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RSGB
71st Commonwealth Contest 2008.
The
Commonwealth Contest promotes contacts between stations in the
Commonwealth and Mandated Territories. A more relaxed contest
environment gives the opportunity to work some choice DX.
There has been a small change to the Traveller Award, introduced in
2007, and the Team Competition, which captured the imagination of many
operators around the world, has been retained, and becomes an integral part of the competition with amended rules.
Date: 8 / 9th
March 2008.
Time: 1000
-1000UTC.
Bands: 3.5, 7,
14, 21, 28MHz. Activity
is normally concentrated in the lower 30kHz of each band.
Mode: CW.
Exchange: RST
plus serial number. HQ stations will additionally send HQ, which must
be logged.
1. Eligible entrants:
Land-based stations operated by licensed radio amateurs within the
Commonwealth or British Mandated Territories (as defined by the RSGB
call-area list) are eligible to enter. UK entrants must be members of
the RSGB. Sections (a) and (b) are for single-operator stations who may
not receive any assistance whatsoever during the contest, including the
use of spotting nets, packet cluster or other assistance in finding new
contacts or bonuses. Additionally, with the specific exception of the
HQ station GB5CC, UK stations may not use any special callsign.
2. Sections:
(a) Open
24 hour operation - full legal limit on power - no antenna restrictions.
OR
12 hour operation - full legal limit on power - no antenna
restrictions.
(b) Restricted
24 hour operation - output power limited to 100 watts - antenna
restricted to single element.
OR
12 hour operation - output power limited to 100 watts - antenna
restricted to single element.
For stations in the 12-hour categories, off periods must be clearly defined in
the Soapbox field of the Cabrillo file and a minimum of 60 minutes in length.
However, time before the first contact, and after the final contact, may be of
any length. Stations opting to operate for a maximum of 12 hours will be
annotated in the results listings.
The term “single
element” defines each antenna (eg. dipole, vertical,
long-wire, etc), and does not preclude the use of different
single-element antennas during the contest. However, the concurrent use
of one single-element antenna for transmitting and another (eg
beverage) for receiving is not permitted.
(c) Multi-Operator
24 hour operation - single transmitted signal - full legal limit on
power - no antenna restrictions - packet cluster use permitted.
3. Scoring: Contacts
may be made with any station using a Commonwealth Call Area prefix,
except those within the entrant's own call area. Note that for this
contest, the entire UK counts as one call area, and therefore UK
stations may not work each other. Each contact scores 5 points with a
bonus of 20 points for each of the first three contacts with each
Commonwealth Call Area on each band. Commonwealth Call Areas
4. Headquarters stations:
A number of Commonwealth Society HQ stations will be active during the
contest and will send HQ after their serial number, to identify
themselves. Only one HQ station is permitted per Commonwealth Call
Area. Each HQ station counts as an additional call area, and entrants
may contact any HQ station (including one in their own call area) for
points and bonuses, the annotation HQ being made in the log where
appropriate. HQ stations will be listed in the Multi-Operator section
of the results.
5. Team Competition:
(a)
Each team will consist of ten stations. In addition to Australia,
Canada, Great Britain, New Zealand and Rest of the World teams, any
Commonwealth country or geographical region may enter one or more
teams. An individual station may only represent one team, and may
compete in the Open or Restricted section. Each station's log must be
submitted in the normal way.
(b) Each team will have a captain who
must submit a list of the team members to
commonwealth.contest@rsgbhfcc.org no later than seven days before the
start of the contest. Substitutions may be accepted up to 24 hours
before the start of the contest.
(c) Stations in the Rest of the World team may only be drawn from countries not submitting their own team.
6. Team Scoring:
(a) The team score is the sum of individual adjudicated scores, with
all stations located in the southern hemisphere or on the equator
having their final score multiplied by a “latitude factor”.
(b) The “latitude factor” will be re-calculated each year
based on published scores: for each hemisphere, the highest-scoring
team total for each of the last three years will be used to give an
overall total and the factor will be calculated as the ratio of the
northern to the southern grand totals rounded down to the nearest two
decimal places. Transitional arrangements will apply in determining the
factor for 2008 and 2009. Full details can be supplied on request.
(c) Each team member is competing as a single-operator within the
overall contest, and no passing of information between team members
during the event is permitted, except that team members may work each
other for points and/or bonuses where the contest rules allow.
7. Logs: Each
entry must indicate the section entered. The preferred format for
computer logs is Cabrillo. Paper logs must be submitted in
chronological QSO order and show time; band; callsign worked;
RST+serial sent; received exchange; points. For full details see the
general rules at www.rsgbhfcc.org. E-mail logs should be sent to: commonwealth.contest@rsgbhfcc.org
An example of a Commonwealth Contest log in
Cabrillo format can be found at -
http://www.vhfcc.org/hfcc/formats/BERU.txt
Further information regarding the Cabrillo
format can be found at -
http://www.vhfcc.org/hfcc/information/cabrillo.shtml
8. Closing date for logs:
Logs must be received no later than one calendar month after the end of
the contest.
9. Awards:
(a) Open: The Senior Rose Bowl to the overall leader. The Col Thomas
Rose Bowl to the highest-placed UK station.
(b) Restricted: The Junior Rose Bowl to the
section leader. The John Dunnington Trophy to the highest-placed UK
station who has not won the trophy in the preceding two years.
(c) The Ross Carey Rose Bowl to the
highest-placed UK station in the 12-hour category, regardless of
section. The VP8GQ Trophy to the highest-placed non-UK station (who has
not won the trophy in the preceding two years) in the 12-hour category,
regardless of section.
(d) A Commonwealth Medal will be awarded to
the entrant who in the opinion of the HF Contests Committee has most
improved their score or contributed to the contest over the years.
(e) A special certificate will be available
to every entrant who makes verified contact with 71 Band-Call Areas, or
more, in the 2008 contest. For example, VP9 worked on three different
bands counts as three Band-Call Areas. Qualifying entrants should
include their claimed Band-Call Area total with their log, together
with a request for the certificate.
(f) A special “Commonwealth
Traveller” certificate will be awarded to the
highest-scoring entrant in the Open or Restricted sections who operates
from a Commonwealth Call Area not represented in the published results
of the previous year’s contest. At the discretion of the HF
Contests Committee, additional “Commonwealth Traveller”
certificates may be awarded to entrants from especially inaccessible
Call Areas.
Notes:
Single-operator entrants are recommended to
try SDC by EI5DI. It is dedicated to the Commonwealth Contest, runs on
any Windows PC, and is free. It may be downloaded from - http://www.ei5di.com/sd/sdcsetup.exe
A vast amount of background information, statistics and photographs
related to the Commonwealth Contest may be found on G3PJT’s www.beru.org.uk website.
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