Radio Society of Great Britain – Contest Committee


RSGB - Contest Committee

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    RSGB Commonwealth Contest

     

    The Commonwealth Contest promotes contacts between stations in the Commonwealth and Mandated Territories. A more relaxed contest environment gives the opportunity to work some choice DX.

    A vast amount of background information, statistics and photographs related to the Commonwealth Contest may be found on G3PJT’s website.

     
     
      1. KEY INFORMATION
     
     1(a) Log upload To upload a Cabrillo log for this contest, please use the RSGB HF Log Entry Robot.
     1(b) Results Please see this web page for results of previous Commonwealth Contests.
     1(c) General Rules The RSGB HF General Rules apply to this contest.
     1(d) Definition The term "UK&CD" in these rules refers to the "United Kingdom and Crown Dependencies". This means jurisdictions allocated prefixes G, GD, GI, GJ, GM, GU and GW. The term "non-UK" means anywhere outside the UK&CD
     1(e) When? Date   12-13 March 2016. The 2nd full weekend of March each year. Time   10:00 - 10:00 UTC
     1(f) Mode & Bands CW only  3.5, 7, 14, 21, 28 MHz. Activity is normally concentrated in the lower 30kHz of each band.
    Entrants must observe band-plans and contest-preferred segments.
    No operation must take place above 14060kHz.
     1(g) Exchange  All entrants send signal report (RST) + serial number
    HQ stations additionally send HQ, which must be logged.
     1(h) Call Areas Contacts may be made with any station in the RSGB Commonwealth Call Area list, apart from those within the entrant's own Call Area.
    The entire UK&CD counts as one Call Area, so UK&CD stations may not make contest contacts with each other.
    An exception to this is explained in rule 2(c).
     
      2. ENTRANTS
     
     2(a) Eligible Entrants  Entrants in UK&CD UK&CD entrants must be members of the RSGB.
    Entrants in the Open, Restricted and QRP Sections have their scores entered automatically into the HF Championship.
    Entrants not in UK&CD This contest is open only to land-based entrants within the Commonwealth or British Mandated Territories, as defined by the RSGB Commonwealth Call Area list.
    Remote operation is permitted, but in addition to the requirements of the General Rules, the operator must be within the same Commonwealth Call Area as the other elements of the station.
     2(b) Callsigns UK&CD entrants holding a valid NoV from OFCOM may use Special Contest Call Signs (SCC).
    HQ stations in the UK&CD are permitted to use special callsigns such as GB. Otherwise, prefixes which do not indicate the entrant's country (DXCC Entity) are not recommended.
    QRP Stations must not add /QRP to their callsign as transmitted during the contest.
     2(c) HQ Stations Commonwealth Society Headquarters stations will be active during the contest and will identify by sending HQ after their serial number.
    Only one HQ station is permitted per Commonwealth Call Area. Each HQ station counts as an additional call area, and entrants may (exceptionally) contact any HQ station (including one in their own call area) for points and bonuses.
    This means that GB5CC, the UK&CD HQ station, may be contacted by other UK&CD stations.
     
      3. SECTIONS & EXPLANATIONS
     
     3(a) Open,
         Single Operator,
         Unassisted.     		 24 hour Category Full legal power limit, no antenna restrictions.
    12 hour Category
     3(b) Restricted,
         Single Operator,
         Unassisted.     		 24 hour Category Output power limited to 100 watts, antenna restricted to single element.
    12 hour Category
     3(c) Open,
         Single Operator,
         Assisted.     		 24 hour Category Full legal power limit, no antenna restrictions.
    12 hour Category
     3(d) Restricted,
         Single Operator,
         Assisted.     		 24 hour Category Output power limited to 100 watts, antenna restricted to single element.
    12 hour Category
     3(e) QRP,
         Single Operator.    		 Unassisted Category 24 hour only, output power limited to 5 watts, no antenna restrictions.
    Assisted Category
     3(f) Multi-operator  24 hour only Single transmitted signal, full legal power limit, no antenna restrictions
     3(g) HQ Stations  24 hour only Multi-operator, single transmitted signal, full legal power limit, no antenna restrictions
     
     3(h) Explanations  12 hour Category Off-periods must be a minimum of 60 minutes in length. However, time before the first contact and after the final contact may be of any length.
    Single element The term “single element” defines each antenna (for example, dipole, vertical, long-wire, etc.), and does not preclude the use of different single-element antennas during the contest.
    Assisted & Unassisted The RSGB General Rules define Assisted and Unassisted.
     
