YO DX HF Contest

RULES

 

Rules for the “YO DX HF Contest”, 2020 edition

1. Organizer: The Romanian Amateur Radio Federation

2. Scope and objectives:
To increase the competiveness and performances levels of the YO ham radios, within the context of an open competition with international performers.
To promote the skills of the Romanian amateur radio operators at international level.

3. Date and time:
The last full weekend in August, namely: Saturday 12.00.00 UTC – Sunday 11.59.59 UTC (24 hours); 29-30 of August 2020.

4. Categories:

  • SOAB-MIX-HP – single operator, all bands, MIXT, high power.
  • SOAB-MIX-LP – single operator, all bands, MIXT, Low power (100 watts).
  • SOAB-CW – single operator, all bands, CW only.
  • SOAB-SSB – single operator, all bands, SSB only.
  • SOSB – single operator, single band, MIXT (6 different categories, totally separated: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, and 10m) irrespective to the power level.
  • MOST – multi operators, single transmitter, all bands, MIXT.
  • YN (youngster and novice) amateur radio operators under 18th years old or 3 years maximum from their first license
  • SWL – listeners, MIXT

            4.1. The contest takes place in all the HF bands from 1.8 up to 28 MHz with exception of the WARC bands.
4.2. The operators who perform at the Single Band category can legally contribute for two different HF bands. Such approach allows to one stations to send separate Logs for instance on 80m and 10m, both of them counting for the final ranking chart and for gaining prizes, if any.
4.3. The Single Band operators, how perform on other bands during the contest, are kindly asked to keep their QSOs in the final Log, aiming to help the final Log correction of their corresponding radio stations.
4.4. All the final rankings there will be issued as followed: for Romania and rest of the world, by continents and countries.

5. Exchange
5.1. The NON-YO stations will send RS(T) + and serial number starting from 001.
5.2.1. The YO stations will send RS(T) + county abbreviations, such as BU for Bucharest.
5.2.2. The county abbreviations in Romanian are the following:
YO2: AR, CS, HD, TM
YO3: BU, IF
YO4: CT, BR, GL, TL, VN
YO5: AB, BH, BN, CJ, SM, SJ, MM
YO6: BV, CV, HR, MS, SB
YO7: AG, DJ, GJ, MH, OT, VL
YO8: BC, BT, IS, NT, SV, VS
YO9: BZ, CL, DB, GR, IL, PH, TR

            5.3. The MOST (multi operator, all bands, single transmitter) can use different serial numbers for each band or a single chronological serial number.

6. Scoring
6.1 For the NON-YO stations:

  • QSO with a YO station: 8 points
  • QSO with a station outside of its own continent: 4 points
  • QSO with a station from the same continent: 2 points
  • QSO with a station from the same DXCC country: 1 point

            6.2. For the YO stations:

  • QSO YO-DX: 8 points
  • QSO YO-EU: 4 points
  • QSO YO-YO: 0 points

            6.3. The /MM stations do not count as multipliers, but they value 4 points for each participant.
6.4. The SWL stations must log-in both callsigns and at least one of the exchange reports; the scoring is similar to the one above.

7. Double QSOs
7.1. Double QSO’s are those contacts made with the same radio station using the same mode and operating band. In the case when the first contact between two different radio stations is valid then the double QSOs are counting as 0 points. If the first contact is not valid, then the second contact (the double one) is accepted for scoring.
7.2. The double QSOs do not add penalties and should not be marked within the general Log. Moreover, it is recommended for the operator to keep all the double QSOs in the general Log.

8. Multipliers
8.1. For the NON – YO stations there are two different kind of multipliers, namely:

  • One multiplier given by each county worked per band, irrespective to the operating mode
  • One multiplier for each different DXCC country worked per band, irrespective to the operating mode.

            8.2. For the YO stations:

  • One multiplier counts for each different DXCC country worked per band irrespective to the operating mode.

9. Final score
All stations: the final score is gained by multiplying the sum of all QSOs with the sum of all multipliers from all bands.

