Congratulations to all the winners
in the 2025 Oceania DX Contest
and thanks to everyone who participated to
help make it another memorable Oceania DX party!

Congratulations to all the winners in the 2025 Oceania DX (OCDX) Contest and thanks to everyone who participated to make it another fun OCDX party!

Despite the solar flux levels being reasonable many entrants found the conditions challenging due to unsettled geomagnetic conditions (the Ap index reached 20 and 29 over the Phone and CW weekends respectively) which resulted in increased band noise and absorption, especially for stations at higher latitudes.

The following excerpts from some of the soapbox comments tells the story.

For the Phone weekend:

• “Excellent contest as usual with excellent conditions – 10M & 15M were great on Saturday plus the other bands were good. But terrible conditions on Sunday across all bands” – Lee VK2LEE
• “The contest started off really well with 200 plus contacts in the first 2 hrs and almost 300 after 4 hrs. However conditions deteriorated after that. The high A index prevented decent QSOs rates and numbers from southern latitudes (VK3) and hence 10M and 15M QSOs are well down on the previous year – resulting in a third less QSOs and half the score. For many hours on Sunday there were no signals on 10M 15M or 20M. Just dead bands.” – Tony VL3E
• “Conditions were absolutely terrible! Tell me a time when you struggle for a QSO with JA on 10M” – Arie VK3ZL
• “Band conditions dreadful. Lots of local QRM from holiday home solar panels and on top of massive static crashes on 20M. It was a struggle.” – Maurice ZL1Y
• “Conditions were terrible which took the shine off the contest. However still enjoyed it.” – Bill ZL3VZ
• “Conditions were brutal here. Last 2 hours were my best.” – Dave KA6BIM
• “Very good propagation conditions – even on 10M band” – Jiri OK7N

And for the CW weekend:

• “Enjoyable contest as usual. Effects of the ionospheric depression on Sunday morning (just after the 40M EU SP closed) meant the 10M NA SP didn’t occur from my part of VK. Although 10M opened sporadically to AS during the day the EU SP opening in the afternoon didn’t eventuate either.” – Mike VK2IG
• “Due to a bicycle accident where I broke my ribs I was unable to operate until late on Sunday for a little while to hand out some numbers.” – Tony VL3E [Tony – that shows commitment, you deserve a  special award!]
• “Conditions disappointing – especially on the low bands but an enjoyable contest for all that.” – Bill ZL3VZ
• “Excellent conditions first few hours – great 10M opening to Europe around 0900UTC but later conditions not overly inspiring.” – Tony ZL2AGY
• “This year I was not able to hear a single beep from VK or ZL on 80M. Fortunately managed to work YB2IQ but that was hard work. Strong Nordic aurora cut the propagation completely.” – Kari OH3GD
• “Conditions could not have been worse – surprised I got so many QSOs!” – Jim LA6F
• “Only 20 QSOs due to poor free time. Beginning the day with ZL7IO on 40M is great but finishing with ZL7IO on 80M is fantastic!” – Phil F5PHW

Denys UR5WAW (at station UR5W) also deserves a special mention as he’s only 13 years of age and successfully made a CW QRP 10M QSO with VJ3A. Congratulations Denys and welcome to the contest – we look forward to seeing your call in many future contests!

Refer to the 2025 OCDX contest charts for a detailed analysis of the activity in the 2025 contest and longer-term trends.

As expected at this while we are still near the peak of the solar cycle, most of the action was on the 20M, 15M and 10M bands. Like 2024, the numbers of QSOs on the 160M, 80M and 40M bands were some of the lowest we’ve seen since 2021. All of the cross checked 160M QSOs were between Oceania stations – there were no 160M intercontinental QSOs.

Logs Received

We received a total of 1,623 logs consisting of:

• 934 Phone logs and
• 689 CW logs.

Compared to 2024 the number of Phone logs decreased by 118 and number of CW logs increased by 69 – to make a net overall decrease of 49 logs. These changes would seem to be mainly attributable to the variation in propagation conditions for the 2024 and 2025 contests.

