Contest Sections 2014

Sweeper (VHF NFD Overall Sweeper Results)
. VHF NFD Sweepers

SO (Single Op Others)
. Single Operators not located at a fixed station address as defined in the SF section.
Stations entering in this section must use the /P, /A or /M callsign suffix as appropriate.

SF (Single Op Fixed)
. Stations must operate from permanent and substantial buildings located at the main station address as shown on the licence validation document. The spirit of the contest will be paramount.

SAR (SHF UKAC Restricted)
.
The power output at the final output stage or external amplifier connection to the antenna must be no more than 50W on 13cms, no more than 10w on 9cms and 6cms and no more than 5w on 3cms.
No antenna restrictions.

SAO (SHF UKAC Open )
.
The power output must be greater than 50W PEP on 13cms, greater than 10W on 9cms and 6cms and greater than 5w on 3cms and not more than 400W PEP at the final output stage or external amplifier connection to the antenna.
No antenna restrictions.

R (Restricted Section of VHF NFD)
.
(i) The power output of any band must not exceed 100W PEP at the transmitter, except on 4m where output power is restrcited to 40W

(ii) The height of any part of the antenna's driven element must not exceed 10 metres above ground level.

(iii) Only one antenna per band may be used (i.e. no stacked, bayed or colinear arrays or switching between two or more antennas). A slot fed Yagi or Quad antenna is permitted. Dish or Backfire antennas must not exceed 2m diameter.

(iv) Operate on up to 4 bands from the following list:

50MHz (6m) 1400 to 2200 Saturday (all mode)

70MHz (4m) 0800 to 1400 Sunday (all mode)

144MHz (2m) 1400 Saturday to 1400 Sunday (all mode)

432MHz (70cm) 1400 Saturday to 1400 Sunday (all mode)

1.3GHz (23cm) 1400 Saturday to 1400 Sunday (all mode)

Stations entering in this section must use the /P callsign suffix.

Overseas
. Overseas entrants

Open (Open section of VHF NFD)
.
(i) Maximum output power as permitted by standard licence conditions.

(ii) General rules apply

(iii) Operate on any bands from the following list, but only the best 4 normalised scores will count to the final total:

50MHz (6m) 1400 to 2200 Saturday (all mode)

70MHz (4m) 0800 to 1400 Sunday (all mode)

144MHz (2m) 1400 Saturday to 1400 Sunday (all mode)

432MHz (70cm) 1400 Saturday to 1400 Sunday (all mode)

1.3GHz (23cm) 1400 Saturday to 1400 Sunday (all mode)

Stations entering in this section must use the /P callsign suffix.

O (Open)
. This section is for portable stations and multi-operator fixed stations.
Stations not operating from permanent and substantial buildings located at the main station address as shown on the licence validation document must use the /P, /A or /M suffix as appropriate.
Entrants may omit the suffix if using a Special Contest Callsign (e.g. G8P) where such callsigns are allowed in a particular contest by the Licence NOV.

MS (Single Transmitter Section of VHF NFD)
.
(i) Open to Portable Stations Only

(ii) All antennas must be installed on a single mast and only one antenna for each band may be installed on that mast. Backfire or parabolic dish type antennas must not exceed 2 metres in diameter. No stacked or bayed arrays are permitted. The maximum height for any part of the driven element of any antenna is 12 metres above ground level. Note: a mast of greater than 12 metres in height is permitted as long as the antenna height restriction is complied with.

(iii) Operate on up to 3 bands, however simultaneous transmision on more than one band at a time is not allowed. The chosen bands must be selected during registration and operation on any other bands is not allowed. Indicated output powers are PEP measured at the transmitter. All 3 normalised scores will count towards the final total:

50MHz (6m) 1400 to 2200 Saturday (all modes 100W maximum output power)

70MHz (4m) 0800 to 1400 Sunday (all modes 40W maximum output power)

144MHz (2m) 1400 Saturday to 1400 Sunday (all modes 100W maximum output power)

432MHz (70cm) 1400 Saturday to 1400 Sunday (all modes 50W maximum output power)

1.3GHz (23cm) 1400 Saturday to 1400 Sunday (all modes 10W maximum output power)

NOTE: Single band entries are not valid for this section and other than the selected entry bands, operation on any other band or bands is not permitted, even for the purposes of talk-back.

(iv) Operation for no more than 16 hours out of the 24 hours on 2m, 70cm and 23cm. Any break must last for at least 1 hour.

Stations entering in this section must use the /P callsign suffix.
Entries in this Section cannot form part of an entry in the Mix and Match Section.
See FAQ list http://www.rsgbcc.org/vhf/rules/14rules/multisinglefaq.shtml

M (Mix and Match Section of VHF NFD)
.
7.4 Mix and Match (M)

(i) A group can elect to place different bands into Restricted, Low-Power or Open sections. E.g. 4m in Restricted, 2m and 70cm in Open, and 23cm in Low Power. This decision must be made at registration time. At least one station must be in a different section to the other stations (e.g. 6m, 4m and 2m in the Open section, 70cm in the Restricted section)

(ii) Individual band entry will be tabulated in the appropriate main section, and a normalised score for the band produced on this basis.

