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UKEICC 80m Contests - Rules   (2024-25 series)

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Rules applied during Automatic Adjudication

Notes - 1. The log submission deadline, via the log submission robot, is 2200   i.e., within ONE hour after end of the contest.

Notes - 2.  If the other station does not send you a serial number, log a *zero* and you will be credited with the points for that QSO.

Notes - 3.  We have a Teams Competition. Scroll down to section 7.3 for the details.

Notes - 4.  UK entrants - important!  Despite OFCOM licence changes, UK entrants must use the correct RSL to clearly identify which of the seven UK DXCC entities their station is located in. Stations operating from England may use the optional RSL  E   if desired.

1. Dates

First and last Wednesdays in the months of September through to April inclusive (7 contests on each mode), excluding December. 

 

           Date

Mode

  Times

   Adjudicator  

            Bonus callsigns (Operators)

4th September 2024

SSB

2000-2100z

Stew GW0ETF Ei5G (Aidan EI8CE), G5GEI (Tim G4FJK)

25th September 2024

CW

2000-2100z

Tim G4FJK Ei5G (Pete EI7CC), G5GEI (David G3PLE)

2nd October 2024

SSB

2000-2100z

Dean G4WQI Ei5G (Paul EI3ENB), G5GEI (Dean G4WQI)

30th October 2024

CW

2000-2100z

Chris GM3WOJ Ei5G (Joe EI7GY), GM5GEI (Chris GM3WOJ)
6th November 2024

SSB

2000-2100z

  Stew GW0ETF Ei5G (Patrick EI9KA), GW5GEI (Stew GW0ETF)

27th November 2024

CW

2000-2100z

  Paul G4PVM Ei5G (Tim EI2KA), G5GEI (Mark G4MEM)

1st January 2025

SSB

2000-2100z

  Tim G4FJK Ei5G (David EI5KG), G5GEI (Tim G4FJK)

29th January 2025

CW

2000-2100z

  Ei5G (Ger EI5KF), G_5GEI

5th February 2025

SSB

2000-2100z

  Ei5G (Aidan EI8CE), G_5GEI

26th February 2025

CW

2000-2100z

  Ei5G (Pete EI7CC), G5GEI (Mark G4MEM)

5th March 2025

SSB

2000-2100z

  Ei5G (Mick EI6IKB), G_5GEI

26th March 2025

CW

2000-2100z

  Ei5G (Joe EI7GY), G_5GEI

2nd April 2025

SSB

2000-2100z

  Tim G4FJK Ei5G (Roger EI8KN), G5GEI (Tim G4FJK)

30th April 2025

CW

2000-2100z

  Ei5G (Tim EI2KA), G_5GEI


2. Times

2000 - 2100 UTC.   The contest ends 1 second after 20:59:59.  QSOs logged at 21:00 or later will not count. 

3. Modes / Frequencies

CW   3510-3560 kHz                               SSB   3600-3775 kHz  

Note - the IARU recommends 3600-3650 and 3700-3775 as 'SSB contest preferred'.

4. Exchange

Only your 6-character Grid locator - e.g. IO91WS, IO64GH, etc.  No RST should be sent.

If you do not receive a locator from any station for some reason, please enter one or more spaces or dashes into the received exchange field of your log or leave this field empty.

5. Callsigns

5.1  Your normal station callsign or any special contest callsign issued to you by your national licensing authority may be used.  Any previous or new callsigns used by team members in the Teams Competition (see section 7.3) will be linked together. 

5.2  UK entrants must use the correct Regional Secondary Locator to clearly identify which of the seven UK DXCC entities their station is located in. Stations operating from England may use the optional RSL  E  if desired.

6. Sections

6.1  High Power - the maximum permitted by the entrant's licence or 1500 watts, whichever is the lower.
6.2  Low Power
- maximum 100 watts output.
6.3  QRP
- maximum 5 watts output.

Checklogs are not accepted.  Even if you only make a few QSOs, please submit an entry.

7. Operator Categories

7.1  Single Operator Connected:  When the entrant, at any time during the contest, for the purpose of finding, facilitating, or making QSOs
(a)  connects, or is connected, to any network crossing the boundary of the entrant
's station, or
(b)  uses any multi-channel decoder e.g. local skimmer, or
(c)  uses any method of communication other than RF corresponding to the frequencies and/or mode(s) of the entry.

7.2  Single Operator Unconnected:  When none of the Connected conditions apply.  One aim of these contests is to improve operating skill, which is not necessarily the outcome of using the DXCluster, Skimmer, or RBN.  Please consider entering the Unconnected category.

7.3  Teams Competion overlay:  These 80m contests are primarily single-operator events, but we offer an optional and additional Teams Competion overlay.  Individual entrants may form a team of three entrants with one reserve (i.e., a team of four, but only the highest three scores count in each contest), and these results are shown on the Teams Competiton webpage.  Teams may be formed and registered by email to team@ukeicc.com until the end of November.

7.4  Entries in all six Sections/Operator Categories (sections 7.1 and 7.2 above) will be listed together in the Results, and also in six separate Section/Operator lists. Separate certificates will be awarded to the winners in each of the six entry categories. The Results will also show UK/EI entrants and DX entrants separately, listed by DXCC entity, with separate certificates being awarded.

8. Antennas                      

No limits

9. Logging software

Most contest software logging packages now support these contests. However, you should check in advance that you can log 6-character grid locators correctly.

