Lock-down VHF NFD

The contest as described below is a fixed station only contest. If, within 2 weeks of the contest date, there is a change in Governments’ guidance such that single operator portable operation becomes viable across more or less the whole of the UK&CD then VHFCC may revise these rules to allow portable operation. Any such change will be made very clear publicly, with the rules at rsgbcc.org being the master rules. Any questions about these rules should be emailed to vhf.query@rsgbcc.org

1 Introduction

(a) This contest is a (hopefully) one off replacement for VHF NFD. It is loosely based around the UKAC and VHF AFS rules.

(b) No prior registration is required for this contest.

(c) Permitted modes in this contest are SSB, CW, FM, AM, JT6M, ISCAT and FSK441 only

(d) The use of UK Contest Callsigns (SCC) is not permitted

(e) All stations are single operator fixed station only. The definition of single operator fixed stations is: A station operated by a single person, with no operational assistance of another person or persons during the contest period. It shall be operated from the main station address as shown on the licence validation document, provided that is also the current residence of the operator for the purposes of COVID-19 mobility controls. The spirit of the contest will be paramount.

(f) The General Rules for all RSGB VHF/UHF/SHF contests apply except the RSGB membership required is waived for stations entering as part of an RSGB Affiliated Society (Club) team. The General Rules can be found here.

2 Operators

(a) Any RSGB member may enter, either as an individual, as members of an RSGB Affiliated Society (club) team or as members of an ad-hoc team.

(b) RSGB Affiliated Societies (clubs) may enter and their operators must be members of the Affiliated Society (AFS).

(c) Members of club teams do not need to be individual members of the RSGB.

(d) All members of ad-hoc teams must be individual members of the RSGB.

(e) Please register the name of the ad-hoc team (if you have not done so for previous VHF NFD contests) by sending an email to afs.query@rsgbcc.org so this name can be added to the list of team names. This is necessary so all members of an ad-hoc team can select the correct team name from the list provided when you submit your log.

3 Contest exchanges

(a) On each band a report, serial number and a 6 character (e.g. IO91OJ) locator must be exchanged. Serial numbers should normally start at 001 on each band, but we recognise that some stations may choose to make non-scoring contacts particularly with European stations operating outside of the time periods of the RSGB contest, and in these cases we will accept serials not starting at 001 at the beginning of our contest period.

(b) All times must be logged in UTC

4 Bands

(a) You may use 6m, 4m, 2m, 70cm and 23cm in this contest within the allocated time periods.

(b) You are not required to operate on all bands to enter this contest, single band entries are permitted as well as multiple band entries.

(c) Allocated periods of operation (time in UTC)

(i) 6m: 04/07/2020, 14.00 to 16.00 (2 hour duration)

(ii) 4m: 04/07/2020, 17.00 to 19.00 (2 hour duration)

(iii) 23cm: 05/07/2020, 05.00 to 07.00 (2 hour duration)

(iv) 70cm: 05/07/2020, 08.00 to 10.00 (2 hour duration)

(v) 2m: 05/07/2020, 11.00 to 14.00 (3 hour duration)

5 Sections

(a) Stations do not have to enter the same section on every band.

(i) Open (AO): Standard licence conditions and no antenna restrictions.

(ii) Restricted (AR): The power output must be not more than 100W PEP (50W on 4m) at the final output stage or external amplifier connection to the antenna. Only one antenna may be used. Stacked or bayed antennas are not allowed. Backfire or parabolic dish type antennas must not exceed 2 metres in diameter.

(iii) Low Power (AL): The power output must not exceed 10W PEP at the final output stage or external amplifier connection to the antenna. Only one antenna may be used. Stacked or bayed antenna arrays may not be used. Backfire or parabolic dish type antennas must not exceed 2 metres in diameter.

6 Scoring

(a) Scoring is 1 point per kilometre for each QSO in all sections.

(b) Scores will be normalised for each section on each band as follows:

Score for each section on each band = (Score achieved x 1000) divided by (UK&CD leader’s score in section)

7 Club Entries

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

(b) Each club team consists of up to four stations on each band. A club may have multiple teams on each band.

(c) The adjudication process allocates the four highest-scoring stations for a club on each band to "Team A", then the next four highest-scoring stations to "Team B", and so on.

(d) Each club member will be allocated to one or more teams in descending order of adjudicated score. For the purpose of calculating the overall club team score on each band, each member of each team will be placed in one of 4 groups, groups A, B, C etc. Note: this is the same system that is used in VHF AFS Contests.

(e) The highest placed member of each team on each band will be placed in Group A, the second highest in Group B etc. All stations in each of the groups will have their score normalised against the highest score in that group, with the highest score gaining 1000 points. The final club team score for each band will be the sum of the team members individual normalised scores.

(f) The score of highest placed team from each club on each band will be normalised by position:

Score for each band = ((number of clubs+1)-(position of club)*1000/(number of clubs)

(g) Any entries with a zero score will be given a zero normalised score and will not be included in the count of the number of clubs in that band for the purposes of calculating other normalised scores.

(h) The best three normalised band scores for each club will be used to determine the overall score for that club. Note: this system is similar to that used in the AFS Super League.

(i) 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.

8 Entries

(a) All entries must be uploaded no later than 7 days after the end of the contest.

(b) Log files should be uploaded here, or use the Web Logging System here.

9 Results

(a) A results table for each section/band showing the score of each station will be produced.

(b) A results table for each band showing the Team scores will be produced.

(b) A single results table for the individual stations showing the overall normalised scores for each station (best three bands) will be produced.

(c) A single results table for the club/group teams showing the callsigns of the stations comprising each club/group team on each band and the overall score of that team will be produced.

10 Awards

(a) Only stations operating from the British Isles (excluding the Irish Republic) will be eligible for the main awards, although a certificate for the leading overseas station in each section on each band will be awarded.

(b) Certificates will be awarded to the winners and runners-up in the UK&CD in each section on each band.

(c) Certificates will be awarded to the top three teams and to the top team in each UK&CD country.

(d) Certificates will be awarded to the Leading Foundation and Intermediate stations in each section on each band.