(iii) The sum of the normalised scores will appear in a separate Mix and Match section table.

(iv) Operate on up to 4 bands from the following list:

50MHz (6m) 1400 to 2200 Saturday (all mode)

70MHz (4m) 0800 to 1400 Sunday (all mode)

144MHz (2m) 1400 Saturday to 1400 Sunday (all mode)

432MHz (70cm) 1400 Saturday to 1400 Sunday (all mode)

1.3GHz (23cm) 1400 Saturday to 1400 Sunday (all mode)

(v) Note that 2m, 70cm or 23cm stations entered in the Low Power section may be operated for no more than 16 hours during the contest period. Each rest period must last at least 1 hour.

Stations entering in this section must use the /P callsign suffix.

LP (Single Operator, Fixed, 25W - Single Antenna)
.
This section is open to single operator fixed stations using 25W or less output and a single antenna.
When applied to the VHF Championship, if a station enters some contests with high power or extra antennas, and some with low power and a single antenna, only the low power, single antenna scores will count towards the championship.

L (Low Power Section of VHF NFD)
.
(i) The power output on any band must not exceed 25W PEP at the transmitter, except on 4m where ther power must be restricted to 10W.

(ii) The height of any part of the antenna's driven element must not exceed 10 metres above ground level.

(iii) Only one antenna per band may be used (i.e. no stacked, bayed or colinear arrays or switching between two or more antennas). A slot fed Yagi or Quad antenna is permitted. Dish or Backfire antennas must not exceed 2m diameter.

(iv) Operate on up to 3 bands from the following list:

50MHz (6m) 1400 to 2200 Saturday (all mode)

70MHz (4m) 0800 to 1400 Sunday (all mode)

144MHz (2m) 1400 Saturday to 1400 Sunday (all mode)

432MHz (70cm) 1400 Saturday to 1400 Sunday (all mode)

1.3GHz (23cm) 1400 Saturday to 1400 Sunday (all mode)

(v) Each band may be operated for no more than 16 hours (except for 6m and 4m: see 7.3 (iv) above) during the contest period. Each rest period must last at least 1 hour.

Stations entering in this section must use the /P callsign suffix.

FSR (Fixed Station Sweepers Restricted)
.
(i) Open to fixed stations only. (See Section 3 of general rules for definition)

(ii) Scoring is 1 point per kilometre for each QSO.

(iii) The final score on each band will be the number of points multiplied by the number of QSOs made with stations in the list of "VHF NFD Registrations" on that band.
The list of registered stations can be found at http://www.rsgbcc.org/cgi-bin/vhfposted.pl?Contest=VHF%20NFD%20Registration

(iv) QSOs can only be established by replying to a station calling
"CQ" (Search and Pounce).

(v) The power output on any band must not exceed 100W PEP at the transmitter, except on 4m where output is restricted to 40W. Only one antenna per band may be used (i.e. no stacked, bayed or colinear arrays or switching between two or more antennas). A slot fed Yagi or Quad antenna is permitted. Dish or Backfire antennas must not exceed 2m diameter.

(vi) Operate on up to 5 bands from the following list.

50MHz (6m) 1400 to 2200 Saturday (all mode)

70MHz (4m) 0800 to 1400 Sunday (all mode)

144MHz (2m) 1400 Saturday to 1400 Sunday (all mode)

432MHz (70cm) 1400 Saturday to 1400 Sunday (all mode)

1.3GHz (23cm) 1400 Saturday to 1400 Sunday (all mode)

(vi) An award will be made to the leading Sweeper on each band and additionally bronze, silver and gold awards for contacting 50, 75 and 90% of registered NFD stations.

FSO (Fixed Station Sweepers Open )
.
(i) Open to fixed stations only. (See Section 3 of general rules for definition)

(ii) Scoring is 1 point per kilometre for each QSO.

(iii) The final score on each band will be the number of points multiplied by the number of QSOs made with stations in the list of "VHF NFD Registrations" on that band.
The list of registered stations can be found at http://www.rsgbcc.org/cgi-bin/vhfposted.pl?Contest=VHF%20NFD%20Registration

(iv) QSOs can only be established by replying to a station calling
"CQ" (Search and Pounce).

(v) Maximum output power as permitted by standard licence conditions. No antenna restrictions.

(vi) Operate on up to 5 bands from the following list.

