Introduction

In the January/February 2006 issue of Break–In, readers were invited to participate in a revision of the contest rules.

There is now a contest every two months, allowing plenty of time to recover from the previous contest and to prepare for the next one.

This also fits in with the bi–monthly Break–In publication schedule.

Rules VHF–UHF–SHF Contests

Clause 1. Contest dates

DX Weekend Contest

All bands 50 MHz and up. First Saturday in February, and the following day.

Low Band Contest

All bands 50 MHz to 440 MHz. First Saturday in April, and the following day. Delayed one week if it clashes with VHF Convention.

Hibernation Contest

All bands 50 MHz and up. First Saturday in June, and the following day. Delayed one week if it clashes with NZART Conference.

Brass Monkey Contest

All bands 50 MHz and up. First Saturday in August, and the following day.

Microwave Contest

All bands 614 MHz and up. First Saturday in October, and the following day.

Field Day Contest

All bands 50 MHz and up. First Saturday in December, and the following day.

For all contests, the operating periods are 1700 to 2300 on the Saturday, and 0700 to 1300 on the Sunday, NZ local time.

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Clause 2. Definitions

QRP shall mean a transmitter operating at an output power of 5W or less.

A Field Station is one where all equipment, including power sources, antenna systems and operating shelters are taken to the site, and no other facilities are used.

Light Electronic signal generation, modulation and detection, shall be used on all bands, including between 400 THz and 750 THz (light).

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Clause 3. Crossband or repeater contacts

Crossband contacts, or contacts through repeaters, are invalid in these contests.

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Clause 4. Time

All contest periods begin and end on the hour. Use time signals from a reliable source.

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Clause 5. Operation site

Stations may use only one site for the duration of the Contest, but may move to shelter within one kilometre. Any greater move requires a scoring restart. Two, or more, stations in close proximity may only participate if the stations are erected and operated entirely independently throughout the Contest.

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Clause 6. Teams

Team operation is advisable on field sites, for safety. No member of a team that has set up and operated a station may earn points for that station by making contact with that station.

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Clause 7. Call–signs

Only one call–sign may be used by a station for the duration of the Contest.

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Clause 8. Repeat contacts

No station may be worked twice in a period on the same band, nor may consecutive contacts be made on that band to the same station, bridging a period change, unless the other station has worked a third station, if available, in the interim. There shall be a period of, at least, 5 minutes between contacts, if a third station is not available.

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Clause 9. Contact Serial Numbers

Contacts must be fully two–way. Serial numbers must be correctly exchanged and acknowledged, before points may be claimed. The serial number is made up of RS(T) plus a three digit number.

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Clause 10. Station location

Location details of contesting stations must be exchanged on first contact with each new station, especially if mobile, and entered into the log. Stations shall give their location as latitude and longitude, using the NZ1949 Geoid, to within five minutes resolution or full Maidenhead Locator. As the full Maidenhead is only accurate to 7 km, station location shall be given to within 30 seconds resolution, approximately 0.9 km for contacts above 2.4 GHz. "Christchurch" or "Home station" is an insufficient description. The station giving the insufficient description will be penalised.

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Clause 11. Logs

Contest logs must reach the VHF/UHF/SHF Contest Manager, Wellington VHF Group, PO Box 12–259, Thorndon, Wellington, within two weeks of the contest, and must contain:

(a) A certificate signed by the chief operator, stating that the station was operated in accordance with the Radio Regulations and these contest rules.

(b) A list of all operators and call–signs.

(c) The station call–sign and operating site, accurately described. Please include an email address for correspondence and a postal address for certificates.

(d) Power of each transmitter used.

(e) Optional supplementary information on conditions and/or equipment used, for publication. This is of value to other contestants, and to the contest organisers.

(f) Separate log sheets for each contest section, in each band, single–sided, showing the following:

(i) Heading, showing Section, Band, Contest, Date.

(ii) Time and (other) station call–sign, for each contact.

(iii) Serial numbers exchanged.

(iv) Other station location (first contact).

(v) Distance in kilometres to other station.

(vi) Claimed score for each contact.

(vii) Running score per sheet, total for band, with any bonus points. Each section, on each band, is a mini–contest, please log them that way.

(g) An email address for results, if you don't want to wait until the results are published in Break–In, HQ InfoLine, Q–Bit and Spectrum.

(h) Check logs are welcome.

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This section replaced 30-June-2008
CLAUSE 12. Scoring
You must score your own log, as detailed below.
For ease of scoring, the use of a map with a scale of one to one million, such
as InfoMap 265, or similar, is suggested. At this scale 1 mm = 1 km.
Table 1 Basic scores
Distance Band
(km)              6 m          2 m         70 cm
0-25                1            1             2
25-50               2            2             3
50-75               3            3             5
75-100              5            5             7
100-150             7            7            10
150-200            10           10            15
200-300            12           12            20
300-400            15           15            30
400-500            20           20            40
500-600            25           25            50
600-800            25           40            75
800-1200           25           50           100
1200-2000          35           75           150
2000-3000          50          125           250
3000-4000          60          175           350
4000-5000          80          225           450
>5000             100          250           500


48 cm 0.3 points per kilometre
32 cm 0.3 points per kilometre
23 cm 0.2 points per kilometre
13 cm 0.5 points per kilometre
Above 3 GHz, one point per kilometre


Round the points per contact to the nearest integer:
Less than 0.5 rounds down; 0.5 and above rounds up.

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Clause 13. Bonus Multipliers (in order of application)

There are no multipliers for “manual” modes such as: CW, AM, SSB, FM and digital voice, etc.

Multiply the basic score by 1.5 for “machine” modes such as: RTTY, ASCII, AMTOR, Packet, SSTV, ATV, etc.

QRP. Multiply previous score by 1.5. Stations may use QRP on some modes, and/or bands, and high powers on others, with multipliers calculated on a contact by contact basis. The establishing of a contact on high power, then reducing the power for scoring purposes, is not permitted.

Field Station, as defined in Section 2 of these Rules – multiply previous score by 1.2.

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Clause 14. Discussion

The ruling of the Contest Committee is final, and no discussion will be entered into.