Frequent Contester Awards Program (FCAP)

FCG Frequent Contester Awards Program

The FCG Frequent Contester Program (FCAP) provides recognition for FCG members’ participation in approved contests.

You don’t have to be a high-scoring big gun contester to receive recognition in the FCP. The program is based on operating time (“butt in the chair”) rather than contest scores. Therefore, low-power stations with wire antennas are on an equal plane with high-power stations with multiple beams.

FCP points for each contest are calculated by multiplying the OpTime by a weight assigned to each contest. These points are then totaled to determine the member’s participation level.

There are five participation level brackets for the purpose of awards – Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum and Diamond. Members who have reached at least the Silver plateau will be eligible for extra tickets for the drawing at the Annual FCG Banquet at Orlando HamCation® each year.

Members can find their current status by searching for their callsign in the Member Status – FCP file. This file is updated monthly and is also included in a monthly report distributed on the FCG groups.io reflector.

The approved list of contests includes most contests that have a duration of more than four hours. Each contest has a weight assigned based on whether it’s a major contest, QSO party or minor DX contest. The Approved Contest List contains the contests, their weight, starting date/time and modes. A separate Contest Schedule provides the contest list in date/time order. This schedule has also been sorted into separate lists by the following operating modes to enable members to quickly identify contests of interest:

CW
SSB
RTTY
Other Digital Modes

Contest participation information is derived from the 3830Scores database. Therefore, members must send a contest log summary to 3830Scores.com to get FCP credit. OpTime must be included and the club should be listed as Florida Contest Group.

Complete details of the FCP can be found in the FCG Frequent Contester Program Rules.

Questions should be addressed to the FCP Administrator at .

Developing a Contest Incentive program From Scratch given at the 2019 Melbourne Hamfest.