It was pleasing to see an upward turnaround in the number of Oceania logs. This was driven by a notable increase in the number of logs from Indonesia but also offset by a reduction in the number of logs from New Zealand in both the Phone and CW sections, and from Australia in the Phone section. The number of entries from Hawaii was also down this year – only 2 logs for the Phone section and 1 log for CW.

We will focus on promoting more participation from New Zealand, Australia and Hawaii stations in the 2026 contest.

There was also activity from rarer Oceania DX entities including Brunei Darussalam, Chatham Islands, East Malaysia, Fiji, Mariana Islands, East Kiribati and Palau. We appreciate the efforts of the operators who activated these locations as they are important for attracting interest in the contest.

Outside Oceania, the continent with the most entries in both the Phone and CW sections was Europe. The country with the most entries in the Phone section was Japan, followed by the United States, Italy and then Poland. In the CW section, the country with the most entries was European Russia, followed by Japan, the United States and then Germany.

2025 CERTIFICATES

Certificates are awarded to the top scoring station in each category for each continent and country. Additionally, each station that took part in the contest and made one or more valid QSOs, is awarded a participation certificate showing the number of valid QSOs made. The certificates are available online for downloading and printing from the Certificates page.

2025 LOG CHECKING REPORTS

A log checking report is produced for each entry in the contest (except SWL entries). This report provides details about the calculation of the final score including identifying any QSOs that are duplicates (no penalty), calls that are copied incorrectly, exchanges that are copied incorrectly, QSOs that are not in the other log, and calls that are unique and not in other logs (no penalty).

Entrants can obtain their reports from the OceaniaDX log checking reports page. Any entrant can enter their call-sign on this page to have a copy of the relevant report sent to the email address used to submit their log. Anyone having difficulty downloading the report (e.g. due to a change in their email address) should contact the contest committee at info@Oceaniadxcontest.com .

LINE SCORES, WINNERS, AND NEW RECORDS

The detailed line scores for each of the entrants in the 2025 contest, including soapbox comments and information about the equipment and antennas used, are presented here:

• Phone line scores (Click here)
• CW line scores (Click here)

There were many fine efforts and scores achieved in the 2025 contest. Summaries of all the winning entries, and those which also set new records, are presented here:

• 2025 Oceania DX Phone winners and new records (Click here)
• 2025 Oceania DX CW winners and new records (Click Here)

Dave KA6BIM and Victor N8OO are longstanding and keen competitors in the North America SO ALL HP category – in both the Phone and CW sections. Victor N8OO has the honour of winning this category for both the Phone and CW sections in 2025 – congratulations Victor!

The following entrants also deserve special mention for their outstanding achievement in setting new world (outside Oceania) records and continent records in the 2025 contest:

New Phone Records

7 new records were set in the Phone contest! Congratulations go to the following:

JA2MWV	Phone Single Op 10M Band QRP	World record
RG5A	Phone Single Op 10M Band Low Power	Europe Record
TI1M	Phone Single Op 20M Band Low Power	North America record
WA7LNW	Phone Single Op 10M Band QRP	North America record
YB2NDX	Phone Single Op 10M Band QRP	Oceania record
CX6TU	Phone Single Op All Band Low Power	South America record
LU3WC	Phone Single Op 20M Band High Power	South America record

New CW records

9 new records were set in the CW contest! Congratulations go to the following:

ZS1C	CW Single Op All Band High Power	Africa record
RG5A	CW Single Op All Band Low Power	Europe record
UR2Y	CW Single Op 20M Band QRP	Europe record
N6RO	CW Multi-Multi	World record

W4JKC	CW Single Op 20m Band High Power	North America record
AZ6H	CW Single Op 20M Band Low Power	South America record
LU3WC	CW Single Op 20M Band High Power	South America record
PY2KJ	CW Single Op 10M Band High Power	South America record
PY2WB	CW Single Op 10M Band Low Power	South America record

Historical Records

The history of all the Oceania DX contest scores and records since 2001 can be searched here:

• Oceania DX Phone searchable scores and records (Click Here)
• Oceania DX CW searchable scores and records (Click Here)

2025 PLAQUES AND TROPHIES

Congratulations to all the winners of the plaques and trophies in the 2025 contest. The winners of the plaques are listed (here).

