General Rules for RSGB VHF/UHF/SHF Contests 2013

1.General 

a. These rules apply to all RSGB VHF/UHF/SHF contests except where superseded by specific contest rules.

b. Entrants must abide by their licence conditions and observe the RSGB/IARU bandplans.

c. All entrants and 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:

•  VHF NFD
•  All UK Activity Contests (UKACs)
•  144MHz and 432MHz AFS Contests

For all other contests ALL operators must be members of the RGSB.

d.   All overseas stations may enter RSGB domestic contests but are only eligible for their own awards.

e. For IARU organised VHF/UHF contests, overseas stations are expected to enter via their own IARU society and the RSGB will not accept overseas entries for these contests.

f. UK means England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Channel Islands and Isle of Man.

g. Any queries about the contests, or cases of dispute should be addressed to the RSGB CC Chairman, telephone number: 0118 972 4192, evenings/weekends. E-mail:chairman@rsgbcc.org 

2. Entries

a.   If you use a computer to prepare an entry, we require an electronic copy of the entry in an approved log file format. Acceptable file formats are REG1TEST .EDI (preferred), .LOG and .COV from SDV, .EDI or .LOG and .COV from G0GJV programs (NOT .GJV or .MINOS), RSGB standard format and Cabrillo. Formats that integrate the log and cover sheet as a single file are preferred. Free software is available from RSGB CC Chairman or http://www.rsgbcc.org/vhf. We regret that we are unable to accept non plain text formats such as Word .doc files or Spreadsheet files.

b.  The entry must include the same information as the paper coversheet (Form 427) including a contact phone number and/or e-mail address, and full postal address.

c.  Your entry file(s) should be uploaded to the RSGB Contest Committee using the Logfile Entry System at http://www.rsgbcc.org/cgi-bin/vhfenter.pl. There is a list of frequently asked questions at http://www.rsgbcc.org/vhf/faq.htm.

d. If you have used a paper-based system to log your entry do not send your paper log to the RSGB Contest Committee. The Committee have set up a simple to use web-based Contest Log Entry system to enable you to enter your log details online. This will enable us to receive an electronic version of your log without the need for you to use a computer based logging program.You can access the web system at http://www.rsgbcc.org/cgi-bin/vhfenter.pl. For those without computer access, hand written or typed entries on paper are also acceptable. Please include a declaration that you have no computer access.

e.  All entries are electronically crosschecked and paper logs have to be typed up by adjudicators so please supply an electronic log by either the Logfile Entry System or the web based Contest Log Entry system if at all possible.

f. Paper entries must be accompanied by a VHF/UHF contest cover sheet (Form 427) for each band used, or a similar form that supplies the same information, including a contact telephone number and full postal address. Entries must be made out on current RSGB VHF/UHF log sheets or a close replica. Each sheet must be headed with the entrant's callsign, IARU locator, contest title and sheet number. Logs must be tabulated as follows: Date/time; Callsign of station worked; My report on his/her signal and serial number; His/her report on my signal and serial number; IARU Locator received; Post Code (when required); Other comments (non scoring QSO etc). Paper entries must be addressed to RSGB Contest Committee, c/o 5 The Howsells, Lower Howsell Road, Malvern, WR14 1AD. A single paper copy of each of the RSGB Contest Committee forms, for use as a photocopying master, may be obtained on request by sending an A5 or larger SASE to the same address

g. All times must be logged in UTC.

h.Any complaints/adverse comments received or made about signal quality must be recorded in the 'comments' column of the electronic log or paper log.

i. In multi-band contests, single band entries are always acceptable.

j.Entries must be submitted by either the Logfile Entry System or the WebContest Logger system or postmarked not later than 16 days after the end of the contest. See the individual rules for entry deadlines for cumulative contests. Entries for the UK activity contests must be submitted within 7 days of the contest and must be in an electronic form using either the Logfile Entry System or the Web based Contest Logger system.

k.   Entries submitted by either the Logfile Entry System or the web based Contest Log Entry system will be automatically checked on submission and immediate on-line feedback will be provided to the entrant which will highlight any missing information from the cover sheet or any problems with the log such as missing locators or invalid times/dates. An email will be sent duplicating this information. Entrants will be able to submit replacement entries up until the closing date.

l. Entrants can use the entries received web page http://www.rsgbcc.org/cgi-bin/vhfposted.pl to check that their entry has been received.

