Radio Society of Great Britain – Contest Committee


RSGB - Contest Committee

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    RSGB 1.8MHz AFS (Club Calls) Contest

    There are four HF AFS Contests annually - the Rules below apply to the AFS 160 (Club Calls Contest).
    Click     here for background information about these HF AFS Contests.  If you have any queries about these rules, please email afs.query@rsgbcc.org

    Changes for 2025:

    1. On a trial basis for 2025, self-spotting is permitted
     
    1. Objective To participate (ideally) as a member of a Team representing an Affiliated Society. There is a choice of two sections, either SSB only or CW & SSB. The contest is a fun introduction to 160m contesting. Because of the high noise levels on the band, some persistence may be required to exchange contest information accurately. Club are asked to encourage members to take part in all eight AFS contests which take place across the amateur spectrum including HF, VHF and UHF.

    2. Date & Time Saturday 8th November 2025
    2000 - 2300 UTC

    QSOs will not be accepted at or past the end time

    3. Frequencies and Power

    CW: 1870 - 1890 kHz
    SSB: 1892 - 1990 kHz

    Maximum licensed power is 32 Watts

    Only one signal may be transmitted at any one time

    4. Entrants and Sections

    (a) Clubs entering these contests must be affiliated to the RSGB.

    (b) A club may be represented by any number of stations, all of whom must be within the UK&CD.

    (c) Teams consist of up to four stations. The adjudication process allocates the four stations with the highest score for their club to "Team A", then the next four to "Team B", and so on.

    (d) RSGB Affiliated Societies must enter either the Local Category or the General Category for the whole of this contest series:

    (d.i) Local Category. Entrants representing a Local Society must operate within a circle having an 80km radius - the centre being the Society's Virtual Meeting Place (VMP). Exceptionally, those whose home QTH is within the circle may operate from an alternative or temporary location elsewhere.

    One of the officers of the Society must notify the adjudicators of the chosen VMP - specified by the UK&CD Postcode or 6-digit QTH locator, by email to afs.query@rsgbcc.org before any of the Society members enter an event of the series. In the notification email, Societies that have not already registered a VMP must state their chosen VMP, the Society's RSGB membership number and the Society's call sign. This VMP will be used in all HF and VHF contests in which the Society enters the Local Category. Entrants must state the UK&CD Postcode or 6-digit QTH locator of their location or home QTH, for each event when submitting their entry to the contest Robot.

    (d.ii) General Category. Societies whose members' home QTHs cannot fit within an 80km radius circle, those that do not notify their entry category and those who prefer not to enter the Local Category, will be placed in the General Category.

    (e) Sections. In each of the above Categories, stations may enter one Section - either (i) SSB only or (ii) Mixed mode SSB + CW.

    (f) The operators of Stations representing an Affiliated Society must be members of that Society, but need not be RSGB members themselves. RSGB members and Non-UK stations may enter as individuals.

    (g) Where an Affiliated Society has Branches, it may define a separate VMP and enter a separate team, with a different name for each Branch.

    (h) A list of Affiliated Societies that enter RSGB contests showing those that have registered a VMP and giving details of each Society's selection of Local or General categories for all relevant contest series, can be found here. Society selections of Local or General Categories will be carried over to future years, but not to other contest series, so please check the list for your society and use the notification email address to request any changes.

    (i) If a Society finds it necessary to change their VMP, they should also use the notification email address (afs.query@rsgbcc.org) for this. The new information will apply to contests that take place after the change. Please allow a minimum of one week for a change to be implemented. Each Society is responsible for checking that a change does not exclude their members from representing the Society.

    (j) Stations may be single or multi-operator

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

    (l) Special Contest Callsigns or Club Callsigns may be used

    (m) Each Affiliated Society may enter only one Club HQ Station; ideally this will be activating a Club callsign but may otherwise use a member’s callsign

    (n) Club HQ Stations that activate a Club Callsign, or Special Contest Callsign (SCC) held by the club, must use a Club Secondary Regional Locator as the second character in their callsign: X, P, T, H, N, S or C.

