If you’re planning to activate a county in the Salmon Run (even if it’s your normal fixed station), please (form closed for 2022). The results will be tabulated every few days into the Activations list below.  The Activate a County list is a way to inform hams around the world where to find operators in the different Washington counties – and to let those who plan who go out as mobile stations know which counties may not be covered.  There are no exclusive reservations.

For rovers, you’re welcome to either fill out this form once for each county or send your activation plan (ideally answering the questions below for each county planned) to the Salmon Run Committee.

In addition, a number of multi-county mobiles and expeditions are planned for this year.  W7TG will activate Skagit and Whatcom counties, while K7TQ and WA0WWW are planning a 20 county mobile bonanza spanning eastern Washington. For more information see their web page here.

For those yet to choose a county, we’ve done some analysis on the logs from 2021 to aid expeditions and rovers in picking counties that weren’t very popular last year.  The following table shows the number of QSOs in the submitted logs for each county by mode, as well as the number of stations worked in each county.

The Salmon Run 2022 Rules are out and published on the Rules Page. This year the WWDXC Salmon Run Committee did an extensive review of the rules and made a number of updates to help the Party run smoother and encourage as many stations as possible to participate. We also added a couple of new Awards to encourage participation and friendly competition among entrants.

Here are the main changes that might impact your operating plans:

No Digital Contacts

While we understand this may feel like a step backwards for some, digital mode participation has been languishing substantially in recent years.  With most digital activities moving to the “FT” modes, stations like the W7DX Salmon have spent hours calling on digital calling frequencies for RTTY or PSK with very few responses. We didn’t want to tire out any of the salmon swimming the wrong way, so until the WSJT-X team is able to incorporate more flexible contest exchanges, we’ve decided to sideline digital modes and encourage operators to put their energy where it makes the most contacts.

Multi-Operator Geography

In accordance with many other contests, we require that multi-operator stations, with the exception of those operating in the Unlimited category, to reside entirely upon the same premises (including all transmitters and antennas) and within a 1000-foot diameter circle. We love Multi-Op entries, and while the past few years have show us there are a number of different and unique ways to operate Multi, we want to make sure the rules are explicity for this category.

That being said, stations that want to participate as “Distributed Multi-Ops” are encouraged to enter into the Unlimited category. Equipment used by multi-op operators in this category does not need to be on the same premises, It is only necessary that all radio equipment and antennas be located in the same WA county (or state/province/DXCC entity for non-WA multi-ops). All stations must use the same callsign, and only one station may be on any band+mode at any given time. Simultaneously operating different modes on the same band is allowed.

We also encourage other entries that may not fit our rules to enter the Unlimited Category and please do drop the Salmon Run Committee a note with your ideas.

Eliminate 2M contacts entirely

WWDXC members have a great history in VHF and up operations, and the mountains around Washington provide some great opportunities for hill toppers, mountain goats, and the like. However, we found that the 2M band was used almost exclusively by Puget Sound area entrants to work each other over short distances on another band, and we want to encourage that time spent moving stations to and from 2m to be used working more counties, states, and entities.  6m will remain available, and while it can be used for local line of sight contacts as well, we always hope for a nice regional, national, or international 6m opening to liven up the party and add some 6m hooks to the water.

DXCC entities are counted for up to 10 multipliers

Previously, DX credit for DXCC entities was unlimited for WA credit, but to level the playing field across the classes and modes, we’ve decided to limit the WA station multipliers for DX to a maximum of 10.

Expeditions can operate while mobile

Historically the expedition class encourages operators to set up portable stations field-day style at one or more locations, while the mobile class requires operating from a station that’s capable of motion at all times.  Expeditions that wanted to operate two or more counties had the penalty of down-time while driving between the counties.  To encourage more time on the air, expeditioners (especially multi-ops) are encouraged to consider (safe) operation while mobile if moving between counties or between your home and an expedition site.  However, the 1000-ft rule still applies, so a multi-op driving to an expedition site which is actively participating needs to wait until they arrive on site to participate.

In addition, we reduced the number of classes for Expeditions. All expedition classes (EXP-SOST, EXP-MOST, and EXP-MO2T) are now mixed mode entries only.

Awards

Finally, for awards, we’ve added two “horse race” awards that can be won by working a group of multipliers first.  For stations outside of Washington, the first station to get a clean sweep of WA counties will be entitled to a plaque.  For Washington locals, the first station to work all of the U.S. and Canadian multipliers will win the race.

73,

Justin, K5EM, on behalf of the WWXDC Salmon Run committee. Special thanks to Rob N7QT, Rusty W6OAT, Tom NU7J, and Kirk N7UK for their work on this over the past months and to Dink (N7WA) for his past work administering the contest and his continued support in scoring. A special thanks to John (W7CD, SK) for all the tireless work he put into the Salmon Run over the past few years especially to bring our logging into the digital ages.

Please read the Rules, recently republished.  Changes for the 2021 Salmon Run, to be conducted on September 18th and 19th, include:

• • We now support Cabrillo v3.0 as well as v2.0