10. General Rules
10.1. It is allowed to use all the prefixes assigned to Romania, under the authorization circumstances establish by the ANCOM (YO, YQ, YP, YR).
10.2. All the transmitters and receivers must be found within a circle with 500m maximum radius. All the antennas used by each participant must be physically connected via cables with the transmitters and receivers.
10.3. The using of WEB Clusters and Packet radio systems are allowed to all participants in the contest.
10.4. Using of other transmitters and receivers from other locations connected via internet is considered to be unsportsmanlike and it is one of the reason which attract disqualification.
10.5. Self-spotting on Clusters is totally forbidden. Moreover, planning and making QSOs via phone, telex, internet, packet mail, etc before and during the competition is forbidden.
10.6. Using of other callsigns, aiming to keep the frequency busy, making skeds, DX Cluster self-spotting or trying to move the multipliers is other bands is totally forbidden.
10.7. Requesting QSOs via phone, telegrams, internet, radio packet during the contest is considered to be self-spotting and is not allowed, leading disqualification of the competitor.
10.8. The participants from the Single Operator category are allowed to change bands and operating modes without restrictions. However, only one single signal is permitted to be “on the air” at the same time.
10.9. Single Operator: are those stations under which a single person is in charge with the following duties: operate the radio station, QSO login and spotting.
10.10. The MOST stations must obey the “10 minutes rule”. Time spent in one band start to countdown from the moment when the first QSO was done in that band. Only one single signal is permitted to be “on the air” at the same time. Exception:  two signals in different bands in the same time are allowed only if the second station will work a new multiplier.  This band “multiplier” can be changes obeying the 10 minutes rule. The QSOs who not follow these rules can be kept in Log but they not count to the final ranking chart, but they will give points to the corresponding station.
10.11. All the MIXT categories can operate with the same station both in CW and SSB. Are forbinden contacts in CW within the SSB band segments and vice versa.

11. Logs
11.1. Logs are accepted only in CABRILLO electronic format.
11.2. The name of the file must be “callsign.log” or “callsign.cbr”. Ex. YO3KAA.log
11.3. Logs will be sent as attachment to logs@yodx.ro or directly uploaded at www.yodx.ro using the robot.
11.4 The recorded QSO time must be specified in UTC.
11.5. All the transmitted and received numbers will be logged.
11.6. Participants pursuing a ranking in the top 3 in any of the categories listed at point 3 are required to enter in the log the exact frequency of each QSO performed (using a CAT system), having as a minimum unit 1 kHz. The ranking in the Top 3 for any of the categories of participation will be validated only under the conditions of entering in the log the exact frequency of each QSO, or by making available to the referees the audio recording of the period of participation in the contest.

12. Log Submission
12.1. All the Logs must be sent to the contest organizers in maximum 7 (seven) days from the end of the competition.
12.2. Each Log will be confirmed via e-mail as well as by placing it in the “List of the received Logs” on the specified webpage.

13. Awards
13.1. Diplomas will be awarded for places 1, 2 and 3 in each category listed at the Point 4.
13.2. Rankings by continents / countries will also be written for foreign stations. Plaques will be awarded to the first ranked stations in each continent and diplomas to the top three ranked in each country, in each participation category, provided that at least 50 validated arbitration links are made.

14. Other information related to the contest
14.1. The arbitration of the YO DX HF Contest is performed totally using a computerized log analysis and control.

        14.2. A QSO will count as 0 (zero) points in a participant's log, in the following conditions:
  • Incorrect logging of the other station callsign (BadCall)
  • Incorrect logging of the RST and serial number sent by the corresponding station (ControlError)
  • The QSO is not confirmed in the corresponding station’s Log (NIL)
  • The time difference between two same QSOs is larger than 5 minutes (TimeError)
  • There is a difference between time, mode or working band (Band-Mode Error)

            14.3. A QSO with a station that did not send a log shall be scored if that station appears in at least 10 logs sent regularly.
14.4.  By sending the log, the participants declare that they have exactly complied with this regulation and accept that any decision of the organizing committee is final, and cannot be challenged in any way.