Radio Society of Great Britain – Contest Committee


RSGB - Contest Committee

  • Home
  • HF pages
  • VHF pages
  • HF Calendar, Results
  • HF Log upload
  • Email alerts
  • Information
  • Privacy Policy


    RSGB CONTEST NEWSLETTER


    ISSUE 49

    DATE: 6th May 2019




    CONTENTS:
    CRICKET WORLD CUP RADIO MARATHON
    RSGB 40M QSO PARTY
    REQUEST FOR SPONSOR
    MINUTES OF CONTESTING COMMITTEES MEETINGS
    RSGB CONTESTS IN 2019
    OTHER HF CONTESTS IN 2019


    PREVIOUS NEWSLETTERS:


    2013 -- January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December

    2014 -- January, February, March, April, April special, May, May special, June, July, August, September, October, October special, November, December, December upissue

    2015 -- January, February, March, March special, April, May, June, July, August, September, September special, October, November, December

    2016 -- January, February, September, October, October special, November special

    2017 -- January special, February, July, August, November

    2018 -- June, August

    2019 -- February


    Cricket World Cup Radio Marathon (Nick G4FAL - hfcc.chair@rsgbcc.org)

    The RSGB is hosting an International Amateur Radio Marathon on the HF bands to celebrate the Cricket World Cup which is being held in England and Wales.
    • The Marathon will run from 30 May to 14 July 2019
    • Special UK and international callsigns will be active on nine HF bands using SSB, CW and Digital modes. The UK will be activating 31 special callsigns with 11 for the cricket grounds in England and Wales and ten for the tournament teams. There are also callsigns for Scotland, Northern Ireland, Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. All UK callsigns start with the prefix GB19.
    • The marathon will encourage HF operation with an opportunity for all those who operate the special stations to enjoy being a sought after callsign.
    • Award certificates will be available based on the number of QSOs achieved with the special stations.
    • We are using the Hamlogs system to store the logs from all the special callsigns. Progress can be tracked towards the awards. 

    What are the special UK callsigns? 

    Each callsign has a
    QRZ.com page, linked to this list, which has a schedule showing when the callsign will be used.

    GB19CWC

    2019 Cricket World Cup HQ England

    Callsigns for the cricket grounds operated from England:

    GB19OT

    Old Trafford, Manchester

    GB19RG

    Riverside Ground, Chester-le-Street

    GB19HL

    Headingley, Leeds

    GB19EB

    Edgbaston, Birmingham

    GB19LL

    Lord’s, London

    GB19KO

    Kennington Oval, London

    GB19RB

    The Rose Bowl, Southampton

    GB19BG

    County Ground, Bristol

    GB19TG

    The Cooper Associates County Ground, Taunton

    GB19TB

    Trent Bridge, Nottingham

    Callsigns for the teams operated from England:

    GB19AFG

    Afghanistan

    GB19AUS

    Australia

    GB19BAN

    Bangladesh

    GB19ENG

    England

    GB19IND

    India

    GB19NZ

    New Zealand

    GB19PAK

    Pakistan

    GB19SA

    South Africa

    GB19SL

    Sri Lanka

    GB19WI

    Windies

    Callsigns for Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man:

    GB19CNI

    2019 Cricket World Cup HQ Northern Ireland 1

    GB19CGI

    2019 Cricket World Cup HQ Northern Ireland 2

    GB19CS

    2019 Cricket World Cup HQ Scotland 1

    GB19CGM

    2019 Cricket World Cup HQ Scotland 2

    GB19CW

    2019 Cricket World Cup HQ Wales 1

    GB19CGW

    2019 Cricket World Cup HQ Wales 2

    GB19SG

    Sophia Gardens, Cardiff – operated from Wales

    GB19CG

    2019 Cricket World Cup HQ Guernsey

    GB19CJ

    2019 Cricket World Cup HQ Jersey

    GB19CIM

    2019 Cricket World Cup HQ Isle of Man


    What are the special International callsigns?

    At 1 May 2019 we are very pleased to have the following International callsigns confirmed that will be activated as part of the marathon.

    LX19CWC

    Luxembourg

    CS2019CWC

    Portugal

    PJ4DX

    Bonaire

    VK19AUS

    Australia

    VR2019CWC

    Hong Kong

    5B19CWC

    Cyprus

    ZS19CWC

    South Africa

    5P19CWC

    Denmark


    QSOs with stations using these callsigns during the marathon period will count towards the marathon awards in the same way as the GB19 calls.

