Santa - Rules
SANTA AWARD 2026
The Santa Contest is becoming the Santa Award. Nothing changes,the rules and format remain the same as in the previous edition. This is because the event isn't meant to be a competition, but rather a long, special occasion to be enjoyed in a spirit of fun and lightheartedness; therefore, the term "Award" seems more appropriate to us. The award we all know remains the same with only a few new features such as numerical calls, final rankings for everyone, hunters and SANTA STATIONS and the possibility of downloading your own personalized participation diploma with your score.
PARTICIPATION:
The event will take place from 1 to 31 December 2026 inclusive and is open to all 11m operators and for the hunters prior registration is not required. Instead, operators who wish to become SANTA STATIONS must make a request to the Santa Award Manager 1AT104 Ivan, by sending an email to: santa (at) alfatango.it
(santa (at) alfatango.it)The Santa Award Manager will assign a special numerical callsign to all requests, in chronological order; for example: 1AT/S01, 1AT/S02...1AT/S10, etc. (we abandon the use of letters, to make callsigns shorter and simpler).
The list of all participating "SANTA STATIONS" will be available shortly before the event on our website, on the official Facebook page, and via a printable checklist.
BAND AND BANDPLAN:
Activity must take place on 11m band. The section of the band between .500 and .600 included (so called DX part) cannot be used for QSO.
SCORING:
Hunters can only make QSO with SANTA stations once.
Exchange and Validity of contacts: There is no serial number system (no progressive numbers). Just 5/9, in the log. The validity of the QSO will be verified by our softwares. There is no need for hunters to submit their log: QSO will be confirmed based on the SANTA stations logs.
RANKINGS AND CERTIFICATE DOWNLOAD:
Rankings and Certificate download:
Two separate rankings will be created, one for hunters and one for the SANTA STATIONS, and all hunters and SANTA STATIONS can download their participation certificate (digital full color award A4) from the AT Portal.
LOGS:
For Activators Only: SANTA AWARD 2026 Logs must be sent no later than January 10, 2026. Only logs created by ATLOGGER are accepted according to the software instructions. At the end of the SANTA AWARD, activators are required to send the log via ATLogger’s SEND LOG button. Paper logs or logs created by different software will NOT be accepted.
Have fun to everyone!
The Santa Award Team
PARTICIPATION:
The event will take place from 1 to 31 December 2026 inclusive and is open to all 11m operators and for the hunters prior registration is not required. Instead, operators who wish to become SANTA STATIONS must make a request to the Santa Award Manager 1AT104 Ivan, by sending an email to: santa (at) alfatango.it
(santa (at) alfatango.it)The Santa Award Manager will assign a special numerical callsign to all requests, in chronological order; for example: 1AT/S01, 1AT/S02...1AT/S10, etc. (we abandon the use of letters, to make callsigns shorter and simpler).
The list of all participating "SANTA STATIONS" will be available shortly before the event on our website, on the official Facebook page, and via a printable checklist.
BAND AND BANDPLAN:
Activity must take place on 11m band. The section of the band between .500 and .600 included (so called DX part) cannot be used for QSO.
SCORING:
Hunters can only make QSO with SANTA stations once.
Exchange and Validity of contacts: There is no serial number system (no progressive numbers). Just 5/9, in the log. The validity of the QSO will be verified by our softwares. There is no need for hunters to submit their log: QSO will be confirmed based on the SANTA stations logs.
RANKINGS AND CERTIFICATE DOWNLOAD:
Rankings and Certificate download:
Two separate rankings will be created, one for hunters and one for the SANTA STATIONS, and all hunters and SANTA STATIONS can download their participation certificate (digital full color award A4) from the AT Portal.
LOGS:
For Activators Only: SANTA AWARD 2026 Logs must be sent no later than January 10, 2026. Only logs created by ATLOGGER are accepted according to the software instructions. At the end of the SANTA AWARD, activators are required to send the log via ATLogger’s SEND LOG button. Paper logs or logs created by different software will NOT be accepted.
Have fun to everyone!
The Santa Award Team