50MHz (6m) 1400 to 2200 Saturday (all mode)

70MHz (4m) 0800 to 1400 Sunday (all mode)

144MHz (2m) 1400 Saturday to 1400 Sunday (all mode)

432MHz (70cm) 1400 Saturday to 1400 Sunday (all mode)

1.3GHz (23cm) 1400 Saturday to 1400 Sunday (all mode)

(vi) An award will be made to the leading Sweeper on each band and additionally bronze, silver and gold awards for contacting 50, 75 and 90% of registered NFD stations.

AX (UKAC DXers )
.
Maximum output power as permitted by standard licence conditions.
No antenna restrictions.
Active use of the DX cluster and chat channels such as ON4KST is allowed, so long as no information that forms part of the contest exchange is passed via these means.
Scores in this section will not count towards a club score (S9)

AR (UKAC Restricted)
.
The power output must be greater than 10W PEP (4W on 4m) and not more than 100W PEP (40W on 4m) at the final output stage or external amplifier connection to the antenna.
Only one antenna may be used at any one time. If you do not use a rotatable antenna then you may switch between multiple fixed direction antennas (any combination of directional and omni-directional antennas). Switching between a rotatable antenna and any other antenna is not allowed. Stacked or bayed antenna arrays may not be used, but you may use a co-linear vertically polarised antenna.

AO (UKAC Open )
.
The power output must be greater than 100W PEP (40W on 4m) and not more than 400W PEP (160W on 4m) at the final output stage or external amplifier connection to the antenna.
No antenna restrictions.
(If a stacked or bayed antenna system is used, the minimum power requirement is waived)

ALL (All)
. This contest has a single section for all stations, single or multi-operator, fixed or portable in any combination. Stations not operating from permanent and substantial buildings located at the main station address as shown on the licence validation document must use the /P, /A or /M suffix as appropriate. Entrants may omit the suffix if using a Special Contest Callsign (e.g. G8P) where such callsigns are allowed in a particular contest by the Licence NOV.

AL (UKAC Low Power)
.
The power output must not exceed 10W PEP at the final output stage or external amplifier connection to the antenna, except on 4m where output power is restricted to 4W.
Only one antenna may be used at any one time. If you do not use a rotatable antenna then you may switch between multiple fixed direction antennas (any combination of directional and omni-directional antennas). Switching between a rotatable antenna and any other antenna is not allowed. Stacked or bayed antenna arrays may not be used, but you may use a co-linear vertically polarised antenna.

A (All)
. This contest has a single section for all stations, single or multi-operator, fixed or portable in any combination. Stations not operating from permanent and substantial buildings located at the main station address as shown on the licence validation document must use the /P, /A or /M suffix as appropriate. Entrants may omit the suffix if using a Special Contest Callsign (e.g. G8P) where such callsigns are allowed in a particular contest by the Licence NOV.

6S (6 hours Single Op Fixed)
. Rules as per section "SF" except stations may only operate for a maximum of 6 hours. Entrants may choose between any continuous 6 hour period in which to operate (e.g. 1500-2100, or 1917-0117) or alternatively split the 6 hour period into two segments separated by at least 1 hour off time.
If entering this section operation of the same station by the same operator(s) is not allowed outside the chosen 6 hour period.
Serial numbers must start at 001 for this 6 hour period, and you cannot enter both this section and the full contest.
In multi-band contests the same single 6 hour period must be used on all bands.

6O (6 hours others)
. Rules as per section "O" except stations may only operate for a maximum of 6 hours. Entrants may choose between any continuous 6 hour period in which to operate (e.g. 1500-2100, or 1917-0117) or alternatively split the 6 hour period into two segments separated by at least 1 hour off time.
If entering this section operation of the same station by the same operator(s) is not allowed outside the chosen 6 hour period.
Serial numbers must start at 001 for this 6 hour period, and you cannot enter both this section and the full contest.
In multi-band contests the same single 6 hour period must be used on all bands.

3B (2m 3W Backpacker)
.
a) Duration: 4 hours.
b) Mode: All Mode
c) 3W maximum output from the transmitter
d) Single antenna with no more than 20 half-wave elements (or equivalent)
e) Antenna height: Driven element no more than 4m above the ground
f) No operation from a motor vehicle. The vehicle supply must not be used to power any equipment used during the contest or to recharge batteries for the equipment.
g) All equipment used during the contest must be battery, wind or solar powered.
h) Equipment must be carried and operated at least 100m from the transportation vehicle.
i) Stations entering in this section must use the /P callsign suffix

10H (10W Hill Toppers)
.
a) Duration: 4 hours.
b) Mode: All Mode
c) 10W maximum output from the transmitter.
d) One or more antennas with no more than 20 half-wave elements (or equivalent) in total.
e) Antenna height: Driven element no more than 6m above the ground
f) Operation from a motor vehicle permitted.
g) All equipment used during the contest must be battery, wind or solar powered. If equipment is powered from a vehicle supply, the engine must be switched off for the duration of the contest.
h) Stations entering in this section must use the /P callsign suffix.