UKEICC 80m Contests - Rules (2023-24 series)
Until further notice, we will not accept entries in these 80m contests from stations in the Russian Federation and Belarus. All QSOs made by, or made with, these stations will score zero points.
These twice-monthly one hour contests are timed to coincide with the hours of darkness over most of the UK, Ireland and Europe. They are open to all stations anywhere to enter, and the scoring is distance based - similar to the very successful 160m Stew Perry Contest. The 2023-24 series runs from September 2023 until April 2024 - a total of 14 contests (7 on SSB, 7 on CW).
The contest exchange is simplified - no RST should be sent. These contests aim to encourage high quality operating, where each operator can balance speed of operating against logging accuracy. Those operators that can develop both of these essential skills while working the most stations at the *greatest distances* will always do best. Scores will accumulate to give overall winners in each section at the end of the series.
These are primarily single-operator events, but individual entrants may also wish to enter our Teams competitions, either by forming a team of 3 entrants, with 1 reserve (i.e. a team of 4, but only 3 scores count in each contest) or as a team of two entrants. You have until the end of November 2023 to register your Team for this Teams competition.
New entrants - please note that your Cabrillo logfile must be submitted, via the log submission robot, BEFORE 2200z.
Before submitting your logfile, check that your Cabrillo logfile has both (a) your sent callsign and (b) your sent locator *exactly the same as what you were sending over the air*.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Notes for the 2023-24 series :
1. We are no longer accepting Checklogs. Even if you make only a few QSOs, please submit an entry.
2. QSOs with either of the Bonus stations (G_5GEI and EI5G) count 15 points each. See Section 10 below.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Realtime Scoreboard - select SSB or CW
N1MM+ users - please ensure that you use the new .udc file (see link in section 9 below) and make sure you enter *your* locator in the setup field.
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) |
|
6th September 2023 |
SSB |
2000-2100z |
Chris GM3WOJ | Ei5G (Tim EI2KA), GM5GEI (Chris GM3WOJ) |
|
27th September 2023 |
CW |
2000-2100z |
Dean G4WQI | Ei5G (Paul EI5DI), G5GEI (Dean G4WQI) |
|
4th October 2023 |
SSB |
2000-2100z |
Angel M0HDF | Ei5G (Paul EI3ENB), G5GEI (Tim G4FJK) |
|
25th October 2023 |
CW |
2000-2100z |
Angel M0HDF | Ei5G (Joe EI7GY), G5GEI (David G3PLE) |
| 1st November 2023 |
SSB |
2000-2100z |
Stew GW0ETF | Ei5G (Marty EI2IAB), GW5GEI (Stew GW0ETF) |
|
29th November 2023 |
CW |
2000-2100z |
Tim G4FJK | Ei5G (David EI5KG), G5GEI (Dean G4WQI) |
|
3rd January 2024 |
SSB |
2000-2100z |
Paul G4PVM | Ei5G ... , G5GEI (Paul G4PVM) |
|
31st January 2024 |
CW |
2000-2100z |
Mark G4MEM | Ei5G ... , G5GEI (Mark G4MEM) |
|
7th February 2024 |
SSB |
2000-2100z |
Ei5G ... , G_5GEI ... | |
|
28th February 2024 |
CW |
2000-2100z |
Ei5G ... , G5GEI (Bob M0ITR) | |
|
6th March 2024 |
SSB |
2000-2100z |
Ei5G ... , G_5GEI ... | |
|
27th March 2024 |
CW |
2000-2100z |
Mark G4MEM | Ei5G ... , G_5GEI ... |
|
3rd April 2024 |
SSB |
2000-2100z |
Ei5G ... , G_5GEI ... | |
|
24th April 2024 |
CW |
2000-2100z |
Ei5G ... , G_5GEI ... |
2. Times
All 2023-24 series contests - 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
Your 6-character Grid locator - e.g. IO91WS, IO64GH, etc only (No RST should be sent)
5. Callsigns
Your normal station callsign or any Special Contest Callsign issued to you by your national licensing authority may be used. (We will link together any previous or new callsigns used by Team members)
6. Sections
(a) High Power - the maximum permitted by the entrant's licence or 1500W, whichever is the lower.
(b) Low Power - maximum 100 watts output
(c) QRP - maximum 5 watts output
Sorry we do not accept Checklogs - 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 the contest, for the purpose of finding, facilitating, or making
QSOs.
(a) Connects, or is connected, to any network crossing the boundary of the
entrants 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.
7.3 Entries in all 6 categories will be listed together in the Results, and also in 6 separate category lists. Separate Certificates will be awarded to the winners in each of the 6 entry categories. The Results will also show UK/EI entrants and DX entrants separately, listed by DXCC entity, again with separate Certificates being awarded.
Note - 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.
Teams competition - See the separate 'Teams Competition' webpage.
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.
Note : 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 - or leave this field empty (some logging software programs will not allow you to log the QSO with an empty Received exchange field)
This is a sample of the correct Cabrillo format :
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 QSO: 3651 PH 2021-04-07 2002 G4PVM 59 JO01FR DL3RAR 59 JN68IV QSO: 3651 PH 2021-04-07 2003 G4PVM 59 JO01FR EI3HDB 59 IO62PN QSO: 3651 PH 2021-04-07 2003 G4PVM 59 JO01FR DL2SWR 59 JO53SV
Some specific advice on using the most common logging software packages for the UKEICC 80m contests :
For Windows OS :
SD by EI5DI - you'll need V21.35 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 - you must be running the latest version (2.4.30 or newer) - fully supports these contests - 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 4.31.0 - currently does not support our 6-character locator exchange.
For Mac OS :
SkookumLogger - you must be running the latest version (2.6.5 or newer) - fully supports these contests. Free download from SkookumLogger website (Tnx Jonathan G0DVJ and Bill K1GQ)
Notes: (i) The Cabrillo files produced after the contest may contain 59(9) reports even though they are not exchanged on-air during the contest - these will be ignored during the adjudication process. (ii) It does not matter if the Cabrillo log does not show points for each QSO or an overall claimed score.
10. Scoring
The points 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. Max. 'distance' points for any QSO = 10pts (5000km)
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 - points are multiplied by 2
QRP - 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.
QSOs with either (or both) of the Bonus stations, which may or may not be active in every contest, count for 15 pts each., irrespective of distance / 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 pts. max.
Realtime Scoreboard for UKEICC 80m contests (thanks Victor VA2WA)
11. Entries
11.1 Cabrillo logs are required, clearly showing your section and sent exchange, and must be received by the online server within 1 hour of the contest end time. The online log submission page (click on the link below) will ask you to confirm which section etc you are entering.
The results of each monthly contest will be announced on this UKEICC website within 1 hour after the close of log submission i.e within 2 hours of the end of the contest. (Many thanks to Tree N6TR, Mike G3WPH and Pete G4CLA for their software work)
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.
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, but this may change during the course of the 2023-24 series.
12.2 Following the completion of the automated log-checking procedures, you will have access to 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.
Version 56 : 3rd August 2023 E&OE