A practice tool for amateur radio CW (Morse code) contest operators. Simulate realistic contest conditions and improve your copying and logging skills.

1. Download the zip for your platform from the Releases page:

   • Windows: contest_trainer-<version>-windows-x86_64.zip
   • macOS Intel: contest_trainer-<version>-macos-x86_64.zip
   • macOS Apple Silicon: contest_trainer-<version>-macos-aarch64.zip
   • Linux: contest_trainer-<version>-linux-x86_64.zip

2. Unzip the archive. It contains a contest_trainer/ folder with the binary and all callsign files (callsigns.txt, cwt_callsigns.txt, arrldx_callsigns.txt, ss_callsigns.txt).

3. Run the application from inside the contest_trainer/ folder.

4. Personalize settings (File->Settings) to configure your callsign, name and exchange info.

5. Start running by pressing F1/Enter to send your first CQ.

• Cross-platform Support: Run on Windows, macOS, and Linux
• Supported Contests:
  • CWT
  • CQ WW
  • CQ WPX
  • ARRL Sweepstakes
  • ARRL DX CW
• Persistent Caller Queue: Callers stay on frequency across CQ cycles, retry after randomized delays based on “patience,” and eventually give up if not worked (with occasional tail-enders)
• Realistic Audio Simulation: Hear CW signals with configurable speed, pitch, and signal strength variations
• Multiple Simultaneous Callers: User-configurable number of callers
• Background Noise: Adjustable noise level to simulate real band conditions
• Tail-Ender Support: Stations may call immediately after a QSO without waiting for your next CQ (or not)
• Partial Call Queries: Use F5 to query a partial callsign when you can't copy the full call
• Score Tracking: Track QSOs, points, and hourly rate
• Session Statistics: Detailed performance analysis including accuracy rates, WPM statistics, and character-level error tracking
• Persistent Settings: Your configuration is saved between sessions

Pre-built binaries for Windows, macOS (Intel and Apple Silicon), and Linux are available on the Releases page.

The main window includes several buttons at the bottom:

• Reset Stats: Clear all QSO statistics and start fresh
• Toggle Static: Enable/disable background noise
• Session Stats: Open a detailed statistics window showing accuracy, WPM analysis, character error rates, and recent QSOs

Access settings via File > Settings. The settings window opens as a separate window.

• Your Callsign: Your amateur radio callsign
• Your Name: Your name (used in some contest exchanges)
• CQ Zone: Your CQ zone number
• Section: Your ARRL section
• Your WPM: Speed for your transmitted CW
• Font Size: UI font size
• AGN Message: Message sent when requesting a repeat (default: "?")

• Contest Type: Select from CWT, CQ World Wide, CQ WPX, ARRL Sweepstakes, or ARRL DX CW
• CQ Message: Your CQ message (default: "CQ TEST")
• Callsign File: Per-contest callsign file used by the selected contest (if applicable)
• Serial Range (CQ WPX): Minimum/maximum serial number used by callers (1-12000, default 1000-2500)

• Max Simultaneous Stations: How many stations can call at once (1-5)
• Station Probability: Likelihood of stations calling after your CQ
• WPM Range: Speed range for calling stations
• Filter Width: Total spread between calling stations (Hz). Offsets are ± half the width. Default 300 Hz (min 100, max 500).
• Signal Strength Range: Volume variation between stations
• Mute RX during TX (callers + noise): Realism (probably for most people this is more realistic. yes, there are exceptions.)
• Caller Needs Repeat Probability: Chance that a caller will send "AGN" or "?" requesting you repeat your exchange
• Filter Callers by Country: Enable/disable country-based caller filtering. When enabled, controls the mix of domestic vs DX callers
• Same Country Probability: (Only shown when filter is enabled) Controls how often callers are from your same DXCC country (0.0-1.0). Lower values mean more DX callers, higher values mean more domestic callers. Default is 0.1 (10% domestic). Uses cty.dat for country lookups based on callsign prefixes.

• Tone Frequency: Base pitch for CW tones (Hz)
• Noise Level: Background noise intensity
• Master Volume: Overall audio volume
• Mute sidetone during TX: Mute your own transmitted audio while sending
• Static/QRN Settings: Control static crashes, pops/clicks, and atmospheric noise
• Enable QSB: Simulate realistic signal fading on caller signals
  • Fade Depth: How much the signal fades (0 = none, 1 = full fade to silence)
  • Fade Rate: Fading cycles per minute (higher = faster fading)

One callsign per line. Lines starting with # are comments.

# Example callsigns
W1AW
K5ZD
N1MM

CSV format with callsign, name, and member number (or state/country).

# callsign, name, member_number
W1AW, JOE, 1
K5ZD, RANDY, 2
W9RE, MIKE, IN

CSV format with Call, Name, State, Power, UserText. Provide either State or Power (not both).

# Call,Name,State,Power,UserText
2E0CVN,,,50,
K3LR,,PA,,
3Z0X,,,K,

CSV format with Call, Sect, State, CK, UserText. Section and Check are required; State and UserText are ignored.

# Call,Sect,State,CK,UserText
K1ABC,CT,,94,
W7RN,WWA,,05,

Requires Rust toolchain.

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/chadsbrown/contest_trainer.git
cd contest_trainer

# Build release binary
cargo build --release

# Run
./target/release/contest_trainer

If the program fails to start with an error about this DLL being missing, you should try installing the package here (provided by Microsoft) that corresponds to your system architecture. At the moment, I'm only providing builds for x64, so I imagine you'd need the x64 version.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/cpp/windows/latest-supported-vc-redist?view=msvc-170#latest-supported-redistributable-version

A user reported that this fixed their issue.

On Linux, you may need to install audio and GUI dependencies:

# Debian/Ubuntu
sudo apt-get install libasound2-dev libxcb-render0-dev libxcb-shape0-dev libxcb-xfixes0-dev libxkbcommon-dev

Settings are stored in:

• Linux: ~/.config/contest_trainer/settings.toml
• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/contest_trainer/settings.toml
• Windows: %APPDATA%\contest_trainer\settings.toml

Thanks to the following projects:

• Amateur Radio Country Files (AD1C) for CTY.DAT files, which are used in this project
• N1MM+ Logger dev team, whose callsign history files are used in this project
• Super Check Partial team, whose work is used in this project

Special thanks to the following people, who contributed feedback/ideas to the development of this application:

• KD9UYC
• DJ5CW
• N9TTK

This application was created collaboratively with Claude and Codex.

I created this for myself (N9UNX), but perhaps you might enjoy using it also. There are several wonderful contest trainers (MorseRunner, G4FON, etc.) out there, and I've used them all. They have their quirks, but they really helped me improve, and I can't thank the authors of those programs enough for their contributions. That said, I always wanted something that was cross-platform (or was meant for Linux), so I decided to create this application. It's still a work in progress, but complete enough that I am already using it as my main practice tool. (Note: it is overstatement to say that I created it, by a lot. Claude (Opus) and Codex (gpt-5.2) created 99% of it -- I merely provided requirements and prompts to get what I wanted, only fixing a few things here and there by hand.)

• Perhaps add more contests, if people want them (I imagine the will). Honestly, I could live with just the CWT as the exchange is great practice (w/o a history file, as it is here, and in my opinion how it should be for a practice tool like this).
• Perhaps think about what 2BSIQ would be like, and how it should operate. (presently testing, but more work needed)
• Feedback welcome.

MIT License