Radio Society of Great Britain – Contest Committee


RSGB - Contest Committee

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    RSGB DX Contest

    All Entrants must fully comply with all COVID-19 local restrictions and advice including but not limited to social distancing, meeting people outside of their household/bubble and travelling that apply to the location where they are operating and at the time of the event. Any enclosed operating space (e.g. car, tent) will be considered to be an indoor location.

    The RSGB DX Contest is a development of a long established series of HF contests on 21 and 28 MHz which are now expanded to include 3.5, 7 and 14MHz to accommodate periods of poor propagation on the higher bands. This contest is always an excellent opportunity for UK&CD stations to have DX QSOs and for non-UK stations to work United Kingdom and Crown Dependencies (UK&CD) stations on multiple bands and modes.

    If you have any queries about these rules, please email hf.query@rsgbcc.org

    New for 2021:

    1. An Affiliated Society (club) competition has been introduced, where single-op entrants will contribute to a club's score.

    1. Objective To achieve a good score by working as many stations and multipliers as possible.

    2. Date & Time Sunday 3rd October 2021
    0500 - 2300 UTC
    QSOs will not be accepted at or past the end time

    3. Frequencies and Power

    CW and SSB

    3.5, 7, 14, 21 and 28 MHz

    Only one signal may be transmitted at any one time


    4. Entrants

    (a) UK&CD stations:   UK&CD entrants must be RSGB members

    (b) Multi-Operator entries by RSGB members may include non-member operators whose highest class of licence is Foundation or Intermediate

    (c) Non-UK stations:   no RSGB membership requirement

    (d) Entries may be CW only, SSB only or mixed (CW & SSB). Cross mode QSOs are not permitted

    (e) UK&CD stations contact only non-UK stations for multipliers but any station for QSO points

    (f) Non-UK stations contact only UK&CD stations for multipliers but any station for QSO points

    (g) QSO points are higher for the higher bands

    (h) Operation must be from a single Station location where all transmitters, receivers, and antennas are located within a circle of a radius no greater than 500m

    (i) Remote receivers outside the Station location are not permitted

    (j) Remote operation of a station is allowed where the operator is situated within the same country on the DXCC list. Additionally an operator's home station, as shown in the licensee's licence documents, may be remotely operated from a location in another country.

    (k) A remotely operated station must obey all station licence, operator licence, and category conditions. The callsign used must be one issued or permitted by the Regulatory Authority of the remote station location.

    (l) The address of the operator must be included in the 'Address of Operator when operating Remote from Station Address' box on the Station Information Page and the address of the remote station must be included in the Cabrillo header 'ADDRESS:' box.

    (m) The RSGB HF Contest Committee may place remotely operated stations in a separate results table


    5. Sections

    (a) High Power, Single Operator, Unassisted - 12-hour or 18-hour - Maximum legal power - no antenna restrictions
    (b) High Power, Single Operator, Assisted - 12-hour or 18-hour - Maximum legal power - no antenna restrictions
    (c) Low Power, Single Operator, Unassisted - 12-hour or 18-hour - 100W maximum power - no antenna restrictions
    (d) Low Power, Single Operator, Assisted - 12-hour or 18-hour - 100W maximum power - no antenna restrictions
    (e) QRP, Single Operator, Unassisted - 12-hour or 18-hour - 5W maximum power - no antenna restrictions
    (f) QRP, Single Operator, Assisted - 12-hour or 18-hour - 5W maximum power - no antenna restrictions
    (g) Multi-operator - Assisted - 18 hour only - Maximum legal power - no antenna restrictions

    Special Contest Callsigns or Club Callsigns may be used

    Note : In the 12-hour categories, off-periods must be a minimum of 60 minutes in length

    Affiliated Society (club) entries: 
    (i) A club may be represented by any number of stations, all of whom must be located within the UK&CD.  

    (ii) The operators of Stations representing an Affiliated Society must be members of that Society, but need not be RSGB members themselves.

    (iii) All Stations representing an Affiliated Society must be Single Operator

    (iv) There is no maximum distance stipulation for members of club teams i.e. stations are not required to be 80km or less from a club’s nominated meeting place.