This is a sample of the correct Cabrillo format for logging software packages for the UKEICC 80m contests :

START-OF-LOG: 3.0

LOCATION: DX

CALLSIGN:G4PVM

CLUB:ESSEX CW ARC

CONTEST: UKEICC-80M

CATEGORY-OPERATOR: SINGLE-OP

CATEGORY-ASSISTED: ASSISTED

CATEGORY-BAND: 80M

CATEGORY-MODE: SSB

CATEGORY-POWER: LOW

CATEGORY-STATION: FIXED

CATEGORY-TRANSMITTER: ONE

CLAIMED-SCORE:xxx

CREATED-BY: N1MM Logger+ 1.0.9044.0

OPERATORS: G4PVM

NAME: Paul Tittensor

GRID-LOCATOR: JO01FR

EMAIL: xxx@xxx

SOAPBOX: xxxx xxxx

QSO: 3651 PH 2021-04-07 2000 G4PVM 59 JO01FR SM5CSS 59 JO89LS

QSO: 3651 PH 2021-04-07 2001 G4PVM 59 JO01FR G3R    59 IO83SJ

QSO: 3651 PH 2021-04-07 2002 G4PVM 59 JO01FR MM0MUN 59 IO87WD       etc...

For Windows OS :

SD by EI5DI (version 21.35 or later for 6-character locators and correct scoring) - Free from www.ei5di.com.  Select the "UKEICC 80m CW" or "UKEICC 80m SSB" option, as appropriate. Also runs on Linux with Wine.  (Tnx Paul EI5DI)

N1MM+ - Click here for info on where to download and how to install the N1MM+ UDC (User Defined Contest) file for these UKEICC 80m contests - the file name is UKEI80_VHF.udc.  N1MM+ website    (Tnx Les G4OGB)

DXLog (version 2.4.30 or later) -  DXlog.net website  (Tnx Jim M0CKE, Paul K1XM, Bjorn SM7IUN )

TR4W - fully supports these contests - TR4W website (Tnx Valery UR7QM)

WriteLog 12.0 - current support level unknown -  Writelog website

Win-Test 4.45.0 - currently does not support our 6-character locator exchange.

For Mac OS :

SkookumLogger (2.6.5 or later) - Free download from https://k1gq.net/SkookumLogger/  (Tnx Jonathan G0DVJ and Bill K1GQ)

10. Scoring

10.1  Entries from Russian Federation and Belarus stations will not be accepted in these 80m contests until further notice.
However, entrants making QSOs with stations in the Russian Federation and Belarus will be awarded points. 

10.2  The number of points awarded for each contact depends on the distance between the two stations. This is computed by taking the distance between the centres of the two grid squares.

i.e. 0 - 500 km = 1 point
501 - 1000 km = 2 points
1001 - 1500 km = 3 points etc.

For example, a QSO with a station 1850 km away scores 4 points.  The maximum 'distance' points for any QSO = 10pts (5000km).

10.3  As part of the adjudication process, if your QSO is with a Low Power or QRP station (i.e. you were the receiving station in that QSO), your points (for that QSO) are multiplied by the following factors :

Low Power - distance points are multiplied by 2
QRP
- distance points are multiplied by 4

No multiplication factor will be applied to QSOs with stations that did not submit an entry, or to QSOs with any station signing /QRP or /LP.

10.4  QSOs with either (or both) of the Bonus Stations, which may or may not be active in every contest, count for 15 points each, irrespective of distance or power level.  The Bonus Station callsigns will be G5GEI (or GW5GEI, GM5GEI, etc) and EI5G. These stations will RUN only (depending on QRM they may have to QSY), so entrants should make an effort to find them which potentially boosts an entrant's score by 30 points maximum.

11. Entries

11.1  Cabrillo logs are required, clearly showing your Section, Operator Category and sent exchange that includes your sent locator exactly the same as what you were sending over the air.  N1MM+ users, please ensure you use the new .udc file and make sure you enter *your* locator in the setup field.  Your Cabrillo log must be received by the online server within one hour of the contest end time. The online log submission page (click on the link below) will ask you to confirm which Section and Operator Category you are entering.  The Cabrillo files produced after the contest may contain 59(9) reports even though they are not exchanged on-air during the contest, and will be ignored during the adjudication process.  It does not matter if the Cabrillo log does not show points for each QSO or an overall claimed score.

Upload your Cabrillo log

11.2   By entering this contest, you agree to your logfile and the associated UBN file created after the log-checking procedures being available in the public domain.

11.3   Entries from stations attempting to indicate their power level by e.g. signing /QRP or /LP at any time during the contest will not be accepted.

The *provisional* results of each monthly contest will be announced on this UKEICC website as soon as possible after the one hour log submission deadline. (Many thanks to Tree N6TR, Mike G3WPH and Pete G4CLA for their software work.)

12. Penalties

12.1  Callsign and/or exchange logging errors in any QSO will result in the loss of points to the value of your average points per QSO value (as calculated from your final unchecked score) times TWO.   There are currently no penalties for Not-in-Logs.

12.2  Following the completion of the automated log-checking procedures, you will be emailed your UBN/LCR file for that contest. Please note that due to the short log-submission time and the fast production of results, no appeals can be made.  However, we reserve the right to retrospectively rescore logfiles if necessary.

12.3  QSOs with Unique callsigns will not be penalised, but any logfile showing a higher than normal number of Uniques will be scrutinised and penalties may be applied.

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Version 59 (Tim EI2KA)   :   24th August 2024                                                 E&OE