CQ 160-Meter Contest, SSB

48-hour single-band contest on 160 metres, worldwide, working U.S. states, Canadian provinces and DXCC countries as multipliers. Single operators may work 30 of the 48 hours and multi-operator stations 40.

Rules at cq160.comThe rules are the sponsor's. This page holds the dates and the facts.

When it runs

Fourth Saturday of February

2200Z Friday → 2200Z Sunday

Times are UTC, as the sponsor states them.

Next runnings

2200Z Fri 26 Feb → 2200Z Sun 28 Feb · 48h2027
in 148 days
Logs due 2200Z Fri 5 Mar
2200Z Fri 25 Feb → 2200Z Sun 27 Feb · 48h2028
in 512 days
Logs due 2200Z Fri 3 Mar
2200Z Fri 23 Feb → 2200Z Sun 25 Feb · 48h2029
in 876 days
Logs due 2200Z Fri 2 Mar
2200Z Fri 22 Feb → 2200Z Sun 24 Feb · 48h2030
in 1240 days
Logs due 2200Z Fri 1 Mar

Operating

Modes: SSB
Bands: 160m
1810-2000 kHz in ITU Region 1; 1800-2000 kHz in ITU Regions 2 and 3
Exchange: RS(T) and state for U.S., province for Canada, and CQ Zone for DX
Power categories: High Power 1500 WLow Power 100 WQRP 5 W
Logs: Cabrillo · due 5 days after the end · cq160.com
Who can enter: Anyone, anywhere.
CQ 160 rules I: 'For amateurs around the world to contact other amateurs in as many U.S. states, Canadian provinces and countries as possible.'

Where this comes from

Checked against the sponsor: Yes. The rule on this page was read off CQ Magazine's own published rules. Link last confirmed 2026-08-16.
What the source says: CQ 160 publishes dates, not a recurrence rule: cq160.com/rules/index.htm gives the period ('Each contest is 48 hours long and starts at 2200Z') and the year's dates ('CW: 2200Z January 23 to 2200Z January 25. SSB: 2200Z February 27 to 2200Z March 1'), and none of the eleven archived CQ 160 rules 2016-2026 contains any recurrence wording. The SSB running is the FOURTH SATURDAY of February -- neither the last full weekend nor the last Saturday. CQ's own announcements settle it in both directions: 2020 started 2200Z Feb 21 (last Saturday would be Feb 29) and 2026 runs 2200Z Feb 27 to 2200Z Mar 1 (last full weekend would be Feb 21-22). Fourth Saturday reproduces all eleven CQ-published runnings 2016-2026. Verified 2026-08-16.

Something wrong? How to report it — a link to the sponsor's own page is all it takes.

Take it with you

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Subscribe (iCal) carries this contest's runnings for the next twelve months as UTC instants and keeps them current. Apple Calendar, Outlook and Thunderbird take this address directly. Its identifiers are stable across deploys, so re-subscribing does not duplicate anything: https://contestclock.com/api/ics?id=cq-160-ssb

Google has no working one-click subscribe. Paste that address into Settings → Add calendar → From URL. Google then polls it on its own schedule, often 8–24 hours, and that cannot be forced — so use Add to Google Calendar above if you want the next running in your calendar now.