2HQ Challenge

    Opptional Log Submission
    to ARRL
    (a)
    In the GR2HQ Challenge, entrants do not upload their logs.

    An entrant's score will be calculated by the adjudicator who will automatically search the GR2HQ log for all QSOs made by GR2HQ with the entrant.

    (b)
    To enter the GR2HQ Challenge, all entrants must register their entry on the RSGBCC website.
    https://www.rsgbcc.org/gr2hq.lnk

    Registering must be completed before 23:59 on Friday 18th July 2025.
    When registering your entry, entrants may also nominate a club or team, so that the score from your entry will also be added to the aggregate score for that club or team.

    You can check your registration here
    (c)
    You may choose to submit a log to the ARRL as an entry for the IARU HF Championship

    Details of log submission are included in the ARRL Rules.
    [ URL : https://contests.arrl.org/ContestRules/IARU-HF-Rules.pdf ]

    ARRL will adjudicate this contest.


    7. Results and Awards Results for the GR2HQ Challenge will be displayed on the RSGB Contest website a few weeks after the contest:

    •    a table of Individual stations and their Awards
    •    a second table listing the aggregated scores of Clubs and Teams.


    Certificates of Achievement will be available for all stations.

    Those stations achieving high scores will receive Certificates of Merit.

    GR2HQ Challenge - Merit Levels

    6-8 pts
    9-10 pts
    11-12 pts
    13-16 pts
    17-20  pts
    SSB + CW
    ---
    BRONZE
    SILVER
    GOLD
    PLATINUM
    SSB only
    CHROME
    BRONZE
    ---
    ---
    ---
    CW only
    CHROME
    BRONZE
    ---
    ---
    ---


    8. Declaration By entering this contest you declare that:

    (a) Your station was operated strictly in accordance with the rules and spirit of the contest, within the conditions of your licence, and that the power output from your transmitter was no greater than that permitted in the Section of the contest that you are entering.

    (b) By registering an entry, entrants give the RSGB permission to publish, republish, print, and otherwise distribute that entry by any means.

    9. RSGB Administrator

     Graham G0NBI

    Updated 4th June 2025