RSGB Contest Special Rules 2022

Certain of these rules are invoked for individual contests as listed in the individual contest rules.

Please refer to the rules for each contest for details

Christmas Cumulatives. http://www.rsgbcc.org/vhf/rules/2022/xmasrules.shtml

MGM. Modes: Any recognized MGM mode e.g. FT4, FT8, FSK441, ISCAT, JT65, RTTY, PSK. CW and EME (moon bounce) are not permitted
Contacts: Only one scoring contact may be made with a given station per band
Exchange: Report (as appropriate for the mode in use) and 4-character Locator (e.g. IO91). Serial number is not required
Scoring: On each band: One point per kilometre. Score is total kilometres worked multiplied by the number of large Locator Squares (e.g. IO91) worked. Distance is calculated to the centre of the large Locator Square (e.g. IO84MM to IO91MM). A QSO between stations in the same large Locator Square will count for 50 points. The points total for each band will be tabulated separately. Stations taking part in the contest must not simultaneously TX on more than one frequency and/or on more than one FT8 channel (per band).Please read the guidelines for the use of MGM in RSGB contests here

WSJT-X and MSHV ADIF files can be directly uploaded to the entry robot.

Backpacker.
http://www.rsgbcc.org/vhf/rules/2022/BACKPACK.shtml

VHF Championship. http://www.rsgbcc.org/vhf/rules/2022/championship.shtml

UKACMGM. Modes: FT8
Exchange: Report (as appropriate for FT8) and 4-character Locator (e.g. IO91). Serial number is not required
Scoring: One point per kilometre. Score is total kilometres worked. Distance is calculated to the centre of the large Locator Square (e.g. IO84MM to IO91MM). A QSO between stations in the same large Locator Square will count for 50 points. Stations taking part in the contest must not simultaneously TX on more than one frequency and/or on more than one FT8 channel. Please read the guidelines for the use of MGM in RSGB contests here

WSJT-X and MSHV ADIF files can be directly uploaded to the entry robot.

VHFNFD. http://www.rsgbcc.org/vhf/rules/2022/VHFNFD.shtml

VHF CW Championship. http://www.rsgbcc.org/vhf/rules/2022/vhfcwrules.shtml

Low Power Contest.
Maximum output Power 25W at the TX.
The use of the ON4KST or any other live chat facilities (active or passive) is not allowed in this contest.

Jubilee Tournament. http://www.rsgbcc.org/hf/rules/2022/rjubilee.shtml

S1.
Scores will be calculated at 1 point / QSO.

S2.
No longer used

S3.
This is an Affiliated Societies contest and is open to both individual entrants (who must be RSGB members), and to teams made up of a number of operators who must all be members of the same affiliated society (club), but not necessarily RSGB members themselves.

The results from the 160m, 4m, 6m, 2m, 70cm and the three 80m / 40m Affiliated Society contests contribute to the AFS Super League. http://www.rsgbcc.org/hf/rules/2022/rSL-thisandnext.shtml

(a) Clubs entering these contests must be affiliated to the RSGB. A club may be represented by any number of stations, from September all of whom must be within the UK&CD. Teams consist of up to four stations. The adjudication process allocates the four highest-scoring stations for a club to "Team A", then the next four highest-scoring stations to "Team B", and so on.

(b) Each AFS member will be allocated to one or more teams in descending order of adjudicated score. For the purpose of calculating the overall AFS team score, each member of each team will be placed in one of 4 groups, groups A, B, C etc. The highest placed member of each team will be placed in Group A, the second highest in Section B etc. All stations in each of the groups will have their score normalised against the highest score in that group, with the highest score gaining 1000 points. The final AFS team score will be the sum of the team members individual normalised scores.

RSGB Affiliated Societies must enter either the Local Category or the General Category for the whole of this contest series:

(i) Local Category.
Entrants representing a Local Society must operate within a circle having an 80km radius - the centre being the Society's Virtual Meeting Place (VMP). Exceptionally, those whose home QTH is within the circle may operate from an alternative or temporary location elsewhere.

One of the officers of the Society must notify the adjudicators of the chosen VMP - specified by the UK&CD Postcode or 6-digit QTH locator, by email to afs.query@rsgbcc.org before any of the Society members enter an event of the series. In the notification email, Societies that have not already registered a VMP must state their chosen VMP, the Society's RSGB membership number and the Society's call sign. This VMP will be used in all HF and VHF contests in which the Society enters the Local Category. Entrants must state the UK&CD Postcode or 6-digit QTH locator of their location or home QTH, for each event when submitting their entry to the contest Robot.

