As above.
CU on 60m or WARC bands. UK stations - put your clocks back as well!
73, Dave, G4IAR
Not just the UK - Central European clocks go back 1 hr aswell at 2am on Sunday morning.
Ed.
Aargh! It doesn’t even have the good manners to finish at 12.00!
CQWW SOTA Activating techniques:
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Avoid it. Do VHF or WARC bands.
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Embrace it. Go to the upper frequency end of a contest band (where things tend to be a little quieter) and work your way down, S+P’ing the strong contest stations.
An extra hour’s kip too - bonus! Plus my gig this Saturday is only in Liverpool, so that’s far less driving than I normally have to do - might even get to sneak a little activation in myself.
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Not a good technique for us collectors!
or use CW. This weekend is CQWW DX SSB only. The CW version will be end of November.
73 de Dominik, HB9CZF
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I just looked at the rules of this contest - specifically regarding WHERE in the bands the contest stations should operate.
VERY WEAK statement in the rules states “Observance of established band plans is strongly encouraged.” ENCOURAGED???!!! - that’s carte blanche for the over 30,000 stations worldwide (apparently) to splatter from one end of the band to the other in all countries EXCEPT countries such as the US and Germany, where the bandplan is actually law. (as in, in the case of the way I read the licence in Germany, you can be prosecuted for operating outside of the bandplan).
The organisers of the Worked all Germany contest (last weekend) actually take action against those not operating within their defined contest sections of the bands. It would be good if more contest organisers stepped up to their responsibilities and followed the WAG lead.
Hmm, probably not the best day to pick to go out and do some antenna testing with only 20w, but that’s what I’m planning for early Saturday morning. - Wish me luck!
73 Ed.
On 40m at least, the entire CW portion of the band will be full of splattery SSB signals.
Also, there will be no hope of using digital modes such as JT65 or FT8 anywhere in the 40m band this weekend.
73,
Walt (G3NYY)
Ed, CQ WW DX has made this statement for years and for years there are some SSB stations who will sit in the CW only parts of the bands. People complain to the organisers and submit evidence of bandplan infringment and nothing happens.
It will cause massive disruption. Use the WARC bands people say. Well they get a little chock-full with all the refugees from the non-WARC bands. Non-contest stations will be affected so you may as well try and work the contest stations and pick up the DX stations or increase your US states/counties count etc.
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If some activator plans to work HF on some of the no WARC bands, IOW, in the middle of the CQWW contest, Sunday should be easier than Saturday for S&P with a /P QRP station, as many will be DUPES by that time and there might be some relatively clear gaps after the big guns end transmission of each CQ TEST call.
I’ll still remain off side activating like all these weeks since I finished my summer holidays 
73,
Guru
Or do as I do … if you can’t beat them, join them 
I’ll be operator at OT5A this weekend, mainly in the 40m shack … (my times are SAT 07-09 + 17-19, SUN 10-12 + 13-15, all UTC)
Ooops, maybe I’ll get expelled from the SOTA community now ?
But as a compensation, any SOTA activator calling while I’m at the mic will surely get a reply !
So Ed, if you want to compare your antenna with our 3 element yagi … feel free to give us a call 
73 - Luc ON7DQ
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If I hear you, I might just do that! The comparison will be between a 20m J-Pole and a 20m dipole - what is at the chasers end is not critical as long as it doesn’t change.
73 Ed.
It is what it is. If I do a SOTA activation on one of the CQWW weekends, then I simply start at the higher end of the band and work my way down. On this occasion, I am not trying to work chasers. I am seeing how many QSOs I can make in the activation, how many countries I can work, and if I can pick up any new DXCCs / band-mode slots.
More traditional and socially-acceptable forms of activating can just wait until the other 361 days of the year.
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well I shall be operating from the rare CQ zone 14 tomorrow I shall be in the low power category (i.e. <100W)
I hope to find a space on the bands and also that the wind drops a little from tonight.
If zone 14 doesn’t float your boat then hopefully LD028 & 034 will be more appealing 
Good luck Andy!
Today there was no space on 20 metres that wasn’t being splattered over by a contest station and in that I am including parts of the band that contesters are “advised” not to use but in the case of CQWW are not banned from using as in a few (albeit smaller) contests.
Ed DD5LP (also in CQ Zone 14)
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I’d intended going out and doing some SSB on 15m, but yesterday the wx was too horrid, while today I was too tired after a late gig in Liverpool last night (went on a lot longer than I was expecting!) and needing to be on the road shortly for another in Blackpool tonight.
I’ll probably have more opportunity in the CQWW CW in November. Also hoping to get out and do a bit in next weekend’s 2m CW “Marconi” contest.
wall to wall on 20m. I think I should have taken an antenna for another band! Thank goodness for the WABers on 7.160, thank you gents.
However, I did enjoy 2m today and the weather, views and walk were stunning (though very boggy)
Hi Ed,
it is a bit off topic but I do not see any legal obligation to obey the bandplan. To my mind the Bundesnetzagentur (German telecommunications office) does not care at all what ham radio operators are doing within the bands. There is a limitation in bandwidth but this is valid for the complete band, e.g. 2,7 kHz for the complete 40m or 20m band. But this does not protect the CW parts or define some “contest free” segments.
The DARC asks the DARC members to obey the band plan in their “Satzung” - but you are not obliged to be a DARC member.
I fully agree even without legal obligation every operator should obey the bandplan out of courtesy.
I was thinking about an activation on Saturday afternoon. Not the CQ WW but the storm made me give up when I was on site. Not only it was bitter cold due to the storm but also the chance to have the pole damaged made me give up.
73 de Michael, DB7MM
Sorry Michael - you are right - it was the Bandwidth point that was I remembered as “law” from an earlier discussion where the IARU Bandplan was registered in the courts. Of course contest stations in Germany operating below 14.100 MHz would be in conflict with this rule and there were a couple of SSB contest stations under 14.1 on Saturday, but I think they were Middle East stations.
(I am no longer a DARC member).
73 Ed.
CQ WW DX CW contest is this weekend. See you on 30/17M cw.
73, Barry N1EU