3. Station/Operators 

a.  Stations entering a fixed station section or contest must operate from permanent and substantial buildings located at the main station address as shown on the licence validation document. The spirit of the contest will be paramount.

b.  Stations not operating as a fixed station (as defined in 3(a)) must use the /P callsign suffix. Entrants may omit the /P suffix if using a special contest callsign, that is callsigns consisting of a single 'G' or 'M', a regional locator (if operating outside England) and a single suffix letter

c.  Entrants must not change their location or callsign during the period of time that constitutes an entry. In multi-band events, all stations forming one entry must be located within a circle of 1 km radius. An operator can only be a part of more than one entry in a contest if there is no time overlap of such entries.

d. Stations located outside of the UK (G, GW, GM, GI, GD, GU, GJ) may enter a contest, and will be tabulated within the overall results tables, but will only be eligible for their own awards.

e. There must be only one frequency used for transmit on any band at any one time.

f. The lower of the contest power limit or the standard licence power limit must not be exceeded during the contest. Contacts made under a high-power permit will not count for points. Severe action may be taken against infringements of this rule.

g. Stations that persistently radiate poor quality signals, cause deliberate interference to other stations, or otherwise contravene the code of practice for VHF/UHF/SHF contest operation may be penalised.

h. Entrants must permit inspection of their stations by members of RSGB CC or its representatives, and give site access information if requested to do so. The inspector must be permitted to remain for as long as desired, and to return to the site for subsequent inspections at any time during the contest. Contestants must demonstrate to the inspector's satisfaction that they are obeying the rules of the contest.

4. Contacts 

a. The contest exchange consists of at least both callsigns, RS(T) signal reports followed by a serial number, and the IARU locator. Particular contests may require additional information to be exchanged as described in the individual contest rules.

b. Serial numbers start from 001 on each band and advance by one for each contact. In cumulative contests, serial numbers start from 001 for each activity period.

c. Crossband contacts do not count for points on any band

d. No points will be lost if a non-competing station cannot provide an IARU locator, serial number, or any other information that may be required. However, the receiving operator must receive and record sufficient information to be able to calculate the score.

e. Contacts with callsigns appearing as operators on any of the cover sheets forming an entry will not count for points or multipliers.

f. Only one scoring contact may be made with a given station on each band, regardless of suffix (/P, /M, etc.) during an individual contest or cumulative activity period. More than one contact with the same operator using different call signs may not be claimed. Contacts with stations which have no other contest contacts may be disallowed. All non-scoring contacts must be clearly marked in the log.

g. Contacts made using repeaters, satellites or moon bounce will not count for points.

h. Proof of contact may be required. Any station may be approached, without notice to the entrant, for confirmation of contact details.

i.    Other than in the contests/sections listed in 4j below, the active use (posting messages, arranging skeds, self spotting etc.) of the DX Cluster and other spotting networks (including internet facilities for example ON4KST or similar) to assist an entry to a contest is banned in all VHF RSGB contests. You may spot a DX station as long as your operating frequency is not given. A list of do's and don'ts can be found here 

j.    The active use (posting messages, arranging skeds etc.) of the DX Cluster and spotting networks (including internet facilities for example ON4KST or similar) is only allowed in the following contests/sections:

•  50MHz Trophy
•  144MHz Trophy
•  Oct UHF 432MHz to 248GHz
•  144Mhz Marconi CW contest
•  UKAC AX section ONLY
•  Any contest/section on 1.2GHz and higher

k.    Usage of the cluster system, or any similar spotting network, must be via the public cluster network only. This means a system which is well-known, is demonstrably part of a more general cluster system, and in common use by contesters in different locations. Private networks may be set up for communicating spotting information and similar messages between different parts of the same station, but must be contained within a circle of 1 km radius.

l.    Any band (including, where individual contest/section rules permit the use of the internet, publicly available facilities such as the DX Cluster, ON4KST or similar) may be used for setting up contacts or talk back in connection with antenna alignment signals and confirmation that signals are audible or inaudible.  Mobile phones (voice or texting), Skype or other similar VOIP facilities, VPN, email, PSTN etc. must not be used for talkback.

m.    All information must be copied at the time of the QSO and on the band in use. Databases must not be used to fill in missing information. The DX Cluster, ON4KST or any other internet facility, radio talkback channels, mobile phones (voice or texting), Skype or other similar VOIP facilities, VPN, email, PSTN etc. must not be used for passing or confirming any contest exchange related information.