Australia Club Plaque

The Australia Club plaque is awarded to the local club from Australia with the greatest number of member stations making at least 50 valid QSOs in the Phone or CW sections in the contest. The Geelong Amateur Radio Club has again won this plaque with 19 eligible entries from VK3ACR (PH), VK3AIK (PH), VK3AN (PH), VK3BCL (PH), VK3C (CW+PH), VK3DL (CW+PH), VK3JCC (PH), VK3NX (CW+PH) VK3PK (PH), VK3PY (PH), VK3SM (PH), VK3TU (CW+PH) VK3WK (CW+PH) and VK3YGO (PH). The Eastern Mountain and District Radio Club (EMDRC) is runner up with 4 eligible entries from VK3MI (CW), VK3QI (CW+PH) and VL3E (CW).

New Zealand Club Competition Plaque

 

The New Zealand Club Competition plaque is awarded to the local New Zealand NZART Branch, DX club, or contest group with the greatest number of members making at least 50 valid QSOs as a single operator in the Phone or CW sections of the contest. No club had enough eligible entries in 2025 to be considered for this award.

North America Club Plaque

 

The North America Club plaque is awarded to the club from North America with the greatest number of member stations (within a 400 km radius) making at least 25 valid QSOs in the Phone or CW sections in the contest. The Willamette Valley DX Club is the 2025 winner of this plaque with 3 eligible entries from KA6BIM (CW+PH) and KN7K (CW). No other clubs had enough eligible entries in 2025 to be considered for this award.

Newcomer Plaques

The Newcomer plaques are awarded to the highest scoring new entrants from Oceania in the Phone and CW sections. The rules define a newcomer as an entrant who has not previously entered the relevant section (in any category) more than twice since the 2001 contest. Eligibility is limited to entrants who have not won any other plaques or trophies in the same section (either in a previous year or the current year).

Congratulations to Rasulan Ali Sanggar YB7ONC for winning the Phone newcomer plaque and Antoine N’Yeurt 3D2AG for winning the CW newcomer plaque.

YL Plaques

Three plaques are offered to recognise the achievements of high scoring YL “young lady” entrants – the Florence McKenzie (Mrs Mac) plaque for the YL Single Operator entrant from Oceania with the highest combined Phone and CW score, the Austine Henry plaque for the YL Single Operator entrant from outside Oceania (i.e. rest of the world) with the highest combined Phone and CW score, and a plaque for the highest scoring YL Single Operator Phone entrant from Australia.

Congratulations to Yang BU2BE for winning the Austine Henry plaque, E. Sri Wahyuni  YB9ELS for again winning the Florence McKenzie (Mrs Mac) plaque, and Catherine Hammond VK7C for again winning the Australia YL Phone plaque.

Youth Plaques

The following youth plaques are offered to encourage participation from younger entrants (no older than 25 years age). This year we received 4 youth entries from Oceania and 4 youth entries from the rest of the world.

• The World Youth Phone plaque is awarded to the highest scoring youth entrant from outside Oceania in any of the Phone Single Operator categories. Yaohui Xie BI1TMQ is the 2025 winner of this plaque

• The North America Phone Youth Single-Operator plaque is awarded to the highest scoring youth entrant from North America in any of the Phone Single Operator categories. There was no eligible entry for this plaque in 2025.
• The Australia Youth Phone plaque is awarded to the highest scoring youth entrant from Australia in any of the Phone Single Operator categories. There was no eligible entry for this plaque in 2025.
• The Oceania Phone Youth Multi-Operator plaque is awarded to the highest scoring youth team (all operators no older than 25 years age at the start of the contest) in the Oceania CW M1, M2 or MM categories. This year we are pleased to award this plaque to the VJ4K team, comprising VK1AAK VK3JFR VK4AHA VK4KDF VK4MCW and VK4OTZ!
• The Oceania CW Youth Multi-Operator plaque is awarded to the highest scoring youth team (all operators no older than 25 years age at the start of the contest) in the Oceania Phone M1, M2 or MM categories. There were no eligible entries for this plaque in 2025.

