Participation in VHF/UHF contests continued to increase during 2009 and the UK activity contests in particular continued to gain popularity. The rules and format for the activity contests will therefore remain basically the same for 2010, with only few small changes. For UKACs only, a UK station is now required to be at one end of each QSO, the power for the 4m restricted section has been reduced to 40w and the deadline for entries has been reduced from 10 to 7 days. The Committee did consider a change to the start time, but a poll of entrants showed no clear mandate for change and many people expressed a concern that they would have difficulty being QRV before 8pm.
The dates of some of the 4m cumulative contests and the 4m Trophy have been changed this year. Many years ago the dates for these contests were deliberately set to avoid the Sporadic E season in order to avoid QRM from East European broadcast stations. Now these stations have gone QRT and more and more European countries have an amateur allocation on 4m. The committee felt it was time to make a change. To accommodate these changes the traditional date for one of the backpackers series of contests has also been moved. Also the 4m CW contest has been added back into the calendar this year.
The new FS section which was added to VHF NFD in 2009 has been expanded to two sections. The Fixed Station Sweepers Section is aimed at participants who, for what ever reason, can't get out portable. The aim is to try and work as many registered NFD stations as possible. Awards are made for the highest score on each band/section as well as a series of awards for working 50, 75 and 90% of the available NFD registered stations on each band. This year there will be two FS sections, "open" and "restricted".
The maximum power on the 4m band for the Restricted Sections of NFD has been reduced to 40W.
The 6 hour section rules have been changed to prevent the same operator(s) using the same station for more than one 6 hour entry in the same contest.
All certificates for 2010 contests will be in PDF format available for download by entrants.
Entrants are reminded that all operators of UK stations must be RSGB members except visiting amateurs, not normally resident in the UK. However, the following contests require only that the operator is a member of an RSGB Affiliated Society (AFS) so long as the entry is on behalf of, or is related to, an entry for that AFS.
For all other contests ALL operators must be
members of the RGSB. There is no requirement for non UK station operators to be members of the RSGB
**STOP PRESS**
The 2nd 50MHz Contest has been moved forward one week to avoid clashing with
the RSGB Convention.
Finally, please note that the the committee VHF web site has moved to http://www.rsgbcc.org/vhf
The RSGB Contests Committee, which organises these contests, welcomes ideas, feedback and constructive criticism which can be e-mailed to chairman@rsgbcc.org or sent to any committee member.