Contest Country Files

Home
Format
Revisions

[ CT10 | CT9 | CT8 | Fldigi | JL | KLog | MixW | N1MM | NA | RCKlog | RCKRtty | SD | TLF | TR LOG | TR4W | WF1B | Win-Test | WriteLog ]

[ AR-Cluster | CC Cluster | DX Spider | RDXCluster | VE3SUN DX Monitor ]

The files were last updated on 7 February 2010.

This is the home of the contest country files. These files are used by amateur radio contest logging software to help determine country multipliers from a callsign. The files are updated several times a year, usually before the major DX contests (ARRL DX, CQ WW, etc.) and changes are announced on the various contest and logging software reflectors.

You must use the file that is appropriate for your software. Even though the files are similar, each contains different features that your particular software can take advantage of.

Version Information

To see the country file change history, click on the Revisions link on the left.

Once the file is downloaded and installed, there are several ways to tell what version of the country file you have:

In your logging program, try to log the callsign "VERSION" (on a DX cluster node, use the SH/H VERSION or SH/SUN VERSION command). Each version of the country files will return a different country. That country will be in the release notes for that version.
Open the country file using a text editor like Notepad. Find the entry for Canada, VE. In the list of prefixes/callsigns, you'll find a "callsign" that looks like:
VERyyyymmdd

where "yyyymmdd" is the date of the release. For example, CTY-1812 was released on 10 November, 2008 so the version string in this case is "VER20081110".
The Win-Test files (cty_wt.dat and cty_wt_mod.dat) have there own version information at the top of the file.

Except for Win-Test, the CTY file name (i.e. CTY-1812) can not be found in the file.

A Note about USA Callsign Exceptions

Many USA callsigns are not in the CQ Zone indicated by the number in the callsign. For example, K5ZD is in CQ Zone 5, not Zone 4. The country files do list a number of these callsigns with the correct zone. However, they don't list everyone, only the most active contesters. Here's how the list is determined:

Using the Super Check Partial Database of active contesters, build a list of callsigns that are found in 100 or more logs. 100 is an arbitrary number, but it tends to limit the number of callsign/zone exceptions to around 500, which seems like a reasonable number of active contesters.
For each callsign that met the criteria in #1 above, predict the CQ Zone based on the number in the callsign. For example, '1' is Zone 5, '5' is Zone 4, etc.
For each callsign that met the criteria in #1 above, look up the callsign in the current FCC database, and determine the CQ Zone based on the state (as listed). For example, Wyoming is CQ Zone 4, West Virginia is CQ Zone 5, California is CQ Zone 3.
If the CQ Zone from step #2 does NOT match the CQ Zone from step #3, add an exception to the country file.

That's the process, plain and simple. It's fully automated. It rewards the most active contesters. If you want to "get on the list", then "get on the air"!

Since this is most important for the three CQWW contests, the USA callsign exceptions are typically only updated once a year, before CQWW RTTY. If there is a need to update them before IARU, let me know. Many states cross ITU zone boundaries, so it's harder to get the ITU zone exceptions correct.

Installation Instructions

Clicking on any of the country file links below should prompt you to save (download) the file. If the file is displayed in the browser window instead, come back to this page and follow these instructions to save it:

Firefox: Right-click on the file name and choose "Save Link As..."

Internet Explorer: Right-click on the file name and choose "Save Target As..."

Netscape Navigator: Hold the SHIFT key down while clicking on the hyperlink (file name) and your browser will prompt you to save the file.

NOTE: All links below are to the current version of the files. To download the current or an older version (all files contained in a single ZIP file), follow the Revisions link on the left.

NOTE: There are two different versions of CTY.DAT, CTY_WT.DAT, CTY_WT_MOD.DAT and WL_CTY.DAT. Beginning with CTY-1805, full callsigns in the file are prefixed with the '=' character. Some older logging programs will ignore these callsigns, so "old" format versions of the files (without the '=') are available. If you click on the appropriate link below for your software, you will get the correct version of country file.

CT 10

Save CTY.DAT to your CT directory.

