Each year on the first full weekend in February the six main HF bands erupt in what for all the world you would think was a contest. It is indeed a contest, but with a difference! Here you'll find members contacting one-another and exchanging names, perhaps even stopping for a few minutes to chat about something of mutual interest before pressing on to the next QSO. And they give honest reports: none of the usual 599 business!

Each FOC member has a membership number and this is used rather than the usual serial number in the contact exchange. Each QSO counts one point, but if you get a particular station on five bands then there's a bonus. Get him on all six bands and there's an even bigger bonus. This means that you'll find members hopping around the bands like demented souls towards the end of the contest: a real test of operating skill.

The Marathon has to be the most civilised contest in the entire world. Not that it isn't fiercely fought over, for it surely is, but just for the gentlemanly way in which it is conducted and the high standard of the operating.

Please note that there is a small change for the 2009 Marathon. Because of the way that the calendar falls and taking into account other activity during that period, it has been decided that the Marathon dates in 2009 will be 30th and 31st of January and 1st of February.