      4. TEAM COMPETITION
     
     4(a) Definition  A team consists of up to five stations. In addition to Australia, Canada, Great Britain, New Zealand and Rest of the Commonwealth teams, any Commonwealth country or geographical region may enter one or more teams. An individual station may represent only one team, and may compete in the Open, Restricted or Multi-operator Section. Each contributing station's log must be submitted in the normal way.
     4(b) Team Members  Each team shall have a Captain, who must submit a list of callsigns of team members to commonwealth.contest@rsgbcc.org no later than seven days before the startof the contest. Substitutions may be accepted up to the start of the contest.
     4(c) Rest of the
         Commonwealth    		 Stations in the Rest of the Commonwealth team(s) may only be drawn from countries or regions not submitting their own team.
     
      5. SCORING AND LOGS
     
     5(a) Entrant Scoring QSO points Each valid contact scores 5 points.
    Bonus points A bonus of 20 points for each of the first three contacts with a Commonwealth Call Area on each band.
     5(b) Team Scoring Basic Calculation The team score is the sum of individual adjudicated scores, with all stations located in the southern hemisphere or on the equator having their final score multiplied by a Latitude Factor.
    Latitude Factor The Latitude Factor will be recalculated each year based on published scores. For each hemisphere, the highest-scoring team total for each of the last three years will be used to give an overall total and the factor will be calculated as the ratio of the northern to the southern grand totals rounded down to the nearest two decimal places.
    Team Protocol Each team member is competing as a single-operator or multi-operator within the overall contest. No passing of information between team members during the event is permitted, except that team members may contact each other for points and/or bonuses where the contest rules allow.
     5(c) Log Submission Format Entries must indicate the section entered, with the postal address of the entrant. Electronic logs must be submitted in Cabrillo format to the Log Entry Robot.
    Stations competing for the Lilliput Cup must enter CATEGORY: QRP in their Cabrillo header.
    Information on submitting paper logs is available in the RSGB General Rules.
    Cabrillo An example of a Commonwealth Contest log in Cabrillo format: http://www.rsgbcc.org/hf/formats/BERU.txt.
    Further information regarding the Cabrillo format: http://www.rsgbcc.org/hf/information/cabrillo.shtml
    Deadlines Closing date for computer logs is 7 days after the contest. Closing date for paper logs is 14 days after the contest.
    Log usage By submitting a log entry, entrants give the RSGB permission to score, amend, publish, republish, print, and otherwise distribute (by any means including paper or electronic) the entry either in its original format, in any other suitable format with or without modifications or combined with the entries from other contestants for entry into the specific contest, other contests, or for other reasons including training, development and advancement of amateur radio.
     
      6. RESULTS & AWARDS
     
     6(a) Results tabulation  Tables will be shown for the Team Competition, the two Open Sections, the two Restricted Sections, the QRP Section, the Multi-operator Section and the HQ Section.
     6(b) Senior Rose Bowl Awarded to the overall leader in the Open Unassisted Section.
     6(c) Col Thomas Rose Bowl Awarded to the highest-placed UK&CD station in the Open Unassisted Section.
     6(d) Junior Rose Bowl Awarded to the leader in the Restricted Unassisted Section.
     6(e) John Dunnington Trophy  Awarded to the highest-placed UK&CD station in the Restricted Unassisted Section who has not won the trophy in the preceding two years.
     6(f) Lilliput Cup Awarded to the leading Single Operator Unassisted QRP station (running 5W or less).
     6(g) Rosebery Shield  Awarded to the leading Single Operator Assisted station.
     6(h) Ross Carey Rose Bowl  Awarded to the highest-placed UK&CD station in the 12-hour Unassisted Section, Open or Restricted.
     6(i) VP8GQ Trophy  Awarded to the highest-placed non-UK station in the 12-hour Unassisted Section, Open or Restricted, who has not won the trophy in the preceding two years.
     6(j) Commonwealth Medal  Awarded at the discretion of the RSGB HF Contest Committee to the entrant has most improved their score or has contributed to the contest over the years.
     6(k) Commonwealth Traveller
         Certificate     		 Awarded at the discretion of the RSGB HF Contest Committee to the highest-scoring entrant in the Open or Restricted sections operating from a Commonwealth Call Area not represented in the published results of the previous year’s contest. Additional discretionary “Commonwealth Traveller” certificates may be awarded to entrants from especially inaccessible Call Areas.
     6(l) Certificates of Merit  Awarded to the winners and runners-up in all categories and sections, including QRP.
     
      7. ADJUDICATOR FOR THE RSGB COMMONWEALTH CONTEST
     
     Mike, G3VYI Mike, G3VYI