ZS5 QSO Party

An hour on 40 m for KwaZulu-Natal, on the first Sunday of July.

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

When it runs

First Sunday of July

1400Z → 1500Z Sunday

Times are UTC, as the sponsor states them.

Next runnings

1400Z Sun 4 Jul → 1500Z Sun 4 Jul · 1h2027
in 276 days
1400Z Sun 2 Jul → 1500Z Sun 2 Jul · 1h2028
in 640 days
1400Z Sun 1 Jul → 1500Z Sun 1 Jul · 1h2029
in 1004 days
1400Z Sun 7 Jul → 1500Z Sun 7 Jul · 1h2030
in 1375 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: ZS5 stations send RS(T) and their town name or abbreviation; everyone else sends 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 Highway 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, 'ZS5 QSO Party': 'This is a fun activity to promote contacts between radio amateurs in Kwazulu-Natal and radio amateurs in Southern African countries.' '2. Date and Time From 14:00 to 15:00 UTC on the 1st Sunday of July - 5 July 2026' Exchange: '3.1. ZS5 - RS(T) and town name or abbreviation. 3.2. Other - RS(T) and provincial or country abbreviation.' Sponsor Club - Highway 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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