What is the ARRL Jan VHF Contest 

What is the Jan ARRL 2026 VHF Contest and How Can I Participate If I am Not a VHF Low Signal Contester?

Berlin NJ January 2026 AA2SD.  Coming up during the third week of January the ARRL holds a contest where many local and distant operators will compete and try to contact as many stations as possible on bands above 50 Mhz. The most popular bands are 6 and 2 Mtrs, but all above are included. If you have a rig like the FT-991A you are already set on 6 Mtrs, 2, Mtrs and 70CM.  Many Local clubs and operators in the Philadelphia, and Southern New Jersey Area will be active during this period. Including the South Jersey Radio Club, the Phil-Mont Mobile Radio Club, The Mont Airy VHF Club and the Kent Amateur Radio Society.

 Dates: The third or fourth full weekend in January as announced. (January 17-19, 2026) and theContest Period: Begins 1900 UTC Saturday, ends 0359 UTC Monday.

How Do I Participate in the ARRL Jan VHF Contest?  First and foremost, you don’t have to be a”Big Gun” station, many operators including mobile rovers, home stations, portable stations and even stations participating in Parks on the Air and CW can join in for the fun. The contest includes CW, Phone SSB and FT8 modes.

This contest is not nearly as busy as an HF Contest, and typically you have several busier periods during the duration of the contest. At the start of the contest which is 2:00PM EST on Saturday Jan 17th, you will have many stations on the air during the first (4) hours of the contest period, and throughout the entire day, stations tend to shift to FT8 during the late evening.  Keep in mind based on our own geographic location here with SJRA members, we are in the middle of the “Mt Airy VHF Club Members” in both the Philadelphia and South Jersey areas. Also many SJRA Members, will be active on the air including KE5NJ KC2SGV, N3RG, W2SJ, K2AA, KC2TN, K2WB, WB2EOD,W2FDJ and myself AA2SD/R as a “Rover” and more.

During Sunday the Mt Air VHF Club will feature the Pack Rat Bowl. The Mt. Airy VHF Radio Club will be hosting a special activity period during the upcoming January VHF Contest. 

On Sunday afternoon January 18th from 19:00 to 22:00 UTC the Pack Rats will be gathering on 2 Meter SSB looking for contacts to move up the bands. 2 MTRS CALL CQ USB 144.180 - 144.220

What type of equipment do I need?

This contest does not have the frantic pace of a HF contest, and if you have a basic Technician license this will give you Entry-level; access to all frequencies above 30 MHz (VHF/UHF).  Most of the activity will take place on 6 Mtrs and 2 Mtrs, with Horizontal mode Yagi Antennas.  A vertical antenna, commonly used for FM, produces a vertically-polarized signal. Working a station with opposite antenna polarity causes a substantial signal loss, so it is best to maintain the same polarity. The standard SSB calling frequencies are: 50.125 MHz 144.200 MHz and

432.100 MHz. 

FT991A Rides Shotgun with me in my front seat as a Rover for the Jan VHF Contest

In this area you can work many stations with vertical antennas on both 6 Mtrs and 2 Mtrs during the contest period.  Most of the operation will be on the SSB portion of the band, and the standard calling frequencies are listed above: CW (Morse Code) is used on the weak-signal VHF bands, often intermingled with SSB operation. With the popularity of FT8, this has become a very popular band during the VHF contest, with many stations on 6 Mts and 2 Mtrs. You can work many Grid Squares with FT8 during this contest period.

FT8 Screen used during the VHF Contest, notice the “ CQTEST” mode which is contest mode

What are the Operator Categories? The ARRL Jan VHF contests offers many operating categories based on your power levels, and numbers of levels, follow the link below for full details.

How Do I Make a Contact? - It’s really fun and easy during the contest, tune in and listen for “CQ” calls on VHF and UHF Frequencies, you simply call and exchange grid information and log your contacts. Don’t forget to submit your log to the ARRL at the contest end.  You will need your call sign and a Grid Square for each contact exchange. Officially the  contact requires that the two operators exchange callsigns and grid locators. Keep in mind the contest is mostly SSB, CW and FT8, you can also make contacts on simplex. You can not use repeaters frequencies for the contents to make contacts.

Spend a Few Hours Saturday at 2PM or Sunday - Try an hour or so during the start of the contest or during the activity periods. Also look for Rovers, several Rovers will be operating during the contest period and moving from location to location to allow you to work them over and over.  SJRA Members KE5NJ/R Rover and myself will be starting in Lancaster PA at a Grid square and finishing in Mullica HIll NJ.

How Can You Get Ready for The Contest?

• The first thing is turn on your radio and make some noise !

• Check your 6 and 2 Mtr antennas with the SJRA Nets or Pack Rat Nets or Phil-Mont Nets

• It’s never too late to put up a small 6 Mtr antenna

• Go Mobile, we have several SJRA members with 6 Mtr capabilities I have spoken with while mobile

• Go the Chat Room links below, or go the W3SZ Map to check activity

• Follow a Rover, we will have several rovers traveling during the contest

• Try FT8 in the evening on 6, 2 or any of the contest bands

• Monitor the simplex frequencies

Have Fun and Make Some Noise on the Air !

73  Scott

AA2SD/R  www.aa2sd.com

Links to Follow: for the ARRL Contest

• ARRL Contest explanation:  https://www.arrl.org/january-vhf#:~:text=Additional%20Information,to%20enter%20the%20new%20categories.

• AA2SD/R Rover Plans  https://www.aa2sd.com/arrl-january-vhf-contest-2026

• W3SZ Pack Rat Database Map https://w3sz.com/map.php 

• The ON4KST amateur radio chat https://www.on4kst.org/chat/login.php?band=8

• Pack Rats VHF Site  https://www.packratvhf.com/index.php

—-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------JJoin and Support Your Local Clubs

• South Jersey Radio Club - https://sjra.club/sjraclub/

• The Phil-Mont Mobile Radio Club-  https://www.phil-mont.org/

• Mt. Airy VHF Club - https://www.packratvhf.com/index.php

• Kent Amateur Radio Society - https://k3ars.org/kars/