RSGB Eclipse FT8 Contest

When it runs

Dates set by the sponsor each year (no derivable rule)

• 1630Z → 1930Z

Times are UTC, as the sponsor states them.

The sponsor announces these dates a year at a time and there is no rule to derive, so this calendar holds only the years they have published: 2026.

Next runnings

This calendar holds runnings through 2026 and none after it — the record is closed, not missing. The note below says what the sponsor announced.

Operating

Modes

FT8/FT4 FT8

Bands

40m

40 m, 7074 kHz.

Exchange

A signal report. No serial number and no locator.

Logs

due 1 day after the end

Who can enter

Anyone, anywhere.

Two sections, UK OPEN and Non-UK OPEN, so entry is not restricted.

Where this comes from

Checked against the sponsor

Yes. The rule on this page was read off RSGB Contest Committee's own published rules. Link last confirmed 2026-08-23.

What the source says

rsgbcc.org/hf/rules/2026/r_eclipse_ft8.shtml, the RSGB Contest Committee's own rules. 'Wednesday August 12, 16:30 UTC to 19:30 UTC.' Band: '40m, 7074 kHz'. Mode: 'Standard FT8 format will be used as implemented in WSJT-X V2.6.1 or later'. Exchange: a signal report; serial numbers and locators are not required. Two sections, UK & CD and non-UK & CD, single or multi-operator, club callsigns permitted. Logs due by the day after. Purpose: the contest investigates 'propagation effects due to the eclipse', using RBN data alongside entrants' logs. Checked 2026-08-23.

Recorded caveats

A ONE-OFF, TIED TO ONE ECLIPSE, AND CLOSED RATHER THAN EXPIRED. RSGB ran this for the total solar eclipse of 12 August 2026 and describes it as a one-time opportunity tied to that event. So it carries active_until: 2026 -- which is the field's real meaning, 'the sponsor stopped running it', and NOT the same state as the thirty-odd manual records waiting for next year's dates. The detail page will say the record is closed rather than missing, and it stays off the expiry cliff because there is nothing to re-check. If RSGB runs an eclipse contest for a future eclipse it will be a different contest with different propagation to study, and it gets its own record. RAN ALONGSIDE THE CW ECLIPSE CONTEST, same three hours, different band: CW on 80 m and FT8 on 40 m. Two bands watched at once during the same eclipse is the point of running two.

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

Take it with you

Subscribe (iCal)This record as JSON

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=rsgb-eclipse-ft8

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.