The 2012 CQ WW RTTY DX Contests RTTY

I. OBJECTIVE: For amateurs around the world to contact other amateurs in as many zones, countries, US states and VE areas as possible.

II. BANDS: Five bands only: 3.5, 7, 14,21, and 28 MHz.

III. TYPE OF COMPETITION (choose only one):

For all categories:

1. All entrants must operate within the limits of their chosen category when per- forming any activity that could impact their submitted score.

2. You must not exceed the total output power limitation of your chosen category. Total output power on any band at any time is measured at the output of the active amplifier.

3. Operating location: All transmitters and receivers used by the entrant must be located within a single 500-meter diame- ter circle or within the property limits of the station licensee’s address, whichever is greater.

4. All antennas used by the entrant must be physically connected by wires to the transmitters and receivers used by the entrant.

5. Only the entrant’s call sign may be used to aid the entrant’s score.

6. A different call sign must be used for each CQ WW RTTY entry.

7. An entrant’s remote station is deter- mined by the physical location of the transmitters, receivers, and antennas. A remote station must obey all station and category limitations of Rule III.

8. A competitor who wishes to be judged for a top score in their category must agree to a potential visitation at any time during the contest by an observer appointed by the CQ WW Contest Committee (CQ WW CC). Failure of the entrant to respond to our correspondence or to allow a CQ WW CC observer full access to the contest QTH during the full contest may result in the competitor being removed from award eligibility for 3 years.

10. Only one signal on a band is allowed at any time.

11. Remote receivers outside the limi- tations of Rule III.3 are not allowed. The only exception is public remote skimmers which are allowed for the Multi-Operator and Assisted categories.

12. When two or more transmitters are present on a band, a hardware device MUST be used to prevent more than one signal at any one time; interlock king two or more transmitters on a band with alternating CQs (soliciting contacts) is not allowed.

13. Only Baudot mode is permitted.

A.   Single   Operator   (All-Band   or Single-Band): only one person (the entrant) can contribute to the final score during the official contest period. Call sign alerting assistance of any kind places the entrant in one of the Single Operator Assisted categories. For all single opera- tor categories, all-band or single-band, only one signal is allowed at any time; for the all-band category the operator can change bands at any time.

1. Single Operator: QSO alerting assistance of any kind is not allowed.

a. Single Operator High (SOAB High or SOSB High): Total output power must not exceed 1500 watts on any band at any time.

b. Single Operator Low (SOAB Low or SOSB Low): Total output power must not exceed 100 watts on any band at any time.

c. Single Operator QRP (SOAB QRP or SOSB QRP): Total output power must not exceed 5 watts on any band at any time.

2. Single Operator Assisted: Any public QSO alerting assistance is allowed for all assisted categories. This includes, but is not limited to, DX Cluster-type net- works, local or remote Skimmer and/or Skimmer-like technology and reverse beacon network. A local Skimmer is one obeying Rule III.3.

a. Single Operator High Assisted (SOAAB High or SOASB High): Total output power must not exceed 1500 watts on any band at any time.

b. Single Operator Low Assisted (SOAAB Low or SOASB Low): Total out- put power must not exceed 100 watts on any band at any time.

c. Single Operator QRP Assisted (SOAAB QRP or SOASB QRP): Total output power must not exceed 5 watts on any band at any time.

B. Multi-Operator (all band operation only): any public QSO spotting help is allowed. Any number of operators is allowed. Total output power must not exceed 1500 watts on any band at any time.

1. Single Transmitter: Only one trans- mitter may be used and it may make a maximum of 8 band changes in any clock hour (run transmitter). Exception: One and only one—other transmitter may be used—if and only if—the station worked is a new multiplier (multiplier transmitter). The multiplier transmitter may also make a maximum of 8 band changes in any clock hour.  The run and multiplier trans- mitters are governed by independent 8- band-change rules. A clock hour runs from 00 through 59 minutes. The multipli- er station cannot call CQ (solicit contacts). Logs found in violation of the 8-band- change rule may be reclassified as M2. If electronic logging is used (Cabrillo), for each QSO, the run transmitter or multipli- er transmitter must be indicated in the log. a. Single Transmitter High (MS High): Total output power must not exceed 1500

watts on any band at any time.

b. Single Transmitter Low (MS Low): Total output power must not exceed 100 watts  on any band at any time.

2. Two Transmitters (M2): A maxi- mum of two transmitted signals at any time on two different bands. Both trans- mitters may work any station. A station may only be worked once per band regardless of which transmitter is used. The log must indicate which transmitter made each QSO. Each transmitter may make a maximum of 8 band changes in any clock hour.

3. Multi-Transmitter (MM): No limit to the number of transmitters or operators. Five bands may be activated simultaneously.

IV. NUMBER EXCHANGE: RST report plus zone (i.e., 59905). US and VE sta- tions also send US state or VE area (i.e.,59905 MA, see V. MULTIPLIER below.) 

V. MULTIPLIER: Three types of multipli- er will be used.

1. A multiplier of one (1) for each dif- ferent zone contacted on each band.

2. A multiplier of one (1) for each dif- ferent country contacted on each band. Stations are permitted to contact their own country and zone for multiplier credit. The Worked All Zones written rules, DXCC country list, WAE country list and IG9/IH9, and WAC boundaries are standards. Maritime mobile stations count only for a zone multiplier.

