Radio Society of Great Britain – Contest Committee


RSGB - Contest Committee

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    RSGB HF Affiliated Society Team Contests

    These are some of the most popular RSGB Contests in the calendar, supported by Radio Societies from all over the country. If you think that the Club Championship contests are fun, these events are likely to appeal to you.
     
     
      1. GENERAL NOTES
     
    (a) Background These are three AFS contests on 3.5MHz CW, 3.5MHz-7MHz SSB and 1.8MHz SSB (Club Calls). The oldest takes place on 1.8MHz. You may think that Top Band is impossible, because of space limitations. While a 1.8MHz dipole would be very desirable, much smaller antennas can easily be made to work, enabling you to make a useful contribution to your club's entry!
    (b) Training Some societies use these contests as a way of encouraging new licensees to operate under appropriate supervision. Those who are participating more competitively are asked to be patient with newcomers, who may not be as experienced in contesting. In the 3.5MHz CW AFS, there is a 'QRS Corral' -- everyone must reduce speed to give slower operators a chance to participate and develop their Morse skills.
    (c) Power limit Be careful on 1.8MHz -- the legal power limit in the contest is 32W. The Contest Committee monitors the band for signals which appear to be unreasonably loud.
    (d) 3.5MHz-7MHz SSB As an experiment to help counter the overcrowding in the SSB sub-bands during the 3.5MHz SSB AFS, contest operation in the 7MHz band is now permitted - this event will now be known as the 3.5MHz-7MHz SSB AFS Contest. The number of band changes per hour have been restricted to prevent a station from alternately CQing on both bands as this would defeat the purpose of introducing 7MHz -- see Section 2(h).
    (e) Club Prefixes On 1.8MHz, societies are encouraged to use special club prefixes. It is advantageous to do so, because it attracts callers who can immediately recognise a high-value bonus.
    (f) Meeting place The specification of a club's 'Normal (or Usual) Meeting-place' is now replaced by the requirement to define a club's 'Virtual Meeting Place'.
    (g) Club Calls Contest Headings in section 4, relating only to the Club Calls Contest (1.8 MHz AFS) are shown in GREEN.
     
      2. KEY INFORMATION
     
    (a) AFS Super League The scores of Affiliated Societies in these contests will contribute to the AFS Super League 2014-15 (3.5MHz/7MHz) and 2015-16 (1.8MHz), together with scores from AFS contests on VHF.
    (b) General Rules The RSGB General Rules apply to these contests.
    (c) Call Signs Contest Call Signs (SCC) are not permitted in these contests, even for entrants who hold a valid NoV from OFCOM.
    (d) 3.5MHz CW Date: Sunday 11th January 2015 (the 2nd Sunday in January each year). Time: 1400 - 1800 UTC
    Frequencies: 3510-3560 kHz. Entrants must reduce speed around 3555 kHz to accommodate slower CW operators.
     
    (e) 3.5MHz-7MHz SSB     		 Date: Saturday 17th January 2015 (the Saturday immediately following 3.5MHz CW AFS each year) Time: 1400 - 1800 UTC
    Frequencies: 3.5MHz -- 3602-3650 kHz & 3702-3775 kHz, 7MHz -- 7062-7100 kHz & 7132-7200 kHz.
    These are suppressed carrier/dial frequencies
    (f) 1.8MHz SSB Date: Saturday 14th November 2015 (the 2nd Saturday in November each year). Time: 2000 - 2300 UTC.
    Frequencies: 1872-1990 kHz. These are suppressed carrier/dial frequencies
    (g) Exchange RS(T) plus serial number - starting at 001 and incrementing by 1. For the 3.5MHz-7MHz SSB AFS contest only, serial numbers run consecutively irrespective of band. The Club Calls Contest (1.8MHz AFS) requires additional information -- see Section 4(c)
    (h) 3.5MHz-7MHz SSB Band changes are limited by the '10 minute' rule. A station must stay on a band for at least 10 minutes before changing bands. The start time for a 10 minute period is determined by the time of the first QSO made on that particular band. For example, if a station moves to 3.5MHz and makes a QSO at 1416, this station cannot make a QSO on 7MHz before 1426.
    (i) 3.5MHz-7MHz SSB A station may be worked once on each band
     
      3. SOCIETIES AND ENTRANTS
     
    (a) Affiliation Any Society affiliated to the RSGB may take part, by entering one or more Teams of up to 4 stations. Teams will be designated (for example) Anytown Radio Society Team A, Anytown Radio Society B, and so on. The adjudication software will allocate the four highest scoring stations to 'Team A', the next highest scoring four stations to 'Team B', etc.
    (b) RSGB Membership The operators of each station must be members of the Society they represent. Operators are not required to be members of the RSGB.
    (c) Virtual Meeting Place Each Society must specify its Virtual Meeting Place (VMP) -- a reference point from which distances are measured, and which need not have any connection with the club's activities. Clubs must email the UK Postcode or 6-digit QTH locator of their VMP to afs.query@rsgbcc.org before the first relevant contest entry of each calendar year. Their VMP will be used for all HF and VHF AFS contests, and for clubs in the Local Category of the 3.5MHz Club Championship and 3.5MHz Sprint contests. The currently held address information can be verified during AFS log submission.
    (d) QSOs -- fairness Please note that it is considered to be 'not in the spirit of the contest' for a station to make contacts principally with members of its own Society. Also, all stations active during the AFS contests are asked to make a genuine effort to contact as many stations as possible. Where it is evident that participating non-entrants have been selective in their choice of stations to be contacted, those QSOs may be disallowed.
    (e) Clubs with Branches Where a Society has Branches, e.g. RNARS, it may define a separate Virtual Meeting Place for each Branch, and the Team(s) entered by each Branch will be considered to be separate from those entered by other Branches, except in respect of affiliation.
    (f) Multi operator All stations are regarded as being multi-operator even if operated by only one person. There is no separate single operator section/category. All stations are entitled to use the DX Cluster, Reverse Beacon Network (RBN) etc. if they so wish.
    (g) Station representation A station may represent only one Society or Branch.
    (h) Distance rule All stations representing a Society must be located within a radius of 80 km of the Society's Virtual Meeting Place, and be within the UK. Stations must state the UK Postcode or 6-digit QTH locator of their location for the contest being entered when submitting their entry to the contest Robot.
     