CT 9.91 and later

Save CTY.DAT to your CT directory.

CT 9.90 and earlier

Save CTY.DAT to your CT directory.

CT 8 and earlier

Save ARRL.CTY, CQWW.CTY and IARU.CTY to your CT directory.

Fldigi

Linux:	download CTY.DAT to the directory ~/.fldigi
Mac OS X:	download CTY.DAT to the download folder. Open Fldigi and click on File/Show Config - then drag and drop CTY.DAT into the open .fldigi folder
Windows XP:	download CTY.DAT to the folder C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\fldigi.files
Windows Vista:	download CTY.DAT to the folder C:\Users\<username>\fldigi.files

JL

Save CTY.DAT to the jl/data directory.

KLog

Save CTY.DAT to the ~/.klog/ directory.

MixW

Save CTY.DAT to your MixW directory.

N1MM 8.6.2 and later

Save WL_CTY.DAT to your N1MM Logger directory and run Tools -> Import Country List from downloaded file into the database you plan to use.

N1MM 8.6.1 and earlier

Save WL_CTY.DAT to your N1MM Logger directory and run Tools -> Import Country List from downloaded file into the database you plan to use.

NA

Save COUNTRY.DAT to your NA directory and run NAU.

RCKLog

Save CTY.DAT to your RCKLog directory.

RCKRtty

Save CTY.DAT to your RCKRtty directory.

SD

SD uses multiple .CTY files derived mainly from CTY.DAT. They are updated in advance of major contests, and are available from ww.ei5di.com/sd/cty.zip.

TLF

Save CTY.DAT to /usr/local/share/tlf

TR LOG 6.90 and later

Save CTY.DAT to your TR directory.

TR LOG 6.89 and earlier

Save CTY.DAT to your TR directory.

TR4W

Save CTY.DAT to your TR4W directory.

WF1B

Save WF1B.DAT to your WF1B RTTY folder
Run COUNTRY.EXE
Choose "Read CTY.DAT"
At "Identify the K1EA Country File(.DAT)", type in WF1B.DAT then CTRL-Enter
Select Contest Files: "Only CQWW & WAE"
Exit

Win-Test 4.1 and later

Save these two files to the following directory:

CTY_WT.DAT

CTY_WT_MOD.DAT

c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Win-Test\countryFiles\

Then in the program, go to Options -> Data Files -> Country Files to select the file you wish to use.

Win-Test 3.19 and later

Save these two files to your Win-Test directory:

CTY_WT.DAT

CTY_WT_MOD.DAT

Then in the program, go to Options -> Data Files -> Country Files to select the file you wish to use.

Win-Test 3.18 and earlier

Save these two files to your Win-Test directory:

CTY_WT.DAT

CTY_WT_MOD.DAT

Then in the program, go to Options -> Data Files -> Country Files to select the file you wish to use.

WriteLog 10.29 and later

Save WL_CTY.DAT to your WRITELOG\PROGRAMS directory and run the "Convert CTY to WriteLog" program from the WriteLog program group (Start -> Programs -> WriteLog v10 -> Convert..). If you don't have the shortcut, manually run the REACTY32.EXE program in the WRITELOG\PROGRAMS directory.

WriteLog 10.28 and earlier

You can also update online if you are using a recent version of the program. Files -> Web Update Data Files and click on the Download button. Note that there may be a delay between when the country files are announced and when the latest version is available for Web Update. Try test logging the callsign VERSION to see what country file version you received.

AR-Cluster

Save ARRL.CTY to C:\Program Files\AR-Cluster\Configuration
Click on CFG -> AUTO-COUNTRY
Click on IMPORT

CC Cluster

Save WL_CTY.DAT to your cluster directory. If you are running a recent version of the cluster program, click the "Update WL_CTY" button. If you are running an older version, stop and restart the cluster program.

DX Spider

Save CTY.DAT to your spider/data directory. Run spider/perl/create_prefix.pl. Then log into the cluster as administrator and type "load/prefix".

RDXCluster

No information available.

VE3SUN DX Monitor

No information available.

Monitor page for changes:

it's private powered by ChangeDetection