Author: VA2WA

Welcome to the RTC Contest!

We believe the RTC Contest represents the future of ham radio contesting. We want you to enjoy participating in a relaxed and enjoyable manner, so we have prepared a few tips to help you avoid common mistakes.

1. Set up your logger with the correct RTC login

The very first step is to configure your logger with the proper login credentials for the RTC server (HAMSCORE.com).

• Log in to HAMSCORE.com
• Go to your Profile page and locate your personal RTC PIN

• In your logger’s RTC login form, enter: Your callsign and Your RTC PIN

⚠️ Important:
The callsign entered in your logger must match the RTC log owner’s callsign exactly. Logs with mismatched callsigns will not be accepted.

2, Set up the correct exchange (very important)

The RTC exchange consists of two parts:

• A serial number
• A 4-character grid locator

Example:
001 FN36

Please refer to your logger’s documentation to ensure the exchange is configured correctly.
For example, in N1MM+, it should be set up as follows:

3. Verify your online log before the contest

A link to your RTC log is available on your Profile page.

• Enter a few “virtual” QSOs in your logger

• Wait for your logger to send them to the RTC server

• Retrieve your log at: https://hamscore.com/profile/cabrillo.php

• Verify that your exchange appears correctly in the online log

4. Understand the scoreboard during the contest

Once the contest starts, the RTC adjudication module begins cross-checking logs within a few minutes.

• Score column (red frame):
  This is the calculated RTC score, based on your log and the online logs from your correspondents received so far.
  Because of cross-checking, this score may be slightly delayed and often lower than what you see in your logger.
• Logger data (blue frame):
  This shows the data exactly as sent by your logger, without adjustment.

This separation is intentional and helps prevent any form of online assistance during the contest.

This separation is intentional and helps prevent any form of online assistance during the contest.

5. If you see EXCH instead of numeric score :

If the scoreboard displays EXCH instead of a number, it indicates an exchange error.

• Click on EXCH to open your contest log in a new browser tab
• Review the log to identify the incorrect exchange
• Correct the exchange in your logger
• Re-submit the log

Once a corrected log is received, the score will be recalculated and the EXCH indicator will disappear.

6. After the contest finishes

Final contest results are typically published 10–12 minutes after the contest ends.

From your Profile page, you can:

• View your UBN report

• Download your submitted log

After the contest concludes, all online logs will be published and visible to every logged-in user.

1. General 

The Real Time Contest (RTC) is a global amateur radio event built for exciting, live, and fully interactive competition. Everyone is welcome to join the action! To ensure real-time scoring and official results, participants must stay connected to the official RTC server https://hamscore.com for the entire duration of the contest.

The contest will be in a mixed mode format (CW and SSB). Each station may be worked only once per band, regardless of mode — CW or SSB.

Bands: 40m, 20m, 15m, 10m.

Cabrillo name: RTC

2. Contest Duration

Total duration: 3 hours 

Provisional schedule: February 1, 2026 16:00 UTC – 19:00 UTC *

* The next RTC contest is planned for May 23–24. The contest duration and start time may be adjusted. We are considering extending the contest beyond 3 hours, potentially up to 24 hours. Final details will be confirmed after the initial “test run” on February 1.  

3. Exchange

Each QSO must include the following exchange:

– QSO serial number, starting with 001

– 4-character grid locator

Signal reports (59 / 599) or any other reports should also be present but they are not be checked as a part of exchange.

Example: 599 001 FN36 or 59 001 FN36

4. Scoring

QSO Points (distance-based):

1 point — up to 1,999.99 km

2 points from 2,000.00 up to 3,999.99 km

3 points — from 4,000.00 up to 7,999.99 km

4 points — from 8,000.00 km and over **

** Distance is calculated between centers of 4-character Maidenhead  locator ( major square ) by using the Haversine formula. For example: The distance between FN36 and DM18 is: 3664.72 km

Multipliers:

The number of unique grid locators worked per band.

Final scores:

– Will be calcualated:   Total score = QSO points X Multiplier

– Final scores will be available online at https://hamscore.com/ approximately 10 minutes after the contest ends, following the correction period.

Valid QSOs:

A QSO is considered valid if:

– All QSO data matches after cross-checking with the corresponding station’s online log, or

– The QSO was made with an offline station, and the callsign appears in at least one other online log (OFFCALL).

A QSO is not valid for scoring (0 points and no multiplier) if:

– The QSO is with a UNIQUE callsign

– The callsign is busted

– The received exchange is incorrect

– The QSO time difference between logs exceeds 2 minutes

– The QSO is logged on the wrong band

A callsign is considered UNIQUE if the station was offline during the contest, and the callsign does not appear in any other online log

Penalties:

There are no additional penalties for:

– QSOs with busted callsigns

– QSOs with incorrect exchanges

Invalid QSOs simply receive zero points and no multiplier.

