CQ Zones vs ITU Zones: What They Are and Why They Matter

Sooner or later every HF operator is asked for a zone. A contest wants your zone in the exchange, a logging program has a zone field, and an award asks how many zones you have confirmed. The confusing part is that amateur radio uses two different zone systems. CQ zones divide the world into 40 regions and are used for the Worked All Zones award and the CQ World Wide contests. ITU zones are a finer grid used in the IARU HF Championship and by many logging tools.

This guide explains what each system is, how they differ, how to find your own zones, and how zones are used in awards and contests. It also covers the common logging mistakes that cost operators zone credit or contest points.

What a Zone Is and Why Hams Use Them

A zone is simply a region of the world with a number. Zones were introduced for awards and contests as a way of measuring geographic spread that is different from counting countries. DXCC rewards working many separate entities, including tiny islands and territories. Zones reward working every broad region of the planet, which means reaching areas that have few active stations even though they cover a large area.

Because zones are large, they are also convenient as a contest exchange. Everyone knows their own zone number, it is short to send, and it gives a clear set of multipliers. That combination explains why zones have stayed in use for decades.

CQ Zones: The 40-Zone System

CQ zones were defined by CQ magazine, which sponsors the Worked All Zones (WAZ) award and the CQ World Wide DX Contest. The world is divided into 40 zones. Their boundaries follow a mix of geography and political borders, so some zones are huge ocean regions with few islands, while others cover densely populated areas.

A few points are worth knowing:

• Large countries span several CQ zones. The United States, Canada, Russia, China, Australia and Brazil each cover more than one zone, so you need to know which zone applies to a particular station, not just its country.
• Small countries usually sit in one zone. Lithuania, for example, is in CQ zone 15.
• Some zones are hard to work. Zones with very few resident amateurs, such as remote ocean or polar regions, often depend on DXpeditions and are the last ones most WAZ chasers need.

In the CQ World Wide DX Contest, the exchange is a signal report plus your CQ zone, and the official CQ WW rules state that each different CQ zone worked on each band counts as a zone multiplier, with the CQ WAZ rules as the standard. If you are planning to take part, our first-timer’s guide to CQ WW explains how the exchange and scoring work in practice.

ITU Zones: The Finer Grid

ITU zones come from the International Telecommunication Union’s division of the world for administrative radio purposes. They are smaller than CQ zones, so there are many more of them; the numbering runs up to 90. Lithuania is in ITU zone 29, for example.

The best known amateur use of ITU zones is the IARU HF World Championship, organised by the International Amateur Radio Union. In that contest, most stations send their ITU zone as the exchange, while the headquarters stations of IARU member societies send their society abbreviation instead. Different ITU zones and society headquarters count as multipliers. Always check the current year’s rules before the contest, because details of categories and scoring can change.

ITU zones also appear in some national awards, in logging software, and in contest exchanges for smaller events. Because the grid is finer, the same country often contains more ITU zones than CQ zones.

CQ Zones vs ITU Zones Compared

The key takeaway is that a zone number on its own is ambiguous. Zone 15 in the CQ system and zone 15 in the ITU system are completely different places. Whenever you send, log or claim a zone, be clear which system it belongs to.

How to Find Your Own Zones

For most operators in small countries, finding your zone takes seconds: look it up once and remember it. For operators in large countries, or anyone operating portable or mobile, it needs more care.

• Use an official zone map or list. CQ publishes the WAZ zone definitions, and many national societies publish lists for their own country.
• Check boundaries in large countries. In countries that span several zones, the boundary may follow state, province or regional lines. Make sure you use the zone for your actual station location, not your home address if you are operating elsewhere.
• Use your logging program carefully. Most logging programs fill in zones from a country file. That works for single-zone countries but can be wrong for large countries unless the program uses a more detailed database or you correct it.
• Check when operating portable. If you take your station on a trip, your zone may change even if your country does not. In a contest, sending the wrong zone can cost both you and the other station points.

Zones are not the same as Maidenhead grid squares, which are a much finer location system used mainly on VHF and for digital modes. Our explanation of grid squares and the Maidenhead locator system covers that system separately.

The Worked All Zones Award

WAZ is one of the classic DX awards, alongside DXCC. The idea is simple: confirm contacts with stations in all 40 CQ zones. In practice, it is a long-term project for most operators, because a few zones have very little activity and depend on propagation, DXpeditions or a small number of resident stations.

Some practical advice for WAZ chasers:

1. Track zones separately from countries. A station in a large country may give you a new zone even if the country is already confirmed. Make sure your logging program records the zone for each contact.
2. Confirm early. A zone is only useful for the award once it is confirmed. Electronic confirmation systems make this much faster than paper cards, but check which confirmation methods the award currently accepts.
3. Watch for rare zones in contests. CQ WW weekends bring out stations in zones you rarely hear the rest of the year, because every station is motivated to find them.
4. Look beyond the basic award. Band and mode variants of WAZ exist, which give long-term goals once the basic award is complete. Read the current rules from CQ before planning around a particular variant.