(ii) General Category.
Societies whose members' home QTHs cannot fit within an 80km radius circle, those that do not notify their entry category and those who prefer not to enter the Local Category, will be placed in the General Category.

(a) The operators in teams representing an Affiliated Society must be members of that Society, but need not be RSGB members themselves. RSGB members and Non-UK stations may enter as individuals.

(b) Where an Affiliated Society has Branches, it may define a separate VMP and enter a separate team, with a different name for each Branch.

(c) A list of Affiliated Societies that enter RSGB contests showing those that have registered a VMP and giving details of each Society's selection of Local or General categories for all relevant contest series, can be found here . Society selections of Local or General Categories will be carried over to future years, but not to other contest series, so please check the list for your society and use the notification email address to request any
changes.

(d) If a Society finds it necessary to change their VMP, they should also use the notification email address for this. The new information will apply to contests that take place after the change. Please allow a week for a change to be implemented. Each Society is responsible for checking that a
change does not exclude their members from representing the Society.

(e) No station may represent more than one society. No operator is allowed to use more than one callsign during the contest.

(f) Members of the RSGB Contest Club who are not members of another participating Affiliated Society may enter any of the relevant contest series as representatives of the RSGB Contest Club - in the General Category. To join the RSGB Contest Club, you do not need any previous experience of contesting and you will not be obliged to enter any of the Affiliated Society events on behalf of the club. If you wish to join, or need more information, please register with the Club by sending your name, callsign and RSGB membership number by email to ContestClub@rsgbcc.org.

S4.
This contest runs concurrently with a backpackers contest. Stations entering the backpackers contest only may be worked once from a fixed location and once from their portable location for points.

S5.
Scores will be normalised for each band/session as follows.
Score for each band/session = (Score achieved x 1000) divided by (Band/session leader score).

For cumulative contests the overall score will normally be calculated from the best 3 normalised session scores

Stations may move location between individual cumulative activity periods

S6.
This contest runs concurrently with an RSGB 24 hour event. You may enter both contests, but you must submit your logs for each of the shorter contests and then again for the 24 hour contest.

S7.
This contest runs concurrently with all or part of an IARU co-ordinated contest. UK&CD entrants are encouraged to submit their log for the coordinated IARU contest here The rules can be found here also check the IARU VHF Managers Handbook here

On 4m and 6m MGM modes may also be used (except in CW only contests) provided the entrant meets the requirements of the IARU rules, see section 4.5 (MGM Contest operating procedures) of the IARU managers guide here
You can find the RSGB guidelines on the use of MGM here

S8.
These contests are timed to co-incide with the last two hours of a number of European activity contests, with an extra half hour at the end to encourage intra UK&CD activity. They take place on Tuesdays from 2000-2230 local time with 144 MHz on the 1st Tuesday of the month, 432 MHz on the 2nd Tuesday, 1.3 GHz on the 3rd Tuesday, and 13cms to 3cms on the 4th Tuesday and on Thursdays from 2000-2230 with 50MHz on the 2nd Thursday and 70 MHz on the 3rd Thursday in the month.

When operating on 2320MHz, please observe the guidance here to avoid interference to the Primary user.

A UK&CD station is required to be at one or both ends of a QSO for it to be valid.

Please submit an entry after each session in which you are active.

On bands 23cms and below scores will be normalised for each section in each session as follows.
Score for each section/session = ((number of entrants+1)-(position of entrant))*1000/(number of entrants)

On bands 13cms and above the scores will be normalised for each section as follows.
Score for each band/session = 1000 * square root of (Score achieved divided by session leader score).

Any entries with a zero score will be given a zero normalised score and will not be included in the count of the number of entrants in that section/band for the purposes of calculating other normalised scores.

The maximum number of sessions that will count towards the final individual scores will be EIGHT. Only the lowest scoring entries are discarded.

Note that ALL sessions count towards your club score.

It is impossible for you to determine your best sessions without knowing everyone else's scores, so please submit your logs and scores from all sessions in which you were active and allow the adjudicator to calculate your best sessions.

Stations may change section and move location between individual activity periods.

