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

    Rule changes for 2022:

    1. Serial number logging requirements clarified

    2. All UK&CD entrants must be members of the RSGB (including entrants representing Affiliated Societies)

    3. The 18 hour category has been removed from all sections

    4. The points per QSO have been amended

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

    2. Date & Time Sunday 2nd October 2022
    0600 - 1800 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) 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

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

    (i) 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.

    (j) 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.

    (k) 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.

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


    5. Sections

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

    Special Contest Callsigns or Club Callsigns may be used

    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 individual members of the RSGB

    (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 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; entrants will not be penalised if their sent serial numbers are logged slightly out of sequence.

    The RSGB DX contest is concurrent with other contests whose rules specify alternative exchanges. When making contest QSOs with participants in other events, please log a 'sent' serial number for each QSO, whether or not you have actually sent it.

    If you are sent an exchange that includes a number with additional information such as 'TRC' or a 'Califinia County abbreviation', you need only log the number.

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


    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 per contact for UK&CD to EU contacts on any band and 6 points per contact for UK&CD to other continents. 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 the same counitry, 2 points per contact with the same continent and 6 points per contact with a different continent. 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 3rd October 2022