WAZ and DXCC complement each other well. DXCC rewards depth in the entity list; WAZ rewards breadth across the globe. Our article on how DXCC works and how to start chasing it explains the entity side of the hobby.

Zones as Contest Multipliers

In contests that use zones, each new zone on each band usually counts as a multiplier, and multipliers have a large effect on the final score. That changes how you operate:

• Listen for zones, not only for countries. In CQ WW, a station in a new zone is valuable even if its country is common. A station in a large country might be a new zone on that band.
• Use band changes for multipliers. Because zones count per band, working the same zone on several bands adds several multipliers. Moving a multiplier to another band is a standard contest technique.
• Copy the exchange carefully. In zone-based contests, the zone is often the only real information in the exchange, and a miscopied zone can cost the multiplier and the contact. Most contest loggers prefill the expected zone, but they cannot know about a portable station or an unusual location, so always log what was actually sent.

Different contests use different multiplier systems. CQ WPX, for example, counts prefixes rather than zones; our article on how prefixes become multipliers in CQ WPX shows the contrast.

Zones in Your Log and Logging Software

Zones only help you if they are stored correctly in your log. Most logging programs keep CQ zone and ITU zone in separate fields, and the ADIF exchange format has separate fields for each as well, usually named CQZ and ITUZ. When you move a log between programs or upload it to a confirmation service, those fields travel with each contact. Our guide to ADIF and moving your log between programs explains how to check that fields survive the transfer.

A few habits make zone tracking far easier over the years:

Let the software fill zones, then audit them

Country files and callsign databases fill in zones automatically for most contacts, which saves a lot of typing. The weak spot is stations in multi-zone countries and stations operating away from home. Once in a while, sort your log by country and check the zone column for the large countries. Correcting a few dozen contacts now is much easier than discovering the problem when you apply for an award.

Log what was sent in contests

In a zone-based contest, the zone you log should be the zone the other station actually sent, not the one your logger predicted. Contest sponsors check logs against each other, and a mismatch can cost the contact. If a station sends an unexpected zone, it may well be operating portable, so trust your ears over the prefill.

Keep award progress separate from contest scores

A zone that counted as a contest multiplier is not automatically a confirmed zone for WAZ. Award credit depends on confirmation, while contest credit depends on the sponsor’s log checking. Many logging programs can show award progress separately, filtered by band and mode, which tells you exactly which zones are still missing and where to focus your listening.

Common Zone Mistakes

• Mixing CQ and ITU zones. Sending your ITU zone in CQ WW, or your CQ zone in the IARU HF Championship, is one of the most common contest errors.
• Trusting the default zone. Logging software may assign the main zone of a country to every station in it. Check stations in large countries.
• Forgetting portable operation. When you operate away from home, check whether your zone has changed.
• Confusing zones with regions. IARU regions, used for band plans, are a completely separate system from CQ and ITU zones.
• Not recording zones at all. If your log has no zone field filled in, you will struggle to track awards later. Fix this before it becomes thousands of contacts.

The Bottom Line

CQ zones and ITU zones are two separate ways of dividing the world. CQ zones, 40 in total, drive the WAZ award and the CQ World Wide contests. ITU zones form a finer grid and are used in the IARU HF World Championship and elsewhere. Learn both of your own zone numbers, be explicit about which system you are using, check zones for stations in large countries and when you operate portable, and make sure your log records them. Done well, zones turn into one of the most rewarding long-term goals in DXing and one of the biggest score multipliers in contesting.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many CQ zones are there?

There are 40 CQ zones. They were defined by CQ magazine for the Worked All Zones award and are used as the exchange and zone multipliers in the CQ World Wide DX Contest.

What is the difference between CQ zones and ITU zones?

They are two different systems. CQ zones are larger regions defined by CQ magazine, while ITU zones are a finer grid from the International Telecommunication Union. The same number refers to different places in each system, so always say which one you mean.

Which zone do I send in CQ WW?

In the CQ World Wide DX Contest you send a signal report plus your CQ zone. In the IARU HF World Championship you send your ITU zone instead, unless you are an IARU member society headquarters station.

How do I find my CQ zone?

Look it up in an official CQ zone list or map. In small countries one zone usually covers everything. In large countries such as the United States, Canada, Russia or Australia, check the boundary for your actual station location.

What is the WAZ award?

Worked All Zones is an award from CQ magazine for confirmed contacts with stations in all 40 CQ zones. Band and mode variants also exist. Check the current rules from CQ for accepted confirmation methods.

Are zones the same as IARU regions?

No. IARU regions are three large regions used for band plans and IARU organisation. CQ zones and ITU zones are separate, much smaller divisions used for awards and contest exchanges.