Objective:

The objective of this contest is to encourage greater participation and activity on the MF and HF bands.  The contest is deliberately designed as a long form event (11 months) as many amateurs are unavailable for the more traditional contests held on weekends.  It also provides the opportunity for those who like to operate in a more relaxed fashion to still take part in a national contest. This also provides amateurs the opportunity to use their 2×1 Contest Callsigns.  

Exchange:

There are no formal exchange requirements for this contest, other than the normal minimum standards for a QSO in each mode. (e.g. exchange of signal reports and name for SSB and CW, and callsign, locator and signal SNR for Digital).  For digital modes you must exchange a maidenhead locator, and for SSB and CW you must exchange names.

Scoring:

You get one point per QSO per band/slot/mode.  Duplicates are permitted. 

Examples.

1.VK0XX can work VK9XX on 80m on SSB, CW and Digital in the Mixed Mode Category for 3 points

2. VK0XX can work VK9XX on 80m, 40m, 20m, 15m and 10m CW in the CW Category for 5 points.

If you use ClubLog (clublog.org) your score will be provided as a part of that system’s reporting.

All contacts between 15th February 2023 00:00 UTC and 31st December 2023 23:59 UTC are eligible. 

Contacts on the following bands are eligible: 160,80,40,20,15 and 10m (no WARC bands)

Awards:

There will be awards (1st & 2nd place) for each category:

  • Mixed Modes
  • SSB
  • CW
  • Digital

Participation Prize:

To encourage amateurs to get on-air and participate, RASA will be offering a prize (Rig Expert Antenna Analyser AA-35) to one lucky entrant.  To be eligible for the prize you must satisfy the following criteria.

  • You must submit a log and summary page by 15 January 2024 – the format options for your log entry  are specified in Appendix 1
  • For Digital category submissions, you must have a minimum of 500 QSOs over the year
  • For SSB category submissions, you must have a minimum of 250 QSOs over the year
  • For CW category submissions, you must have a minimum of 150 QSOs over the year
  • For Mixed/Open modes you must have a minimum of 500 QSOs over the year

This prize will be drawn by a RASA appointed independent team of two people who will ensure it is drawn in a fair and ethical manner.  The winner will be notified by email/phone. Thanks to donations from members and Carsten from RF Solutions for all your support. We hope the winner will use this very handy test equipment to make or tune antennas for the contest in 2024.

RigExpert AA-35 – click image for more details

Appendix 1

Submission of logs.

  • Computer Logs/not uploading to the web – if you operate a stand-alone computer log please send an excel file of your contacts and a summary page
  • Computer Logs/Upload to Club Log – if you upload your logs to Club Log, please provide a screen grab of your claimed score as well as a summary page
  • Hand-written Logs – please send in photos/scans of your Log and a summary page including your claimed score

Log Summary Page:

The summary page must contain the following information:

  • Your name, callsign, email and telephone number
  • The category you’re entering (Mixed, SSB, CW or Digital)
  • Date of first QSO in log
  • Date of last QSO in log
  • Number of QSOs in log
  • Claimed score
  • Soapbox comments
  • Photo of your station

If your logging software provides suitable reporting, please use that data and/or report.