We need to encourage more youth entrants in 2026 to win the plaques above that were unable to be awarded for 2025.

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Continental Plaques – Oceania

We are very pleased to award the following operators plaques for their wins in the continental division for Oceania.

VL4D – Winner Oceania Phone Single-Op ALL Band (Ron Wills ZL2TT Memorial Award)

VK4A – Winner Oceania Phone Multi Op Single Tx (Neil Penfold VK6NE Memorial Award)

VK4KW – Winner Oceania Phone Multi-Op 2 Transmitters

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VL5X Winner Oceania Phone Multi Operator Multi Transmitter 

It was great to see the AREG Contest crew in Adelaide return this year after several years absence. AREG assembled a 4 Transmitter portable station on Willunga Hill for the event. They had a close battle with the T32AZ team this year in very tough conditions but held out in the end. The team comprised VK5AKH, VK5CIA, VK5EDY, VK5FR, VK5GLD, VK5GR, VK5IR, VK5KT, VK5MN, VK5QI, VK5XDX, VK5ZM and VK5ZQV with construction and hosting help from VK5SFA and VK5ABG.

VL5X – Amateur Radio Experimenters Group – MULTI-MULTI Oceania Win 2025

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VL4D – Winner Oceania CW Single-Op ALL Band High Power

ZL7IO – Winner Oceania CW Single-Op All Band Low Power

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YD1FRU Winner – Oceania CW Single-Op 15M (Ken Jewell VK3AKK Memorial Award)

Regional Plaques – Indonesia

As always the regional plaques within Oceania are hotly contested. We are pleased to be able to award the following Indonesian plaques:

YD1SHY – Winner – INDONESIA General Licence Phone Single-Op Low Power

Regional Plaques – Oceania: South East Asia Phone Plaque

One of the unique plaques in this competition is the special award for stations entering from one of Indonesia, Philippines, East Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam, or East Timor in any of the Phone Single Operator categories (any power), sponsored by Karsono Suyanto YB0NDT. This year we are pleased to announce  that the winner this year is YC8BUL

New for this year is a parallel award now for CW operators as well. Congratulations to DU2W for winning the South East Asia CW Single Op Low Power Plaque for 2025.

Oceania Plaques – Australia & New Zealand

As always the Australian and New Zealand contingent are very active in this contest. The following are the winners of the various sections open to amateurs in these countries. Congratulations all!

Congratulations to Alan VK4M (VK4SN) who has taken the Runner Up AUSTRALIA CW Single-Op ALL Band (Frank Hine VK2QL Memorial Award) (Category winner was VL4D (Rule 12b)) and (Runner Up) AUSTRALIA Phone Single-Op ALL Band HIGH power – (Category winner was VL4D (Rule 12b))

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VK7ACE – Winner – AUSTRALIA Phone Single-Op ALL Band LOW Power

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ZL1XS – Winner NEW ZEALAND Phone Single-Op ALL Band HIGH Power Plaque

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ZL2AGY – Winner NEW ZEALAND CW Single-Op ALL Band HIGH Power Plaque

ZM3A – Winner NEW ZEALAND CW Single-Op ALL Band LOW Power Plaque

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Continental Plaques – Asia

The Asia continental plaques this year went to:

• 9M2M – ASIA Phone Multi-Two category
• RZ9L – ASIA CW Multi-Two category

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  JA7NVF –  ASIA Phone Single Op ALL Band category

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Congratulations also to JH4UTP for his win in the ASIA CW Single Op ALL Band category

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Continental Plaques – North America

For our North American participants, we are pleased to announce the following category plaque winners:

N8OO – Winner NORTH AMERICA Phone Single-Op ALL Band

N8OO – NORTH AMERICA CW Single-Op ALL Band 

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Continental Plaques – South America

Our South American plaques are new this year, thanks to Sponsorship by Karsono Suyanto YB0NDT. We are very pleased to award the following:

CB3A – Winner SOUTH AMERICA Phone Single-Op ALL Band High Power

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Continental Plaques – Europe

For our European participants, we are pleased to announce the following category plaque winners:

UZ7C – Winner EUROPE Phone Single-Op ALL Band 

LZ5R was this year’s Winner of the EUROPE CW Single-Op ALL Band section  (Mirek Rozbicki VK6DXI Memorial Award)

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Continental Plaques – Africa

Another new plaque for 2025 was our Africa Phone Single Op All Band category, sponsored by Karsono Suyanto YB0NDT. We are pleased to announce the following category plaque winners:

ZS2ABE – Winner AFRICA Phone Single-Op ALL Band 

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Rule 12b

Note that plaques are distributed in accordance with Rule 12b, i.e. if an entrant is eligible to receive multiple plaques in a hierarchy, they only receive the plaque for the highest level that they win. The plaque inscription will include the details of any lower-level plaque categories that they have won. The lower-level plaques are awarded to the runner-up entrants in those categories and the inscription on those plaques will state that they are being awarded to the runner-up.

Sponsorship

The ongoing sponsorship of plaques is important for maintaining and growing interest in the contest. New sponsorship offers are always welcome and anyone who is interested in becoming a sponsor should contact the Contest Committee. The cost of sponsoring a plaque is AUD 55.00 per annum to cover the expenses associated with the manufacture and delivery of each plaque.

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2026 CONTEST DATES

The 2026 Oceania DX contest will be held over the first two full weekends of October at the following dates and times:

• Phone Section:
  • 06:00 UTC Saturday 3 October to 06:00 UTC Sunday 4 October 2026
• CW Section:
  • 06:00 UTC Saturday 10 October to 06:00 UTC Sunday 11 October 2026

The 2026 Oceania DX Contest rules will be published on the Oceania DX Contest web site closer to the contest.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The successful running of the OCDX contest is a large team effort involving contributions from around the world. The log uploading, log checking and certificate production processes are now largely automated, but committee members and others still contribute many days of effort each year to manage these processes along with writing up and publishing of the annual results, administering the sponsorship and distribution of plaques, and promoting the contest.

The ongoing support of the following individuals and organisations is acknowledged and greatly appreciated:

• Ken K1EA for supplying and supporting our log checking software.
• Mike ZL1AXG for hosting the OCDX Contest domain name and email server.
• The Amateur Radio Experimenters Group (AREG) for hosting our web site.
• Bruce WA7BNM for providing and managing the web portal for the uploading of logs, delivering certificates and log checking reports, and the provision of his on-line web form for converting non-Cabrillo logs to Cabrillo format.
• All the plaque sponsors.

Finally, and most importantly, thank you again to everyone who took part in the 79th contest and made it such a success. We look forward to seeing you all again, along with more new entrants, in the 2025 pileups!

73 from

Oceania DX Contest Committee (Lee VK3GK, Phil VK4FH, Brian VK3MI/ZL1AZE, Tony VK3TZ, Diane VK4DI, Grant VK5GR, Karsono YB0NDT, Mike ZL1AXG, Holger ZL3IO)

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ABBREVIATIONS used in this report

The following abbreviations are used in the description of the entry categories for the Oceania DX results:

• 160M = 160M band
• 80M = 80M band
• 40M = 40M band
• 20M = 20M band
• 15M = 15M band
• 10M = 10M band
• ALL = all bands
• CK = check log
• Low Power = low power (total output power no more than 100 Watts)
• High Power = high power (total output power no more than 1500 Watts, or the maximum permitted output power for the station licence, whichever is less.)
• QRP = reduced power (total output power no more than 5W)
• M1 = multiple operators and single transmitter
• M2 = multiple operators and two transmitters
• MM = multiple operators and multiple transmitters
• MS = multi-single
• SO = single operator
• SWL = shortwave listener.

Note: the M1 and M2 categories replaced the MS category in 2010, the Low Power and High Power categories were introduced in 2010, and the QRP categories were introduced in 2014.