Results – 2018

Congratulations to all the winners in the 2018 Oceania DX (OCDX) Contest, and thank you to everyone who participated, even if only to make a few QSOs.

The 2018 contest was another tough one, with the solar flux down to around 70, some geomagnetic storm activity, and severe lightning QRN from storms over the Tasman Sea and northern Australia. None of the entrants had kind words to say about the conditions!

Nonetheless, there was still a good turn out with 1188 logs being submitted. This is less than the record haul of 1303 logs received in 2017 but similar to numbers submitted in 2015 and 2016. There was a further decline in the number of logs received from Europe, and this can be largely attributed to the difficulty in making contacts between Europe and Oceania in such difficult conditions. The good news is that the decline in European logs was at least partly offset by ongoing growth in the number of logs from Oceania stations, primarily from new Indonesian entrants.

40M was the band where most of the action occurred, as this band was least affected by the conditions while also offering a useful 5 points per QSO. The SO 40M LP category was one of the most popular entry categories with the number of entries increasing from 172 in 2017 to 243 in 2018. 20M was the next most active band. Not surprisingly, activity on the higher bands was subdued due to the poor solar conditions, although in the CW section there were still some reasonable openings on 15M and even some 10M CW QSOs were made with Asia and North America stations. Only 36 10M QSOs were logged by Oceania stations in the PHONE section, one of the lowest numbers ever recorded. On the other hand, compared to previous years, there was a significant uplift in the number of QSOs made on 160M and 80M in the PHONE section.

As well as the more common Oceania entities (such as KH6, VK, YB and ZL) the 2018 contest saw activity from many rarer Oceania entities such as 5W, 9M6, DU, E6, FK8, KH2, KH8, T88, V73, and V85. As always, this activity from rarer entities plays an important role in making the contest interesting and attractive to participants, especially for stations from outside Oceania. In particular we are grateful to the individuals and teams who traveled to activate rarer entities in the 2018 contest.

We apologize for the late publication of the 2018 results. We have made a number of substantial changes to the processes for the uploading, checking and reporting of the 2018 results and it took additional time to work through the ‘teething’ issues associated with these changes. The good news is that, after ironing out these issues, we should be well placed to publish the 2109 results in a timelier manner.

2018 results

Despite the challenging conditions there were still plenty of impressive efforts and scores achieved in the 2018 contest. There were also many new world, continental and country records set, mainly on the lower bands. Summaries of all the 2018 winning entries, and those who set new records, are provided on the associated menu pages.

2018 Plaques and trophies

Congratulations to all the winners of the plaques and trophies in the 2018 contest.

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 wins this plaque again (for the sixth year in a row!) in 2018 with a total of 3 eligible logs being submitted from members VK3DQW, VK3PK and VK3WK.

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. Unfortunately, there were no organisations with sufficient eligible entrants in the 2018 contest.

Note: Australia and New Zealand entrants are encouraged to use the Cabrillo log CLUB: field to identify their membership of a relevant organisation for the purpose of awarding these plaques. Most Australian and New Zealand logs for the 2018 contest did not identify their affiliation with any organisation.

Newcomer plaques are awarded to the highest scoring new entrant from Oceania in the PHONE section and the highest scoring new entrant from Oceania in the CW section. 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 Alice Bowler ZL2EM (guest operator at ZM4T) for winning the 2018 PHONE newcomer plaque and Aldi Zulwan YB2GV for winning the 2018 CW newcomer plaque.

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 currently AUD 50.00 per annum to cover the expenses associated with the manufacture and delivery of the plaques.

2018 Certificates

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

Log checking reports

A log checking report is produced for each entry in the contest (except SWL entries). This report provides detailed information about the calculation of the score including identifying 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).

A facility for entrants to download their log checking reports has been added to our web site. Any entrant can enter their callsign on this page to have 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.

RESULTS DOWNLOAD

2018 Phone Winners and Records
2018-ph-winners-and-new-records-report.pdf
2018 Phone Results (Click Here)
2018 CW Winners and Records
2018-cw-winners-and-new-records-report.pdf
2018 CW Results (Click Here)
2018 Plaque & Trophy Winners
2018-Oceania-DX-Contest-Trophy-and-Plaque-Winners.pdf

 

Entry category abbreviations: ALL = all bands, CK = check log, HP = high power (total output power greater than 100 Watts), LP = low power (total output power no more than 100 Watts), QRP = reduced power (total output power no more than 5W), M1 = multiple operators and single transmitter, M2 = multiple operators and two transmitters, MS = multi-single, MM = multiple operators and multiple transmitters, SO = single operator, and SWL = shortwave listener. Note: the M1 and M2 categories replaced the MS category in 2010, the LP and HP categories were introduced in 2010, and the QRP categories were introduced in 2014