    (o) All stations are classified as Assisted

    (p) 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

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

    (r) 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. 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. The location of the Station must also comply with the requirements above.

    (s)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.

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

    (t) Members of the RSGB Contest Club who are not members of another participating Affiliated Society may enter any of the relevant contest series as representatives of the RSGB Contest Club - in the General Category. To join the RSGB Contest Club, you do not need any previous experience of contesting and you will not be obliged to enter any of the Affiliated Society events on behalf of the club. If you wish to join, or need more information, please register with the Club by sending your name, callsign and RSGB membership number by email to ContestClub@rsgbcc.org.

    5. Exchange RS(T) plus Serial Number starting at 1 and incrementing by 1; entrants will not be penalised if their sent serial numbers are logged slightly out of sequence

    Please log any exchange that you are sent to the best capability of your logging facility; if you are not sent an exchange, log a zero

    In addition, on SSB send: "Club HQ", "Club Member" or "No Club". On CW the equivalent abbreviations to be sent are: HQ, CM or NC  (If using N1MM+ log H, C or N)

    Club HQ & Club Member stations also send their four-letter Club Name abbreviation, listed here.

    The RSGB HQ Station (G#6XX or other pre-announced callsign) may be active during the contest, and will submit a Checklog - log as a "Club HQ".


    6. Scoring

    3 points per QSO     plus     Bonus points (see Note below) as follows:

    Each Club Member worked; 5 points

    Each Club HQ station worked; 25 points 

    RSGB HQ Station worked; 50 points

    In the Mixed mode section, the same station may be worked once on SSB and once on CW for QSO Points and Bonus points.

    Note : QSOs with stations that do not enter the contest, QSOs with stations (entrants or non-entrants) that only make QSOs with any restricted group, and 'Unique' QSOs (on one mode or two modes) will qualify for QSO points only.


    7. Log Submission
            and Adjudication     		Submit in Cabrillo format here by 23:59:59 UTC on the day after the contest finishes. View the correct Cabrillo format for this contest.

    Logs must be uploaded individually, using the appropriate AFS Club Name chosen from the list on the contest entry robot. 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 3 additional QSO points. 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

    Entrants' individual results will be published

    Teams scores will be published for each Affiliated Society in separate tables for the Local and General category

    In the event of a tie in the General or Local Club categories, the Club HQ Station scores will determine the winning club

    Non UK&CD entries will be incorporated in the individual results table

    The leading SSB only station and the leading Mixed mode SSB + CW station will each contribute equally to their team scores. Similarly, all other entrants will have their team scores adjusted based on the ratio of the leading station in their section to the leading station in the other section.

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

    Certificates will be awarded to the leading team with four, three, two and one entrant.

    A certificate may also be downloaded by all entrants showing their individual position.

    The highest scoring Team for each Local Club and General Club will have its normalised score entered into the AFS Super League - this combines the scores from the eight AFS contests on HF, VHF and UHF.

    Single-operator entrants in the UK&CD will have their scores entered automatically into the RSGB HF Championship. These scores will be normalised to the score of the highest scoring entrant regardless of section.

    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)   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.
    (c)   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.
    (d)   You must send your callsign at least every 3rd QSO and no less often than once a minute.
    (e)   Proof of contact e.g. an MP3 audio recording, may be required as part of the adjudication process.
    (f)   UK&CD entrants are required to use a Regional Secondary Locator (RSL) where it is necessary to clarify the entity from which they are operating. Stations operating from England may optionally use the RSL “E”. If no RSL is used e.g. M0HDG, G6XX or GB4ABC, the station will be assumed to be in England. The use of a misleading RSL will disqualify the entry.
    (g)   UK&CD entrants may append their call sign with one of the following: /A (Alternative Address), /P (Temporary Location), /M (Mobile) or /MM (Maritime Mobile) and this will comprise part of the call with which they enter. Other suffixes used by UK&CD stations, whether or not they are entrants, will be removed in adjudication and need not be logged.

    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
    Mike G3VYI
    Updated 4th November 2024