n.In contests with a section 6S or 6O, stations may choose any continuous 6 hour period in which to operate (e.g. 1500-2100, or 1917-0117). Alternatively you may split the 6 hour period into two segments separated by at least 1 hour off time. Serial numbers must start at 001 for this 6 hour period, and entries meeting these criteria cannot enter the full contest.
If entering this section operation of the same station by the same operator(s) is not allowed outside the chosen 6 hour period.
Section 6S is for single operator fixed stations, section 6O for all others. In multi-band contests the same single 6 hour period must be used on all bands.

o.    A station may be shared by multiple operators with each operator using a different callsign and submitting a separate log for the contest. However, such a station must not be used to work stations serially by operators sharing the station. There must be a minimum of 15 minutes between QSOs with another station. Example: A station is shared by G9AAA and G9BBB. G9AAA works G9CCC at 20.00. G9BBB cannot work G9CCC before 20.15. G9BBB and G9AAA can contact other stations in the intervening 15 minutes. Operators sharing a station may not work each other for points or multipliers.

5. Scoring 

a. Scoring will normally be at 1 point per km and commenced (part) km - i.e. 137.3km counts as 138 points. Contacts with stations in the same small locator square as your station (eg IO92AA to IO92AA) will score 1 point.

b. For reference, scoring will be based on the algorithm implemented by the latest version of G0GJV's LOG software, but all logs will be rescored to this common standard during adjudication.

c. Multi-band contests will contain an overall results table in addition to the individual band results. The scores in this final tabulation will be formed by taking the sum of the normalised scores on each band. The normalised scores will be calculated by:

Normalised score for each band/session =	(Score achieved x 1000)
	(Band/session leader score)

For the purposes of calculating the contest overall results the Microwave Band will count as a single band during normalisation.

6. Awards & Results 

a. Certificates will be awarded to the leading and second placed station in each section of the contest. However, no second place certificate will be awarded if there are only two valid entries to any contest section. .Additional certificates of merit may be awarded at the adjudicator's discretion.

b. In all contests/sections where the power limit is above 25W, a certificate will be awarded to the leading fixed station using 25W or less into a single antenna.

c. Placement certificates showing the result achieved in the contest can be obtained by including an A4 SAE with the entry marked with callsign, contest and (if applicable) group name.

d. A certificate will be awarded to the leading Intermediate and leading Foundation licensees in each section. A licensee who upgrades to a higher licence level is still eligible for any awards available to the lower licence level until the end of the year in which the upgrade was achieved, as long as the lower level callsign and limitations are used. In the following year, this eligibility ceases, regardless of the callsign used for the entry.

e. A certificate will be awarded to the leading overseas station in each section.

f. Trophies are awarded to the winners of a number of contests. These are listed separately.

7. Multipliers 

a. Where a contest uses multipliers, the score for each band will be the number of points made on that band multiplied by the number of multipliers contacted on that band.

b. Where more than one type of multiplier is used in a contest, for instance country and locator, the total multiplier is the sum of the individual multiplier totals. (See individual contest rules.)

c. In post code multiplier contests, each Scottish Post Code area may be worked up to three times for multiplier credit, and BT for Northern Ireland may be worked up to six times for multiplier credit. The TD area counts three times regardless of whether the stations contacted are in England or Scotland.

d. In contests using Post Code Area multipliers the exchange will include the first 2 letters of the postcode (e.g. EN from EN5 7JE). Where a post code consists of only a single initial letter (e.g. B6 9AA), the exchange will be padded out to 2 letters - e.g. in this case 'BM'. A full list is provided at http://www.rsgbcc.org/vhf/rules/13rules/postcode.htm.

e. Locator multipliers are the total of large squares, IO91, JO01 etc., worked.

f. A QSO with your own postcode, country or locator square as appropriate to the contest counts for multiplier credit, and any appropriate QSO can count as more than one multiplier (e.g. your first G QSO in an M3 multiplier contest will count for a new locator, postcode and country).

g. In contests where countries are multipliers, contacts with stations where the country cannot be determined (such as those with GB stations), there will not be a country multiplier, even if the country the station was operated from is self-evident.

8. Adjudication 

a. Errors in sending/receiving are penalised by the loss of all points/multipliers for the QSO.

b. Points may be deducted or entries disqualified or excluded for any breach of the rules or spirit of the contest.

9. Amendments 

These rules are correct at the time of going to press but contestants are advised to check the RSGB VHF Contests Committee VHF web site at http://www.rsgbcc.org/vhf for any possible updates. The rules published on the web site are definitive and take precedence in the event of a conflict.