International Festival of Bunkers
Background
Following the success of the 2025 International Bunkerfest, WWBOTA presents Winterfest 2026, encouraging global bunker activations and hunting over a fun weekend.
Dates: Weekend 3–4 January 2026 (UTC)
Aims
• Promote the Worldwide Bunkers on the Air (WWBOTA) scheme
• Encourage bunker activations from all WWBOTA member countries
• Encourage worldwide bunker hunting and shortwave listening
• Include amateurs from countries without national bunker schemes as ‘guest countries’
• Have fun activating and chasing
Additional Notes
• Participants are encouraged to share photos or short reports from their activations.
• Winterfest 2026 is intended as a fun, friendly event. It is not a competition and no league table will be produced.
Graphics Pack
A Winterfest graphics packs has been requested so that participants can use images on their own websites on QSL cards etc. The downloadable pack (below) contains four hi-resolution images, all in PNG (tranparent background) format. You are free to use these to support WWBOTA and the Winterfest event.
General Rules
- Only QSO within the 48 hour period From 00:00 UTC on 3 January to 23:59:59 UTC on 4 January.
- ‘Operating DXCC’ is the DXCC from which the activator or hunter is operating, not where they live.
- All operators must operate within the terms of their individual licence.
Activator Rules
Activator Rules
- Participating activators are required to upload their ADIF log, activator who do not upload logs are not eligible for WF26 awards.
- Only one bunker can be activated at a time.
- Only bunkers published on the WWBOTA Master List are valid.
- An activator may activate additional bunkers, one at a time, for the same location, with a minimum of a 10 minute gap between each bunker activation.
- Each activator can only be activate each bunker once during the event.
- To save confusion with hunter stations, activators are strongly encouraged not to list more than one bunker when spotting their activation.
- Special note for United Kingdom: England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Isle of Man, Jersey and Guernsey each count as separate DXCC.
- A valid activation requires 25 QSO on any band.
- Additional points are not scored from working the same hunter on a different band during the same bunker activation.
- The activation zone size is as determined by the relevant national xxBOTA rules.
Activator Scoring Points
+ 5 points for each bunker you successfully activate.
+ 2 points for each bunker worked outside your operating DXCC (B2B).
+ 5 points for each new B2B DXCC (can only be claimed once, does not include the operating DXCC).
Activator Example 1. You activate from Norway.
- You activate 3 different bunkers in Norway (3 x 5 points) = 15
- You have a total of 15 B2B QSO with WWBOTA bunkers outside Norway (15 x 2 points) = 30
- You work bunkers in 5 countries (not including Norway) (5 x 5) = 25
- Your final score is 15 + 30 + 25 = 70
Activator Example 2. You activate from England.
- You activate 7 different bunkers in England (7 x 5 points) = 35
- You have a total of 17 B2B QSO with WWBOTA bunkers outside England (17 x 2 points) = 34
- You work bunkers in 7 countries (not including England) (7 x 5) = 35
- Your final score is 35 + 34 + 35 = 104
Activator Example 3. You activate from Belgium.
- You activate 10 different bunkers in Belgium (10 x 5 points) = 50
- You have a total of 28 B2B QSO with WWBOTA bunkers outside Belgium (28 x 2 points) = 56
- You work bunkers in 9 countries (not including Belgium) (9 x 5) = 45
- Your final score is 50 + 56 + 45 = 151
Activator Levels: Bronze 5, Silver 25, Gold 50, Diamond 100, Master 150
Hunter Rules
Hunter Rules
- Each bunker can only be worked once during the event, irrespective if activated by a different activator.
- If an activator activates from more than one bunker at the same time the hunter may only claim one of the bunkers and may not work the same activator again without a minimum of 10min gap (to align with Activator rule 4.)
- An additional QSO with the same bunker on a different band or mode does not count as an additional bunker worked.
Hunter Scoring Points
+ 2 point for each bunker worked in the same DXCC as you.
+ 3 points for each bunker worked in a different DXCC as you.
+ 5 points for each new DXCC you work a bunker in (outside your operating DXCC).
Hunter Example 1: You Hunt from Scotland.
- You work a total of 2 different bunkers in Scotland (2 x 2 point) = 4
- You work a total of 55 different WWBOTA bunkers which are outside Scotland (55 x 3) = 165
- You work a total of 9 different DXCC (outside Scotland) with a bunker QSO (9 x 5) = 45
- Your final Score is 4 + 165 + 45 = 214
Hunter Example 2: You hunt from Belgium
- You work a total of 24 different bunkers in Belgium (24 x 2 point) = 48
- You work a total of 38 different WWBOTA bunkers which are outside Belgium (38 x 3) = 114
- You work a total of 10 different DXCC (outside Belgium) with a bunker QSO (10 x 5) = 50
- Your final Score is 48 + 114 + 50 = 212
Hunter Example 3: You hunt from Switzerland
- You work a total of 44 different WWBOTA bunkers which are outside Switzerland (44 x 3) = 132
- You work a total of 8 different DXCC (outside Switzerland) with a bunker QSO (8 x 5) = 40
- Your final Score is 132 + 40 = 172
Hunter Levels: Bronze 10, Silver 25, Gold 50, Diamond 100, Master 200
SWL note: The above rules apply, simply replace ‘work’ with ‘hear’.
Logging
WWBOTA have developed an online logging portal for all participants of Winterfest 2026. This portal uses the WWBOTA API and features:
- Activator Log uploads (ADIF).
- Hunter records.
- View and edit Activator Log.
- View and edit Hunter Log.
- View Scores.
- Claim and Download Awards.
- View event statistics.
- Event and personalised mapping.
A link to the Winterfest 2026 logging portal is at the button below.
(C) 2026 – World Wide Bunkers on the Air
