13-TH BALKAN HF CONTEST 2026
1. Organizer: Bulgarian Federation of Radio Amateurs (BFRA)
2. Participants: Only radio amateurs from Balkan countries, i.e. with callsigns, starting with: 4O, 5B, 9A, C4, E7, ER, H2, J4, LZ, P3, S5, SV, SW, SX, SY, SZ, TA, TB, TC, YM, YO, YP, YQ, YR, YT, YU, Z3, Z6, ZA, ZC4.
3. Objective: To contact as many as possible radio amateurs from Balkan countries (including own country) with as many as possible prefixes (see bellow).
4. Date and Time: 15 February 2026, Sunday from 13:00 UTC to 17:00 UTC.
5. Bands: 3.5 MHz and 7 MHz. Change of the band requires at least 10 minutes activity on the new band.
6. Modes: CW, SSB, Mixed.
7. Categories: Category A – Normal power (not exceeding 1000 W INPUT) and Category B – Power not exceeding 10 W INPUT (QRP). The participants in this category transmit /QRP after their callsign.
8. Allowed contacts: Only one contact with any station on each band, regardless on CW, or SSB.
9. Exchange: RST (RS) report plus the consequent number (e.g. CW 599006, SSB 59023).
10. QSO Points: Each contact with Category A station is worth one (1) point while each contact with Category B station is worth two (2) points. Repeated contacts with the same correspondent on the same band are worth zero (0) points for both (initial and repeated) contacts. Contacts logged with more than 5 minutes difference from the real time are also worth zero (0) points.
11. Multipliers: Separately for each band – the number of Balkan prefixes contacted on the relevant band. For the purposes of this contest a different prefix is each callsign that differs in its first three marks. (e.g. LZ2, TA4, YO6, Z31 etc).
12. Final score: The final score for both categories is the sum of QSO points on 3.5 MHz, multiplied by the multiplier on 3.5 MHz, plus QSO points on 7 MHz, multiplied by the multiplier on 7 MHz.
13. Classification: Separately for Category A and Category B. No difference between CW only, SSB only or mixed.
14. Logs: All times must be in UTC (GMT). Electronic logs in Cabrillo format sent by e-mail to bfra_hq@hotmail.com with a copy to panayotdanev@yahoo.com are compulsory. The deadline for logs is 22 February 2026, Sunday.
15. Awards: Medals will be awarded to first six (6) classified in Category A and first three (3) in Category B, as well as best participants from each country, if not in those above.
