The Oceania DX (OCDX) contest committee is pleased to announce that the full results of the 2019 OCDX contest have been published on the OCDX website at www.OceaniaDXcontest.com.  Here are the VK winners and new records – well done everyone!

PHONE

CW

The Geelong Amateur Radio Club wins the Australia Club plaque again in 2019 (for the 7^th year in a row!) with a total of 3 eligible logs being submitted from members VK3DJ, VK3DQW and VK3ZIB. We note many VK entrants did  not identify their affiliation with any organisation for the purpose of awarding this plaque. So please remember to consider the Cabrillo log CLUB: field when you submit your log for the 2020 contest. Note: VKCC does not count, only local clubs count as per the plaque rules.

Also, a special shout out to Theo Marinos VK5IR for winning the 2019 CW newcomer plaque!

Trial of a new start time for the 75^th 2020 OCDX Contest

As flagged in the publication of the 2018 results, the OCDX Committee has explored bringing forward the contest start and end times in order to give stations in the Eastern parts of Oceania (e.g. New Zealand and Eastern Australia) more time on Sunday afternoon to pack up and travel home (for those operating portable stations), and to recover from their efforts, noting that the Monday is a work day for many entrants.

After reviewing the comments from entrants, the Committee has decided to trial the bringing forward of the start and end times by two hours for the 2020 contest, i.e. the Phone and CW sections will each run from Saturday 06:00 UTC to Sunday 06:00 UTC. The Committee will decide whether to make the change permanent after considering any feedback from this year’s trial.

Given this decision, the 75^th Oceania DX contest will now be held over the first two full weekends of October 2020 at the following dates and times:

• Phone Section: 06:00 UTC Saturday 3 October to 06:00 UTC Sunday 4 October 2020
• CW Section: 06:00 UTC Saturday 10 October to 06:00 UTC Sunday 11 October 2020

The full set of rules for the 2020 OCDX contest are here.

2020 plaques and trophies

The ongoing sponsorship of plaques is important for maintaining and growing interest in the contest. Thanks to the generosity of new sponsors we are pleased to announce three new plaques for the 2020 contest:

• Mike Charteris VK4QS is sponsoring a plaque for the top entrant from Australia in the CW Single Operator ALL Band QRP category.
• Diane Main VK4DI and Bill Main VK4ZD are sponsoring a plaque for the highest scoring YL (female) entrant from Australia in the Phone section (in any category).
• Endah Winarti YB3VI is sponsoring a new plaque for the top entrant from Indonesia with an Advanced Class (YC/YF) or Extra Class (YB/YE) licence in any of the Phone Single Operator 40M Band categories (i.e. any power).

The Committee has also decided to adjust the rules for the 2020 OCDX contest so that only one plaque or trophy will be awarded per entry. For example, a station winning a Continent plaque will not be considered for a sub-area award. The latter award will be given to the runner-up for the sub-area. This change will help ensure that the recognition and motivation from receiving a plaque is distributed as widely and fairly as possible.

Finally, the OCDX contest is one of the longest-running events in the international DX contest calendar. It originated in 1935 as the VK-ZL International DX contest although it was suspended from 1937 to 1947 due to World War II. The Committee believes 2020 is the contest’s 75th year. We look forward to seeing you all again, and please spread the word to encourage new entrants, so we can have a big party to celebrate the 75th running of this legendary contest!

73 from OCDX Contest Committee

(Lee VK3GK, Brian VK3MI/ZL1AZE, Tony VK3TZ, Phil VK4FH, Martin VK7GN, Karsono YB0NDT, Mike ZL1AXG, Gary ZL2IFB and Geoff ZL3GA)