ZS3 QSO Party

An hour on 40 m for the Northern Cape, on the third Sunday of May.

Rules at mysarl.org.zaThe rules are the sponsor's. This page holds the dates and the facts.

When it runs

Third Sunday of May

1400Z → 1500Z Sunday

Times are UTC, as the sponsor states them.

Next runnings

1400Z Sun 16 May → 1500Z Sun 16 May · 1h2027
in 227 days
1400Z Sun 21 May → 1500Z Sun 21 May · 1h2028
in 598 days
1400Z Sun 20 May → 1500Z Sun 20 May · 1h2029
in 962 days
1400Z Sun 19 May → 1500Z Sun 19 May · 1h2030
in 1326 days

Operating

Modes: CW / SSB
Bands: 40m
A phone and CW contest on 40 m: CW 7 000-7 040 kHz, SSB 7 063-7 100 and 7 130-7 200 kHz.
Exchange: RS(T) and the provincial or country abbreviation.
Logs: no deadline or format recorded
Who can enter: Anyone, anywhere.
The manual states NO participation clause for this contest -- unlike SARL's own HAMNET and Top Band contests, which name their entity lists -- and there is no blanket clause in the general rules either. Its scoring contemplates stations outside the region, so it is recorded as worldwide, with verified false because that is an absence of words rather than a statement.

Where this comes from

Checked against the sponsor: Yes. The rule on this page was read off Northern Cape Amateur Radio Club's own published rules. Link last confirmed 2026-08-19.
What the source says: 2026 SARL Contest Manual Version 1.1 (2025-12-15), mysarl.org.za, 'ZS3 QSO Party': 'This is a fun activity to promote contacts between radio amateurs in the Northern Cape and radio amateurs in Southern African countries.' '2. Date and Time 14:00 to 15:00 UTC on the 3rd Sunday of May - 17 May 2026.' Sponsor Club - Northern Cape Amateur Radio Club.
Recorded caveats: SOURCED FROM THE SARL CONTEST MANUAL, WHICH IS NOT AN AGGREGATOR. The manual carries this contest's FULL rules -- aim, dates, exchange, frequencies, scoring, log sheets -- and names its organising club, rather than summarising a calendar entry. It is the venue in which South African clubs publish their contest rules, the way DARC's Ausschreibungen or UBA's rules pages are, so it is a primary source for these contests and not a third-party listing. The distinction that matters: an aggregator republishes rules it found elsewhere, and this is where the rules appear.

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

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