** Added for the future contests started from May 2026:

The operator is responsible for ensuring that the logger is configured correctly. The RTC server provides several clear indicators when the sent exchange is incorrect. If the log is not configured with the correct exchange before the contest finishes, the entire log will be considered invalid and will not be counted in the final results. In such cases, “EXCH” will be published in the score column instead of the claimed score.

In that case the corresponding QSO will still be considered valid without an exchange check, if the QSO time, band, and mode match.

5. Categories

Single Operator High Power (SO HP) 

Single Operator Low Power (SO LP)

Single Operator (SO QRP)

Only one signal may be transmitted at any given time.

Spotting assistance is allowed

6. Trophies

Plaques will be awarded for:

Top Score Single-Operator High Power (Any mode) Sponsor: HAMLOG.online

Top Score Single-Operator Low Power (Any mode) Sponsor: Manuel, IK3STG

Top Score Single-Operator QRP (Any mode) Sponsor: Society of Midwest Contesters

Suggestions for sponsoring trophies are welcome!

We are planning to have more categories split by modes in future. We have also an idea to nominate the only continental winners and skip overall World winner. To be updated.

7. Eligibility:

Only stations actively reporting to the RTC server during the contest are eligible for trophies.

8. Logger setup suggestions:

For N1MM+ users:

Please get the RTC Contest UDC file at https://n1mmwp.hamdocs.com/mmfiles/rtc-udc-rev-2/

The RTC log should be set up with the following exchange settings: # <4-charcter grid location. Please don’t forget to put a space between # and the grid.

For example:

To add RST to your exchange in CW, setup your CW messages like on this example:

For DXlog users:

For those wanting to play with DXLog in the upcoming test, you should use devtest 2.6.26.4 at https://dxlog.net/sw/files/download/devtest/DXLog.net-DEVTEST-2.6.26.4.msi

To add RST to your exchange, reset your standard messages to default.

For SDC logger users:

Please download the latest. The RTC contest is supported started from the version 19.0505 . It could be downloaded at https://www.lw-sdc.com/?page_id=79

For QARTest logger users:

Please download the latest. The RTC contest is supported started from the version 16.1.1 . It needs also QAR2GetScores version 2.0.4 (the latest). It could be downloaded at https://www.ik3qar.it/software/qartest/en/download/

The chart clearly shows strong year-over-year growth in user engagement. Active users are up 16%, while total event interactions increased by 19.3%, indicating not only more visitors but also deeper engagement with the platform.

Throughout the year, traffic follows a predictable contest-driven pattern. Each major international contest produces a sharp spike in active users, confirming that online scoreboards are most heavily used during peak competitive events.

Early-year activity rises around ARRL DX and WPX SSB, followed by another noticeable increase during WPX CW. Mid-year engagement dips slightly, with a smaller but visible peak during IARU HF, which aligns with its more specialized audience.

The most dramatic growth appears in the final quarter of the year. CQ WW SSB and CQ WW CW generate the highest peaks on the graph, with CQ WW CW setting the overall annual maximum. Compared to the previous period, these late-year contests show nearly double the number of active viewers, highlighting both the popularity of these events and the growing reliance on real-time online scoreboards.

Overall, the graph confirms a strong upward trend in 2025, driven primarily by flagship CQ contests and supported by consistent engagement across all major events.

This trend is further reflected in scoreboard participation. The top three events by number of entries on a board are:

• CQ WW SSB – 1,361
• CQ WPX CW – 1,361
• ARRL 10m – 1,244

See you on the ContestOnlineScoreBoard next year!

73!

The first HAM Radio Contest online scoring web service www.getscores.org has been launched by Gerry, W1VE allmost 20 years ago at 2006!

We are happy to publish that the very first online scoring web site screenshot.

The image is provided by the https://web.archive.org/ service

We see some people find using scoreboards distractive due to a huge data shown on one page. We have prepared a few tips how to reduce that impact by using Filters and View options:

1. Using “Chase the Rabbit” View option.

It only display the five scores above and five below your score. (Works only if your call is on the board!)

That how the board looks like once it activated:

2. Using “Top Ten” View option. It only display Top Ten highest scores in each category.

It could be very useful if you a leader:

That how the board looks like once it activated:

3. Using Category/Band/Power/Continent etc. Filter

You could customize your scoreboard content as you wish by using many parameter filters.