    What are the rules?
    1. A list of all the activating special callsigns for the marathon will be published on the Hamlogs website.
    2. Special stations in England and Wales will represent the 11 venues and ten participating countries of the Cricket World Cup. In addition, England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man will have a number of Cricket HQ stations.
    3. RSGB will welcome special stations from the 26 DXCC Countries who are Full International Cricket Council (ICC) members and the 117 DXCC countries who are Associate ICC members. Callsigns with the suffix 19CWC will be encouraged but other activating callsigns may also be used.
    4. Activating stations will call “CQ CWC” on CW or “CQ Cricket World Cup” on phone.
    5. All radio amateurs are welcome to take part in the marathon.
    6. Awards will be available for numbers of QSOs with the activating special stations. QSOs with the same special station will be valid on three different modes; CW, Phone, and Digital and per band, 160m, 80m, 40m, 30m, 20m, 17m, 15m, 12m & 10m.
    7. All QSOs must be made between 30 May and 14 July 2019 inclusive.
    8. Awards will be: Bronze – 50 QSOs, Silver – 125 QSOs, Gold – 250 QSOs and Platinum – 500 QSOs.
    9. All QSOs will be uploaded to LoTW at the end of the marathon. There will be no Paper QSL cards or eQSL cards for the Special UK Callsigns.

    How can I make QSOs with the Special Stations?


    Special stations may attract a high number of callers, all transmitting at the same time.  In such cases, the station will advise callers that they are listening within a nearby range of frequencies. This is called “split-frequency” operating.

    It is important, therefore—
    • to listen carefully to the special station before transmitting. The operators will announce if, and when, they are working “split” and give an indication of where they are listening. On CW this will normally be the word ‘up’ (rarely ‘dn’) to indicate the operator is listening higher (or lower) in frequency, typically 1 – 2 kHz. Be careful to watch for this if using a code reader.
    • not to transmit on the special station’s run frequency (where they are calling) if they are working “split”.

    By carefully monitoring both the run frequency and the range of receiving frequencies, you can determine which frequency the special station is listening on at any instance and can plan your call to maximum effect.

    How can I track my progress in the marathon?

    The logs for the special stations will be uploaded to Hamlogs each day.

    On the Hamlogs Cricket World Cup Radio Marathon 2019 page you will be able to enter your callsign and select “Check Your QSOs”. If you have had enough QSOs to qualify for a certificate you can download it from there. The Hamlogs page also shows where many of the special stations are currently active—and keeps a count of the QSOs that each special station has.

    How can I get to operate with a CWC callsign?
    • Download our Operating a CWC callsign FAQ (3-page/218KB PDF)





    RSGB 40m QSO Party  (Nick G4FAL - hfcc.chair@rsgbcc.org)
    Two lunchtime 40m QSO parties have been introduced to the RSGB HF Contest Calendar for 2019 on Saturday 8th June and on Saturday 20th July. Both events are intended to be a low-key introduction to HF SSB contesting, operating in a relaxed manner, yet with the aim of contacting as many stations as possible in the available time. The
    full rules are available on the RSGB Contesting Committee website.





    Request for Sponsor (Jacqui G6XSY - trophy.manager@rsgb.org.uk)
    We are looking for someone, or a club, to sponsor the IOTA Contest Manager Award for IOTA 2018 (to be presented at the 2019 Convention) and onwards. This award is for the leading Low Power Multi-op DXpedition Station. Currently the award takes the form of a medal, which is engraved with the winner’s details.


    The medal is available to be presented at the RSGB Convention, if the winner wishes, otherwise the medal is sent to them. If you feel you would like to contribute towards the success of the IOTA Contest by sponsoring this trophy, please contact Jacqui G6XSY, RSGB Trophy Manager. trophy.manager@rsgb.org.uk





    Minutes of Contesting Committees Meetings
    The minutes of RSGB Contesting Committees meetings are available here.




    RSGB Contests in 2019

    The full 2019 RSGB contest calendars and rules for all RSGB contests are available here (HF) and here (VHF)




    Other HF Contests in 2019
    For more data on a wide range HF contests, the WA7BNM website is very useful sources of information.

    Another useful source of HF contest information is on the website of HB9DHG which can be reached by going to http://www.hb9dhg.ch, and selecting "Contest Calendar".




    That's all for this edition of the Newsletter

    73, Ian Pawson G0FCT
    Chair, RSGB Contest Support Committee
    (csc.chair@rsgbcc.org)