DX Marathon for 2017

Hello Fellow DX Chasers

It is not too early to plan for 2017 and the Upcoming DX Season

I know the premier award for DX is the ARRL DXCC program.  CQ Magazine however sponsors a year long contest called the DX Marathon.   The beauty of this contest is that even those with meager or little pistol stations con compete on a level playing field because there are several levels of competition.  I believe Bob ND7J is vying for the Unlimited SSB Class for 2016 which is currently on-going.  This way you are competing against stations of similar set-up and power and put more of a premium on skill and not effective radiated power.

Classes:

Formula Class - Option 1 and 2

Limited Class - Limited to 100 Watts and "Limited" Antennas

Unlimited Class - All Power levels up to legal limit and any kind of antenna system

Formula Class

Option 1 - is Power limited to 5 watts maximum.  Antennas limited to those in the "Limited" Class above (description below)

Option 2 - Power is limited to 100 watts or less and antenna can only be a dipole or G5RV or a vertical not to exceed 65 feet.  Wire antennas cannot exceed 130 feet in length.  No arrays of any kind - horizontal or vertical - super loops are not allowed.  Single tower or support for wires antennas - inverted vee or sloper only.

Limited Class

Power is restricted to 100 watts or less and antennas can be any in option 2 of the Formula Class plus any yagi not to exceed 3 elements on a tower not to exceed 65 feet.

Directional antennas such as Yagis and multi-element loop, hex, and quad type antennas on the 20- through 6-meter bands. Directional antennas with no more than 3 elements per band are allowed on the 20-meter through 6-meter bands.    Boom length may not exceed 16 feet (5 meters) for antennas with booms. Single element rotatable dipoles are allowed for the 30- and 40-meter bands. Directional antennas and rotatable
dipoles must not be higher than 50 feet (15 meters) above ground and all antennas must be on a single tower or support.  (Dipoles must be inverted Vees or slopers)

Unlimited Class

Just like it means - no limits on power or antennas

The rules are given by the following website

http://www.dxmarathon.com/Rules/2016/2016rules.pdf