      4. RULES RELATING ONLY TO THE CLUB CALLS CONTEST (1.8 MHz AFS)
     
    (a) Club prefixes Societies participating on 1.8 MHz may if they wish put on the air a station using the callsign allocated by the licensing authority for its use. This station is known as the 'Club HQ Station', and it may also use the appropriate club prefix (GX, GC, GT, GN, GH, GS, GP, etc.) It is advantageous to do so, because callers can immediately recognise the higher scoring bonus. A Society may define only one Club HQ Station, even if it is allocated several club callsigns.
    (b) HQ Stations and Members Other stations on 1.8 MHz representing the Society are designated 'Club Members'. Club HQ Stations and Club Members all contribute to Team scores, and must all comply with the location and distance requirements of Section 3(c).
    (c) Exchange requirements The contest exchange on 1.8 MHz is:
    Report
    Serial Number
    'Club HQ', 'Club Member' or 'No Club'
    Club Name (a 4-letter club abbreviation)
    (d) Name abbreviations The Club Name in the exchange may optionally be sent in full, but must also be sent and logged as a four-letter abbreviation, given here. See also text format and CSV format. Societies not in this list must email the Contest Committee at least one week before the contest to obtain a code. Contacts with stations not entering the contest (or outside the UK) are logged as 'No Club'. Stations contacted may use an abbreviation not in the list, but this abbreviation must be logged as received.
    (e) Scoring and bonuses The scoring on 1.8 MHz is 3 points per contact, plus a bonus of 5 points for each contact with a Club Member, and 25 points for each contact with a Club HQ Station. The RSGB Headquarters Station (GB3HQ or other GB callsign) may be in operation during the contest -- its entry will be treated as a checklog. Contacts with this station are logged as 'Club HQ' with club abbreviation 'RSGB', and will score a 50 point bonus rather than 25 points.
    (f) Logging programs Programs known to the Contest Committee which can log the Club Calls Contest (1.8 MHz AFS) and create a suitable Cabrillo file are SD by EI5DI, N1MM Contest Logging Software and SkookumLogger for Mac OS X.
     
      5. LOGGING AND SCORING
     
    (a) 3.5MHz CW & 3.5MHz-7MHz SSB 10 points per contact
    (b) 3.5MHz-7MHz SSB Scores will be normalised:
    Normalised Score for each band = (score achieved x 1000) divided by the band leader's score
    The two Normalised Scores (3.5MHz and 7MHz) will be added together to produce an overall score
    (c) Online entries Submit to http://www.rsgbcc.org/cgi-bin/hfenter.pl by the date specified in the RSGB General Rules. Logs must be uploaded individually, using he appropriate AFS Club Name chosen from the list on the contest entry robot.
    (d) QSO entry page Optionally for 3.5MHz CW and 3.5MHz-7MHz SSB submit via the QSO entry web page http://www.rsgbcc.org/cgi-bin/hfcover.pl. Please note that the maximum number of QSOs the web entry system can accommodate is 200. A post-contest log entry may also be prepared using SD by EI5DI.
    (e) Cabrillo log formats Example of 3.5MHz AFS CW Contest log
    Example of 3.5MHz-7MHz AFS SSB Contest log
    Example of Club Calls Contest (1.8 MHz AFS) log
     
      6. RESULTS AND AWARDS
     
    (a) Score Tabulation A table of entrants' individual results is published, together with a table of Society Team results. The highest scoring Team for each Society will have the results normalised and entered into the AFS Super League
    (b) 3.5MHz CW AFS awards The Edgware Trophy to the leading Team and the Marconi Trophy to the operator or operators of the leading individual station representing a competing Affiliated Society
    (c) 3.5MHz-7MHz SSB AFS awards The Flight Refuelling ARS Trophy to the leading team and the RSGB Lichfield Trophy to the operator or operators of the leading individual station representing a competing Affiliated Society.
    A certificate will be awarded to the operator or operators of the leading individual station representing a competing Affiliated Society on each band
    (d) Club Calls (AFS) awards The David Hill, G4IQM, Memorial Trophy to the leading Team, and the Ariel Trophy to the operator or operators of the leading individual station representing a competing Affiliated Society
     
      7. RSGB HF AFS CONTESTS ADJUDICATORS
     
     3.5MHz CW AFS:  Steve, G3UFY Steve, G3UFY
    3.5MHz-7MHz SSB: Mark, G4MEM Mark, G4MEM
    Club Calls 1.8MHz: Quin, G3WRR Quin, G3WRR