WRTC-2010 Contest Rules

Last modified: 2010-04-06

1. Contest Period
The WRTC 2010 will be held during the IARU 2010 HF Championship.

Start: Saturday 10 July 2010 1200 UTC (1600 Local time)
End: Sunday 11 July 2010 1200 UTC

2. Frequencies/Bands
3.5, 7, 14, 21, 28 MHz

3. Modes
CW and SSB.

4. Language
Only English language and common international abbreviations can be used, when operating either SSB or CW.

5. Contest Exchange
WRTC stations send signal report plus ITU zone (Moscow area is ITU Zone 29). A complete exchange must be logged for each valid QSO.

6. Valid QSOs
The same station can be worked once on CW and once on SSB on each band. Cross-band or cross-mode QSOs are not allowed.

7. Requesting QSOs and Disqualification
7.1. Requesting QSOs, e.g. setting schedules with special Identification procedures, in any way, before the contest period is strictly forbidden. The Team contest stations must be QRT for at least 15 minutes prior to the contest start. The volume of both radios must be turned fully down, and no monitoring is allowed within this 15 minutes time frame.

7.2. The operators are not allowed either to identify themselves, or the teams they belong to.

7.3. Use of non-amateur HF radio means (e.g. telephone, Internet, VHF) for the purpose of identification or requesting a contact (or contacts) before or during the contest period is strictly forbidden.

7.4. Use of packet cluster, WEB cluster, skimmer or any other spotting and supplementary information network is not allowed.

7.5. The use of the 'Super Check Partial' tool is not allowed. If the logging software incorporates this kind of feature, it must be disabled. Use of any callsign database during the contest period is not allowed as well. At the same time, the computer may display a 'Check Partial' list based only upon the callsigns already worked during the contest.

7.6. The WRTC Contest is the Ham Radio Olympic Games and to maintain the spirits and rulings that this name carries, the Judging Committee will disqualify a team that violates the rules of the contest; shows unsportsmanlike conduct; takes credit for excessive unverifiable QSOs or unverifiable multipliers.

8. Logging
8.1. Computer logging is required.

8.2. Each WRTC 2010 team must submit their Cabrillo file to their Referee within thirty (30) minutes after the contest has ended

8.3. We highly recommend all competitors to use Writelog, Wintest, TR4W, N1MM contest software.

8.4. In all cases, the competitors must satisfy themselves with Cabrillo capabilities, the Committee does not assume any responsibility on the conversion into Cabrillo.

9. Callsign Allocation
The calls assigned to the competitors will be the special calls from R31A-R39Z series. The process of assigning calls, stations and referees will be done in a lottery way Friday afternoon prior the contest. The call will be given to the teams by their referee, at the station 15 minutes before the contest.

10. QSO Points
Each correct two-way CW or SSB QSO with stations located:
1. In ITU Zone 29 counts 2 point.
2. Outside ITU Zone 29 and within Europe counts 3 points.
3. Other continents count 5 points.
4. IARU member society HQ stations and IARU officials counts 1 point only.

11. Multipliers
11.1. The total number of DXCC countries plus IARU member society HQ stations on each band will count as multiplier, once per band regardless of the mode. IARU officials represent a maximum of four multipliers per band (AC, R1, R2 and R3).

11.2. IARU member society HQ stations and officials do not count for DXCC county multipliers.

12. Score
The final score will be the total number of multipliers multiplied by the sum of QSO points.

13. Recordering
13.1. After the contest each team must provide to the referee continuous stereo recording of Radio A and Radio B on USB2 compatible device (USB flash memory, USB hard drive) or CD/DVD disk for all operation time.

13.2. Judging committee has right to remove contacts not found in the recording.

14. Winners
The WRTC 2010 CHAMPION will be the team with the highest score.

15. High Score Leaders
The WRTC 2010 SSB Leader will be the team with the highest SSB score.

The WRTC 2010 CW Leader will be the team with the highest CW score.

The WRTC 2010 Multiplier Leader will be the team with the highest Multiplier score

As WRTC is a mixed mode contest, it is required that; to qualify as a winner in SSB or CW a minimum of 35% of the total number of QSOs must be made on the other mode.

16. WRTC 2010 Station Setup
16.1. Each participating WRTC team must bring everything needed for the station except items listed in Station Description.

16.2. Each WRTC 2010 station will have two radios - Radio A and Radio B.

16.2.1. Both Radio A and Radio B can use only one antenna connector. This means that every transmission from a Radio to antennas and every reception from antennas to that Radio must go through the same and single radio frequency connector of that Radio.