    (v) Scores will be normalised for each section based on the overall leading station's score (12 and 18 hour categories combined) in that section as follows:
    Score for each Station = (Score achieved x 1000) divided by (section leader's score)

    (vi) Scores from non-UK&CD stations do not contribute to Society scores


    6. Exchange RS(T) plus serial number - starting at 1 and incrementing by 1, irrespective of band.

    Please log any exchange that you are sent to the best capability of your logging facility

    If you are not sent an exchange or if you cannot log what you are sent, log a zero

    The RSGB DX contest is concurrent with other contests which require alternative exchanges. Please log a 'sent' serial number for each QSO as if you had sent it and log received exchanges as you receive them.


    7. Scoring

    The same station may be contacted on each band and both modes for points and multipliers.

    UK&CD stations - 1 point per contact with UK&CD stations on any band, 2 points for non-UK contacts on 80m, 40m and 20m, 4 points for 15m and 6 points for 10m. Multipliers are the countries of the DXCC list, on each band and each mode, except that JA, W, VE, VK, ZL and ZS call areas count as separate countries, and the UK call areas do not count for multiplier credit.

    Non-UK stations - 1 point per contact with other non-UK stations, 2 points for UK&CD contacts on 80m, 40m and 20m, 4 points for 15m and 6 points for 10m. A multiplier for the first contact with each UK&CD prefix, for example, G3, GJ0, MM0 etc., on each band and each mode.


    8. Log Submission
            and Adjudication
    Submit in Cabrillo format here within 5 days following the end of the contest. View the correct Cabrillo format for this contest.

    If the robot finds format errors, it will reject the log and ask for resubmission of a corrected logfile. 

    Second and subsequent log uploads may be subject to analysis of any changes that have been made.

    If you have difficulties preparing or uploading your Cabrillo logfile, please contact the contest adjudicator to ask for assistance, before the submission deadline.

    Adjudicated results will be online and will include online logfiles for all entrants.

    Errors will incur penalties as outlined in the RSGB
    HF Adjudication Principles. This penalty will be the loss of 1 additional QSO point.

    The use of CAT Control to log the correct frequency and mode is highly recommended - you will lose QSO points for frequency and mode errors.

    8. Results and Awards

    There will be separate tables of results for UK&CD and non-UK&CD entrants

    There will be a table of results listing the scores of Affiliated Societies

    Awards for RSGB HF Contests are shown here. The trophies for this contest are for UK&CD entrants

    Winners of awards and non-UK section winners will be indicated in the results tables complete with downloadable certificates

    A certificate may also be downloaded by all entrants showing their position in their entry section

    Single-operator entrants in the UK&CD will have their scores entered automatically into the RSGB HF Championship

    9. Supplementary Rules (a)  Any infringement considered to be outside the spirit of the contest may result in QSOs being disallowed, the entry being reclassified as a Checklog, or the entry being disqualified.

    (b)  Self-spotting or asking to be spotted is not permitted.

    (c)  Call signs logged must be the same as those exchanged over the air by the entrants during the QSO. Correction of logged call signs and exchanges after the contest, by use of any database, recordings, email or other methods, is not allowed.

    (d)  All requests for contacts, responses to calls, and copying of call signs and contest exchanges must be accomplished during the contest period using the mode and frequencies of the contest.

    (e)  You must send your callsign at least every 3rd QSO and no less often than once a minute.

    (f)   Proof of contact e.g. an MP3 audio recording, may be required as part of the adjudication process.

    10. Declaration By entering any RSGB HF Contest you declare that:

    (a) Your station was operated strictly in accordance with the rules and spirit of the contest, within the conditions of your licence, and that the power output from your transmitter was no greater than that permitted in the Section of the contest that you are entering.

    (b) You agree that decisions of the RSGB HF Contest Committee will be final in cases of dispute.

    (c) By submitting a log entry, entrants give the RSGB permission to score, amend, publish, republish, print, and otherwise distribute that entry by any means.

    11. Adjudicator
    Graham G0NBI

    Updated 24th February 2021