Marathon Rules
Baseline: Ruleset 2.0's published defaults. Each marathon freezes its own ruleset the moment it activates, so an individual season's scoring tables are whatever that season's frozen ruleset says — normally these defaults, but a season can be created with different ones, and this page cannot know that in advance.
1. How it works
A marathon runs as a weekly pick: every calendar week you choose exactly one QSO from your log and submit it as that week's nomination.
Your score is built from four ingredients:
- a new-DXCC bonus (once per season),
- distance, scaled by band and range,
- a mode bonus,
- an optional homebrew-equipment multiplier.
2. Terms
- Season — the period a marathon runs for, set by the organizer.
- Week — a calendar week in UTC, Monday 00:00 through Sunday 23:59. A season's final week may be shorter than seven days if the organizer's chosen end date falls before the following Sunday — it still closes at 23:59 UTC on its own last day, not the following Sunday.
- Weekly nomination — the one QSO you submit for a given week.
- DXCC — the country or territory entity your contact counts toward.
3. Submitting a QSO
- Exactly one nomination is accepted per week.
- The QSO must have taken place within that same week (Monday 00:00 — Sunday 23:59 UTC, or through the week's own last day if it is a short final week).
- A nomination can be created or changed until 23:59 UTC of the week's last day — Sunday in the ordinary case, or the season's own end date for a short final week — the only submission deadline there is. After the week closes, its nomination is locked: it cannot be created, changed, or removed.
- A single QSO cannot be nominated in two marathons at the same time. Replacing or withdrawing an active nomination frees that QSO up again — so it can end up nominated in a different marathon later, just never in two at once.
4. Season total
Your season total is the sum of your 25 best weekly scores. If you have fewer than 25 nominations, every one of them counts.
5. Scoring formula
Score(QSO) = CountryPoints + (DistanceBase x BandCoef x HomebrewCoef) + ModeBonus
5.1 New-DXCC bonus (CountryPoints)
Paid once per season, the first time you work a given DXCC — on whichever band that first QSO happens to be on. Working the same country again, on any other band, earns no further DXCC bonus for it. Band decides only the size of the bonus:
| Band | Points |
|---|---|
| 160m | 18 |
| 80m | 15 |
| 60m | 13 |
| 40m | 13 |
| 30m | 12 |
| 20m | 10 |
| 17m | 10 |
| 15m | 10 |
| 12m | 10 |
| 10m | 10 |
| 6m | 8 |
| 2m | 5 |
| 70cm | 3 |
That creates a real trade-off: holding a rare DXCC for a lower band pays more, but risks running out of season before you work it there.
5.2 Distance base (DistanceBase)
- 500 km or less gives 0.
- Above 500 km:
round(distance_km / 1000), rounded half-up (4500 km rounds to 5, not 4).
Examples: 500 km -> 0, 501 km -> 1, 4600 km -> 5, 6430 km -> 6.
5.3 Band/distance coefficient (BandCoef)
| Band(s) | Ranges (km) -> coefficient |
|---|---|
| 160m | [0,2500)->1.0 · [2500,5000)->1.1 · [5000,7500)->1.2 · [7500,10000)->1.3 · [10000,12500)->1.4 · [12500,15000)->1.5 · [15000,17500)->1.6 · 17500+->1.7 |
| 80m | [0,3000)->1.0 · [3000,6000)->1.1 · [6000,9000)->1.2 · [9000,12000)->1.3 · [12000,15000)->1.4 · [15000,18000)->1.5 · 18000+->1.6 |
| 60m / 40m / 30m / 12m / 10m | [0,4000)->1.0 · [4000,8000)->1.1 · [8000,12000)->1.2 · [12000,16000)->1.3 · 16000+->1.4 |
| 20m / 17m / 15m | [0,5000)->1.0 · [5000,10000)->1.1 · [10000,15000)->1.2 · 15000+->1.3 |
| 6m | [0,3000)->1.0 · [3000,6000)->1.1 · [6000,9000)->1.2 · 9000+->1.3 |
| 2m | [0,500)->1.0 · [500,1000)->1.2 · [1000,2000)->1.5 · 2000+->2.0 |
| 70cm | [0,200)->1.0 · [200,500)->1.3 · [500,1000)->1.6 · 1000+->2.0 |
5.4 Mode bonus (ModeBonus)
| Mode | Points |
|---|---|
| CW | 2 |
| SSB | 1 |
| AM | 1 |
| FM | 0 |
| FT8 | 0 |
| FT4 | 0 |
| RTTY | 3 |
| PSK31 | 2 |
| JT65 | 1 |
5.5 Homebrew equipment (HomebrewCoef)
Using a homebrew transmitter or transceiver sets HomebrewCoef = 1.15; otherwise it is 1.00. It
multiplies only the distance part of the score — never the DXCC bonus or the mode bonus.
6. Worked examples
New DXCC, 6430 km, 160m, CW, stock equipment:
18 + (6 x 1.2 x 1.00) + 2 = 27.2
Same contact, DXCC already used this season, on any band:
0 + (6 x 1.2 x 1.00) + 2 = 9.2
Exactly 500 km, 20m, SSB, DXCC already used:
0 + (0 x 1.0 x 1.00) + 1 = 1
New DXCC, 6430 km, 160m, CW, homebrew transceiver:
18 + (6 x 1.2 x 1.15) + 2 = 28.28 — the 1.15 applies only to the distance term (6 x 1.2), never
to the 18 or the 2.
7. Ties
Within a week, nominations rank by: higher score first; if tied, whoever submitted earlier; if still tied, the lower nomination id. This always produces a strict order — 1st, 2nd, 3rd -- never a shared position.
Across the season, participants rank by: higher season total first; if tied, higher single best weekly score; if still tied, whoever's last scoring nomination landed earlier; if still tied, the lower account id. Also always a strict order, for the same reason.
8. Transparency
Every nomination's score is stored broken down into its CountryPoints, DistanceBase, BandCoef, HomebrewCoef and ModeBonus parts.
Season rules are frozen the moment a season activates — the scoring tables above cannot change for a season already running. A rule change applies only to a new season.
Weekly results are locked in as soon as the week closes: later edits to your log never change a result that has already been scored. Reopening a locked result is a logged, reasoned administrative action, not a side effect of editing your log.