In its eighth edition, the Marconi Club QSO Party 2026 once again proves to be an unmissable event for the international community of telegraphy enthusiasts, capable of bringing CW operators together under the banner of their shared passion for this noble art.

The enthusiasm and determination of the participants turned the 20, 40 and 80‑meter bands into a vibrant global meeting point, offering great enjoyment for everyone involved. This year’s figures highlight an extraordinary increase in participation: a total of 292 logs were received (compared to 228 in the previous edition), marking a significant step forward in the history of the contest.

The breakdown shows 114 Marconi Club members (up from 111 in 2025) and a remarkable surge in independent operators, rising to 158 from last year’s 117. The international scope of the event expanded dramatically, with operators from around 70 DXCC countries, a notable increase compared to 2025.

Overall, the Organizing Committee’s database processed 26,729 QSOs, confirming the effectiveness of the cross‑checking work and the valuable collaboration of Filippo IZ1LBG and the excellent HRDLOG platform by Claudio IW1QLH.

The log analysis—carried out with extreme precision to minimize errors, achieving a contact‑verification rate close to 98%—produced exciting rankings where just a handful of points made the difference.

In the MC Members Category, the undisputed “king” Flavio IK1YDB confirms his dominance with a final score of 363,072 and 472 valid QSOs.

Right behind him, Ivo 9A1AA secures a solid second place with 310,500 points. The real battle unfolded for the third step of the podium: Marco I4IKW (289,261 points) edged out Tony IK1QBT (287,978 points) by a razor‑thin margin. The difference between them—just 1,283 points—shows how crucial accuracy was this year.

Among Independent operators, IU4JNR dominated the field with 196,285 points.

However, the most suspenseful moment came from the fight for second and third place: SN1T finished ahead of IT9WDC by only 423 points (110,826 vs. 110,403).

Here, precision was truly surgical: SN1T kept an exceptionally low error rate of 0.51%, while IT9WDC—despite having a higher RAW score—slipped to third place due to a slightly higher, though still very good, error percentage (1.46%). Special recognition goes to F5MQU and IU3LYJ, who submitted flawless logs with 0% errors.

The Organizing Committee renews its invitation to all participants—even those with only a few contacts—to always submit their logs using QARTest by Paolo IK3QAR, an essential tool to ensure that every participant provides a fully compliant log.

A heartfelt thank‑you goes to BEGALI for their constant support and the prestige of the prizes offered, and to Giu IT9VDQ for contributing the plaque awarded to the winner of the Independent category. We warmly encourage all independent operators not to remain “on the sidelines” but to join the Marconi Club family.

We look forward to meeting again in 2027, ready to break new participation records and to shake hands once more—over the airwaves—in the name of telegraphy.

Marconi Club ARI Loano Contest Committee

The detailed final results of the QSO PARTY MCD 2026 are available at the following link:

 https://www.marconiclub.it/images/marconiclubday2026/Classifiche_MCD_2026.pdf