My friend Tomás told me last Thursday, when we met at the club, about the existence of the TortuXday contest, and I found it to be a great initiative to promote Morse code telegraphy. I hope to take part soon.
The goal of the TortuXday contest is to contact as many members of the Tortugas CW group as possible throughout the year.
The activity takes place every Wednesday (X) of the year, over a 24-hour period, from 00:00 to 23:59 local Spanish time.
The following bands can be used, with these reference frequencies:
- 6 m (50.085 MHz)
10 m (28.055 MHz)
15 m (21.055 MHz)
20 m (14.055 MHz)
40 m (7.035 MHz)
60 m (5.355 MHz)
80 m (3.555 MHz)
160 m (1.835 MHz)
QSOs
A contact may be repeated on the same day on different bands, and on the same band on different days. Lower speeds (15–20 WPM) are recommended, and operators should be flexible to match the correspondent’s speed. Both transmission and reception must be done manually.
The QSO format is as follows:
CQ CQ CQ TOR CALLSIGNA CALLSIGNA CALLSIGNA KCALLSIGNB CALLSIGNBCALLSIGNB GRS RST 5NN M 5NN M KNRST 5NN M 5NN M 77 /3 TU E
Contacts can be logged using software such as N1MM (Windows only), requiring the appropriate user-defined contest files (.udc and .txt). A monthly .adi file containing all contacts made during the current year must be sent to:
tortugastest (at) gmail (dot) com
The subject line should include your callsign and the total number of contacts made since the start of the current year’s TortuXday.
The contest is GRATIS for everybody, but you must sig-on
AWARDS
Rankings will be updated monthly on the “Classification” webpage. A prize will be awarded to the station with the highest score. Previous winners are not eligible for the prize; if they place first again, the award will go to the next station in the ranking.
DIPLOMA
Contacts are expected to count toward the TCW diploma (30 and 75 callsigns).
References
Important Notice
The modifications, configurations, and procedures described here may involve technical, legal, or safety risks. The author assumes no responsibility for equipment malfunction, permanent damage, loss of warranty, or any legal issues arising from the use of this information.
The reader assumes full responsibility for any actions taken based on the content of this blog.
© 2026 EA5JTT. All rights reserved. Total or partial reproduction without the author’s explicit permission is prohibited.
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