The Commonwealth Contest is one of the longest-running contests in the HF contesting world. It promotes contacts between stations in the Commonwealth Countries and Territories.

The Commonwealth Contest (CC) is the oldest DX contest in Amateur Radio. Since 1931, the Radio Society of Great Britain (RSGB) has been the organizer and adjudicator of this annual 24-hour event. The contest includes Amateurs in all 56 countries and the numerous territories that make up the Commonwealth of Nations.

The Commonwealth Contest runs on the second full weekend of March each year from 1000 UTC Saturday through 0959 UTC Sunday. It is 24 hours long, CW only, on the 80, 40, 20, 15 and 10 metre bands. In 2025, the contest runs on the weekend of March 8 and 9.

In 2024, the RSGB invited ARSI and other national Amateur Radio organizations across the Commonwealth to share ownership in the contest to help better promote and encourage activity. Amateur Radio Society of India, Radio Amateurs of Canada, the New Zealand Amateur Radio Transmitters (NZART) and the Wireless Institute of Australia (WIA) agreed quickly. Other national societies may join soon.

From 1931 until 1973, the contest was named British Empire Radio Union (BERU). In 1974, the name changed officially to the Commonwealth Contest, but many participants including me continue to call “CQ BERU” to work other participants. Starting now all participants will call “CQ CC” to solicit QSOs.

The format of the contest is unique: only stations in Commonwealth Countries and territories may participate. This gives us a prime position to work some rare or interesting DX ahead of non-Commonwealth callers.

Objective:
To achieve a good score by working as many stations and bonuses as possible. This unique contest provides a great opportunity to work Commonwealth DX for all participants.

Date & Time:
8 March to 9th March 2025; 10.00 – 09.59 UTC (8 March 15.30 to 9 March 15.29 IST)

Mode & Bands
CW only – 3.5, 7, 14, 21 and 28 MHz
On 3.5 MHz, below 3510 kHz has priority for intercontinental operation
On 14 MHz, Contest participants must not solicit QSOs by calling CQ, QRZ etc above 14060kHz
Only one signal may be transmitted at any one time

Categories:

1. High Power, Single Operator, Unassisted – 12-hour or 24-hour – Maximum legal power
2. High Power, Single Operator, Assisted – 12-hour or 24-hour – Maximum legal power
3. High Power, World-wide remote activation of a Commonwealth Call area, Single or multi-operator.  Assisted – 12-hour or 24-hour – Maximum legal power
4. Low Power, Single Operator, Unassisted – 12-hour or 24-hour – 100W maximum
5. Low Power, Single Operator, Assisted – 12-hour or 24-hour – 100W maximum
6. QRP, Single Operator, Unassisted or Assisted – 24 hour only – 5W maximum (QRP)
7. Multi-operator – Assisted – 24 hour only – Maximum legal power (MULTI-OP)
8. HQ stations – Multi-operator – Assisted – 24 hour only – Maximum legal power (HQ)

Note: In the 12-hour category , off-periods must be a minimum of 60 minutes in length

Exchange:

1. RST plus Serial Number starting at 1 and incrementing by 1, irrespective of band; entrants will not be penalised if their sent serial numbers are logged slightly out of sequence
2. HQ stations additionally send ‘HQ’ which must be logged
3. Entrants are encouraged to call “CQ CC” when looking for QSOs in the contest
4. Please log any exchange that you are sent to the best capability of your logging facility; if you are not sent an exchange, log a zero

Scoring:

1. Each QSO with a station in the same continent scores 5 points
2. Each QSO with a station in a different continent scores 10 points
3. A bonus of 20 points is earned for each of the first three contacts with a Commonwealth Call Area on each band.
4. Commonwealth Contest Team Competition scoring: The team score is the sum of individual adjudicated scores, with all stations located in the southern hemisphere or on the equator having their final score multiplied by a Latitude Factor.
5. This Latitude Factor will be recalculated each year based on published scores. For each hemisphere, the highest-scoring team total for each of the last three years will be used to give an overall total and the factor will be calculated as the ratio of the northern to the southern grand totals rounded down to the nearest two decimal places.

Log Submission:
Submit in Cabrillo format within 5 days following the end of the contest uploading to
https://www.rsgbcc.org/cgi-bin/hfenter.pl

Declaration: By entering the Commonwealth Contest you declare that:

1. Your station was operated strictly in accordance with the rules and spirit of the contest, within the conditions of your licence.
2. You agree that decisions of the Commonwealth Contest Committee will be final in cases of dispute.
3. By submitting a log entry, entrants give the RSGB permission to score, amend, publish, republish, print, and otherwise distribute that entry by any means.