NZART Centenary 2026

1st January 2026 – NZART Centenary 100 QSO Challenge

You are invited to kick off the Centenary year in style with a fun, on-air event. Can you make 100 contacts in 24 hours? The rules are as follows:

1101 31 December 2025 UTC (0001 NZDT 1st January 2026)

to

1059 1 January 2026 UTC (2359 NZDT 1 January 2026)

1. Object: To celebrate the start of the 2026 NZART Centenary Year by making 100 QSOs with amateur radio stations in 24 hours.
2. Operating Period: The 24 hours of New Years Day in New Zealand (NZDT).
3. Bands: All bands including WARC (as this is NOT a contest).
4. Modes: All modes permitted.
5. Meaning of QSO: A completed two-way QSO with another amateur station swapping as a minimum callsigns and a signal report appropriate for the mode used. The QSO can otherwise be as long or as short as you like.
   Note: This is NOT a contest so there is no number exchange.
6. Dupes: Stations can be worked more than once but only on a new band or different mode.
7. Awards: A commemorative PDF certificate will be emailed to each Amateur Station who completes 100 QSOs in accordance with these rules.
8. Special Certificate Endorsements:
   1. Most Portable stations: New Years Day in ZL and VK is popular for portable operating. Many are active in the SOTA/POTA/WWFF/Lakes/NZ Parks/Huts programs while others are just out enjoying the sunshine. They will be pleased to add to your contact list so give them a call. As we don’t require the /P suffix in ZL, this category will be scored using the SOTA/POTA/WWFF and ontheair.nz alert/spot/log data.
   2. Most DXCC Entities: The person who worked the most DXCC entities in their first 100 QSOs (note you must submit every QSO you make regardless of entity and time you make it. You cannot pick and choose QSOs to increase your DXCC count).
   3. The Fastest: The fastest to work 100 QSOs as judged by the time of their hundredth QSO.
   4. Most Memorable QSO: To enter you must submit why one particular QSO you had stands out (e.g. new DXCC for you, the power you or the other station were running, amazing propagation, were using a beer can antenna, etc – it’s up to you).
   5. Most Modes: For the person who uses the most different modes in making their 100 QSOs.
   6. Least power: The person who makes their 100 QSOs using the least power.
9. Power: up to and including the NZ legal limit may be used (not recommended for those competing for category 8.f!).
10. Judging: The committee’s decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into.
11. Logs: Logs can be in any electronic format and must be submitted by email to century.challenge@nzart.org.nz by 10pm 3 January 2026 NZDT. ADIF or Cabrillo formats are preferred. If entering the Most Memorable QSO then add a statement at the bottom detailing the QSO and the reason why it is memorable. Zulu time/date is preferred however logs may also be submitted using NZDT provided this is clearly identified.
12. Results: will be published in the Jan/Feb 2026 Break-In (which is why entries must be in by 3 January 2026).

2026 Conference

Put the dates of 30 May to 1 June in your 2026 diary. Our 100th Conference will be held at the Waipuna Conference Centre, Mt Wellington, Auckland. 

The dual conference themes will commemorate our 100 year history and explore our future. The conference committee is seeking offers and suggestions for talk topics relating to these themes. Contact the secretary at zl1aox@gmail.com.