Certificates will be awarded to the overall winners and runners-up in each section and on each band in the same way as per the general rules. No certificates will be awarded for the individual events.
A certificate will be awarded to the station who provides the most stations with the best DX on each band across the year (the SHF contest will count as a single band)

S9.
a. The individual entries by a club's members to the UK&CD activity contests which take place on Tuesday and Thursday in every month, all count towards a society's overall score for the year for each UKAC. To maximise the club score, it's important for the club contest organiser to get as many members to come on for as many sessions as possible.

b. There are two categories for clubs, 'General' and 'Local'.
Clubs wishing to enter the 'Local' category must specify a Virtual Meeting Place (VMP) -- a reference point from which distances are measured, and which need not have any connection with the Society's activities. Societies must email the UK&CD Postcode or UK&CD 6-digit QTH locator of their VMP to afs.query@rsgbcc.org before the first relevant contest entry of each calendar year. The UKAC VMP may be different from that used for other AFS based contests. An affiliated society must enter the same club category for every UKAC band.

c. Society members in the Local Category must either operate within or have their home QTH (as shown on their Ofcom validation document) within a circle of radius 80km from their Club's Virtual Meeting Place. However, members may be based outside the 80km radius if there are no other AFS with that 80Km . Stations must state their UK&CD Postcode or UK&CD QTH locator of their home QTH when entering their log on behalf of a club in the 'Local' section. There is no distance restriction on where their station is operated.

d. Stations enter the UKAC contests in the normal way, but need to choose an AFS (affiliated society) name when uploading their log. Entries to all sections of the UKAC count towards the overall club score which is the simple sum of the normalised scores of each team member operating that month.

e. Stations who enter on behalf of an affiliated society must be members of the affiliated society, but not necessarily RSGB members themselves.

f. Stations may enter on behalf of a different club for each UKAC band (6m, 4m, 2m, 70cms, 23cms and SHF), but may not change their affiliation on a band after the June UKAC unless they have moved QTH and are entering on behalf of a Local Group.
g. All sessions will count towards the total club score.

h. All clubs's taking part must be Affiliated to the RSGB.

i. A list of all affiliated societies that have registered for RSGB Contests can be found here

j. The Bolton Wireless Club Trophy will be awarded to the overall winner of the Local Section

k. The UKAC Club Challenge Trophy will be awarded to the overall winner of the General Section

S10.
a. The scores from each of the individual UKACs will count towards an overall UKAC Club Championship. The scores from the 6m, 4m, 2m, 70cms, 23cms and 13cms up UKACs will be normalised to give an overall Club Score.

b The Bolton Wireless Club Trophy will be awarded to the overall winner of the Local Section.
c The UKAC Club Challenge will will be awarded to the overall winner of the General Section.
d The Bryn LLewellyn Trophy will be awarded to the overall leading single operator entrant.
e The Denis Jones G3UVR Memorial Trophy will be awarded to the overall leading single operator entrant in the SHF section
f Certificates will be awarded to the top 3 Clubs.

S11.
a. The individual entries by a club's members to the FM activity contests, all count towards a society's overall score for an FMAC championship. To maximise the club score, it's important for the club contest organiser to get as many members to come on for as many sessions as possible.

b. Club members must either operate within or have their home QTH (as shown on their Ofcom validation document) within a circle of radius 80km from their Club's Virtual Meeting Place to have their score count towards the club score. However, members may be based outside the 80km radius if there are no other AFS with that 80km . Stations must state their UK&CD Postcode or UK&CD QTH locator of their home QTH when entering their log. There is no distance restriction on where their station is operated.

c. Stations enter the FMAC contests in the normal way, but need to choose an AFS (affiliated society) name when uploading their log. Entries to all sections of the FMAC count towards the overall club score which is the simple sum of the normalised scores of each team member operating that month.

d. Stations who enter on behalf of an affiliated society must be members of the affiliated society, but not necessarily RSGB members themselves.

e. The maximum number of sessions that will count towards the final individual scores will be EIGHT. Only the lowest scoring entries are discarded.

f. All sessions will count towards the total club score.

g. All clubs taking part must be Affiliated to the RSGB.

g. A list of all affiliated societies that have registered for RSGB Contests can be found here

S12.


WSJT-X and MSHV ADIF files can be directly uploaded to the entry robot.

Scores will be normalised for each section in each session as follows.
Score for each section/session = ((number of entrants+1)-(position of entrant))*1000/(number of entrants)

Any entries with a zero score will be given a zero normalised score and will not be included in the count of the number of entrants in that section/band for the purposes of calculating other normalised scores.

The maximum number of sessions that will count towards the final individual scores will be EIGHT. Only the lowest scoring entries are discarded.

It is impossible for you to determine your best sessions without knowing everyone else's scores, so please submit your logs and scores from all sessions in which you were active and allow the adjudicator to calculate your best sessions.

AFS Super League 2021-22. http://www.rsgbcc.org/hf/rules/2022/rSL-lastandthis.shtml

AFS Super League 2022-23. http://www.rsgbcc.org/hf/rules/2022/rSL-thisandnext.shtml