16.2.2. Second RX in radios, equipped with sub-receiver, is not allowed, and sub-receiver must be turned off.

This means that competitors are not allowed to listen two frequencies simultaneously from a single radio. For two-channel (or multi-channel) radio (which has sub-receiver or parallel reception capabilities), which allows to listen signals on different frequencies simultaneously, sub-receiver (or that parallel reception) must not be used.

16.2.3. Both Radio A and Radio B are allowed to transmit but the only one signal on the air at any given time. TX of the second radio has to be blocked when first radio is transmitting and vice versa.

16.2.4. Spectrum scopes (pan adapters) are allowed, provided that they are used solely for instant spectrum visualization of current amateur radio band of Radio A or Radio B:
- spectrum scope can be built-in to Radio or be a separate device (e.g. separate SDR), connected to the Radio A/B (accepting control, radio- or intermediate frequency signals from Radio) and PC-A/B;
- the only output from spectrum scope can be video displaying for operators; spectrum data transfer to other means (e.g. log program) is not allowed; besides RF signal, only current band/frequency data of a single Radio (A or B) can be transferred to one spectrum scope;
- spectrum curve can be displayed in any suitable device, including PC-A/B monitor screen;
- for SDR signal processing, PC-A/B computers can be used only, so no additional computer is allowed for this;
- spectrum scope must not control any other device (e.g. tune Radio A/B);
- no signal demodulation or any other secondary spectrum processing (e.g. station detection, peak holding, waterfall display) is allowed.

16.3. Radio - is commercially manufactured transceiver with manufacturer specifications

16.4. Competitors are allowed to have a back-up radio which can be used only in case of malfunction and as approved by the referee.

16.5. The power output of 100 watts (KEY DOWN) is the maximum power allowed to use during the competition.

The power will be measured by peak power monitor provided by Organizer. Monitor has two detector heads which must be connected to the Radio A and Radio B antenna connectors during a whole operating time. Peak power monitor act on forward power only. Devices, connected after detector heads, must not amplify transmitting signal.

16.6. Band-pass filters are allowed for both radio A and radio B. External antenna tuners are allowed for all antennas.

16.7. Two networked PC's are allowed (PC-A at Radio A, PC-B at Radio B). The PC's must be named as PC-A and PC-B before the contest begins. Only wired network (e.g. by Ethernet UTP, RS232 cable etc.) is allowed. Any wireless interconnections (e.g. WiFi, Bluetooth etc.) in team' equipment must not be used (exception: wireless computer keyboard and mouse are allowed).

16.8. The teams must provide comfortable quality stereo head phones to the referee to monitor Radio A and Radio B at any given time during the contest.

16.8.1. Those referee headphones, provided by a team, must end with mini stereo jack (3.5 mm TRS) on cable, so audio source must have 3.5 mm TRS socket (female-type connector).

16.8.2. Only in case of the team is agree, on-site referee is allowed to use his own headphones with mini stereo jack on cable. Referee's own headphones are connected instead of those provided by team. Teams are asked to let referee use his own headphones unless those headphones prevent normal operation of team equipment (e.g. do lower Operator' audio because of low internal impedance). Referee must take care of having enough audio cable length on his own headphones so not disturb Operator or draw his attention.

16.9. The teams must provide equipment and recording of the all the WRTC contest operation for both received and transmitted audio of Radio A and Radio B. Operators are not allowed to review recorded audio until they will pass their log and audio record to referee. Operators are allowed to check the state of audio recording rarely and under referee's supervision.

16.10. Teams may reorient and adjust wire antennas at any time, as long as the feed line is not extended and the resonance is within the nominal band.

16.11. The WRTC Committee will arrange permits for temporary import of radios, PC’s and auxiliary equipment.

16.12. Before the competition the Teams are allowed to use third party technical support to organize and install the station, as well to install and test software or other permitted devices and peripherals.

16.13. During the Contest the Referee is entitled to permit repair of equipment or antennas eventually damaged during the operation. This can be done by operators only. Third party is not allowed in the operating area at any time of competition.

16.14. All equipment used by Team must be located inside of tent (except gas generator and 220V cable from it, antenna feeders, antennas). Participants must stay in referee's field of view.

16.15. Participants are not allowed to change or cut antenna cables provided by Organizer, so cables' lengths must remain unchanged.

16.16. On antenna cables, any devices' installation (e.g. switching, filtering, amplifying, balancing etc.) is not allowed for participants. These devices can be placed after these cables' ending connector only and must be located inside of tent.

20. Conditions of entry
By submitting an entry in the WRTC Contest you agree that:
1) you have read and understood the rules of the contest and agree to be bound by them,
2) you have operated according to all rules,
3) your log and your audio record, as well as photo and video materials of your operation prepared by Organizer may be made open to the public,
4) all actions and decisions of the WRTC Judging Committee are official and final.

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