That’s what you have:

4. Cleaning up all Filter/View settings by one click.

If you have screwed up all the filters and view options the result will be an empty board. To refresh and get back to a default option (show everything) you need just one click on “Clear filter” option:

5. Try to use mobile template on your desktop.

Just click on that thumbnail:

It has a small footprint so could be easily be between your logger windows:

It’s easy to come back to a usual view. Just click on the three white strips at the right top and choose “Quite Mobile”.

The CQ WW contest always is the biggest one. We have prepared a usage reports.

The web usage report provided by Google Analytics:

It shows the maximum of simultaneously active users number is 2,250. We had totally 3,300 active users during the CQ WW CW weekend

We have also a number of users from top seven most active countries:

The number of CQ WW CW COSB users published at least one QSO was 1179.

Who were those over 2K people watching the scoreboard without active contribution? Just the HAM Radio fans? ))

Real Time Contesting (RTC) is a new technology of contest adjudication in near Real Time. We have prepared a new project https://hamscore.com/. It looks similar to our Online Scoring project. But it has one very significant difference :

No need to send logs and keep waiting for months for the contest results anymore ! The FINAL RESULTS are provided right after the contest withing a few minutes!

It constantly collects log data from loggers during a contest. The server processes all the logs from all the participants in real time and publishes calculated scores on a  scorboard. After a contest finishes it gives some extra time (a few minutes) for making corrections After that you can see final results and get a personal log check report.

Currently we support the following contests:

• CWOps mini-CWT – We inite you to joping our CWT sessions on Wednesdays
• ICWT MST – We inite you to joping our MST sessions on Mondays
• K1USN Slow Speed every Friday and Monday

• CWOps Open
• NAQP
• NA Sprint

and a few other using the similar adjudication template.

Setup RTC in N1MM+ log:

1. Get your RTC PIN (otherwise your postings will be refused). The RTC PIN could be found on your profile page at HAMSCORE.com https://hamscore.com/profile/ (you have to be logged in. The HAMSCORE.com use the same users DB as another our project COSB. Please use your COSB credentials to get logged in) :

2. In the N1MM+ “Configurer -> Score Reporting” check the “Include real time QSO data real time scoring” option

3. The new “Real Time QSO Reporting PIN” field will appear. Enter your PIN into that field

4. Click on the “OK” button on the bottom. The RTC PIN will be saved FOREVER !!! So you don’t need to enter it again after your logger starts

The logger accepts the only RTC PIN which is a number in the range of 10000 – 999999.

Be sure to enter a proper exchange (your name and CWOps number). Otherwise that will be reported as Name Exch and all the QSO with you will be marked as “Wrong Exchange” and not be valid in all your correspondents’ logs:

Setup RTC in DXLog:

The RTC option added to the DXLog starting from the version 2.6.8.

1. Click Commands|Live score|Setup|Live score server settings

2. Select Real Time Contest (hamscore.com) and enter the credentials of your contestonlinescore.com

 account. Click OK.

3. Check Commands|Live score|Auto-post

4. Run the contest

Setup RTC in SDC Logger

1. Select “HamScore.com” in the “Scoring” tab. RTC Format” will be selected automatically.

2. Enter login and password

3. Click the “Update All Data” button

See also manual SDC: Contest->Scoring->Real Time Contest.

Setup RTC in QARTest

1 From the menu Options, select Data broadcast

2. Check “RTC”, leaving the 127.0.0.1 address, and then “OK”

3. Download QAR2GetScores utility from QARTest download page and install it.

4. Launch QAR2GetScores

5. From Options, select “Enable RTC”

6. Select contestonlinescore.com

7. Click “Connect”

On the bottom-left of the window a countdown will start, indicating next data transmission to RTC.

On the bottom-right is the status with the QSOs to be sent in next transmission

Using HAMSCORE.com

Please note the RTC server (HAMSCORE.com) starts accepting logs 2 (TWO) hours before a contest starts.

Please login to the https://hamscore.com/. On your personal profile page you can find two links on your log check results and your log in Cabrillo. During the testing mode they are showing results instantly. In the normal mode – the only log without any check results will be shown, The check log results will be published after the “Contest is finished. Results are published” status be up in the contest board’s header.

Once “Contest is finished. Results are published” status be up the real  Score/QSO/Mults data will be published on the board. The only RTC Score is published on a board during a contest time. The QSO/Mults are published as they claimed during a contest. We did that to remove some sort of online assistance to operators during a contest.

The contest log link is published on the profile page (https://hamscore.com/profile/ ):

The contest log check report link is published on the profile page (https://hamscore.com/profile/ ):

One more thing – in our reality RTC means – The NEAR Real Time Contesting. Since a logger reporting period is 2 minutes – the server could publish the latest RTC Score within at least 2 minutes. Please add some processing time and a web page refresh rate as well.

Join us!