3. A multiplier of one (1) for each dif- ferent US “lower-48” state and VE area contacted on each band. Stations are per- mitted to contact their own US state or VE area for multiplier credit. One multiplier for each US state (48) and each Canadian area (14) on each band. Please use only official U.S. Postal Service abbreviations to identify states (e.g., Michigan = MI; Massachusetts = MA, Ohio = OH). Note: The District of Columbia counts as Maryland (MD); Alaska (KL7) and Hawaii (KH6) are counted as country multipliers only and not as state multipliers. Canadian areas (14 total) are as follows: NB (VE1, 9), NS (VE1), QC (VE2), ON (VE3), MB (VE4), SK (VE5), AB (VE6), BC (VE7), NWT (VE8), NF (VO1), LB (VO2), NU (VYØ), YT (VY1), PEI (VY2).

1. Contacts between stations on differ- ent continents are worth three (3) points.

2. Contacts between stations on the same continent but different countries, two (2) points.

3. Contacts between stations in the same country, one (1) point.

VII. SCORING: All stations: the final score is the result of the total QSO points mul- tiplied by the sum of your zone, country and US state/VE area multipliers. Example: 1000 QSO points ´ 100 multi- plier  (30  Zones  +  35  Countries  +  35

States/Areas) = 100,000 (final score). 

VIII. AWARDS: First place certificates will be awarded in each category listed under Section III in every participating country and in each call area of the United States, Canada, Russia, Spain and Japan. All scores will be published. To be eligible for an award, a Single-Operator station must show a minimum of 12 hours of operation. Multi-operator stations must operate a minimum of 24 hours. A single-band log is eligible for a single-band award only. If a log contains more than one band it will be judged as an all-band entry, unless oth- erwise specified. In countries or call areas where the returns justify, 2nd and 3rd place awards may be made. All certifi- cates/plaques  will  be  issued  to  the licensee of the station used.

IX. TROPHIES and PLAQUES: Plaques and trophies are awarded for top perfor- mance in a number of categories. They are sponsored by individuals and organiza- tions. For a current list of plaques and sponsors, or to learn how to become a sponsor, see the CQ WW RTTY website:

<http://www.cqwwrtty.com>. A station win- ning a World trophy will not be considered for a sub-area award; the trophy will be awarded to the runner-up in that area.

1. The club must be a local group and not a national organization.

2. Participation is limited to members operating within a local geographic area defined as within a 275 km radius from the center of club area (except for DX- peditions conducted by members living within the defined club geographic area). Club contributions from DXpedition scores are a percentage of the number of club members on the DXpedition.

3. To be listed, a minimum of 3 logs must be received from a club, and a club officer must submit a list of eligible mem- bers to the Contest Director.

1. All times must be in UTC.

2. All sent and receive exchanges are to be logged.

3. If submitting a paper log, you must indicate zone, country and US/VE multi- pliers the FIRST TIME worked on each band. This is not required for electronic Cabrillo log submissions.

4. Electronic log submission: We want your electronic log. The Committee requires an electronic log for any possible high-scoring log. By submitting a log to the CQ WW RTTY Contest, the entrant agrees to have the log open to the public. If possible, we would appreciate complete frequencies in the log. E-mail Required Content: Please submit your log in the Cabrillo file format created by all major logging programs. Be sure to put the STA- TION CALL SIGN in the “Subject:” line of each message. Your e-mail log will auto- matically be acknowledged by the server. Electronic submission implies a signed declaration that all contest rules and reg- ulations for amateur radio in the country of operation have been observed. Submit your CQ WW RTTY log to <rtty@cqww. com>.

5. Paper log submission: Use a sepa- rate log sheet for each band. Each paper log entry MUST be accompanied by a summary sheet showing all scoring infor- mation, category of competition, and con- testant’s name and address in BLOCK LETTERS. Sample log and summary sheets are available on the CQ website,

<www.cq-amateur-radio.com>. If official forms are not available, make up your own, 80 contacts to the page on 8-1/2″ ´

11″ paper or European A4. All paper log entrants are required to submit cross- check sheets (an alphabetical list of calls worked) for each band on which 200 or more QSOs were made.

6. Bad QSO: The bad QSO is removed and a penalty of three more equivalent QSOs is applied to the points only.

7. QRP and Low Power stations must indicate their category on their summary sheets and state the actual maximum power output used in the comment sec- tion of their Cabrillo submission.

XII. ACTIONS OF THE CQ WW RTTY CC: Violation of the rules of the contest makes the entrant subject to either a red or yellow card, a warning letter, or log rejection at the discretion of the CQ WW RTTY Contest Committee.

A. YELLOW card:  One Yellow card: entrant not eligible for an award in the entered contest. An entrant or operator issued a yellow card will be listed at the end of the published results. Two Yellow cards: An entrant receiving two yellow cards in three consecutive CQ WW RTTY contests is a Red card.

B. RED card:   One Red card: entrant not eligible for an award in the entered

contest. Entrants receiving a red card will be listed  at the end of the published results. An entrant or operator receiving a red card will be ineligible for any CQ- sponsored contest award for a period of one year beginning with the publication of the violation in CQ magazine. Two Red cards: An entry or operator receiving two Red cards within five consecutive CQ WW RTTY contests will be ineligible for any CQ-sponsored contest award for a period of three years beginning the month of publication of the second viola- tion in CQ magazine. If the entrant is in a multi-operator category, all listed oper- ators are so affected.

Further CQ WW RTTY CC actions:

1. The entrant agrees that the CQ WW RTTY CC reserves the right to reject any entry for non-compliance with the rules.

2. Unsportsmanlike conduct can be grounds for either a Red or Yellow card at the discretion of the CQ WW RTTY CC. Unsportsmanlike conduct includes but is not limited to violation of the CQ WW RTTY rules, ANY use by an entrant of any non-amateur means during the contest including, but not limited to, telephones, Internet, instant messaging, chat rooms, VoIP, or the use of any DX cluster/reflec- tor to SOLICIT, ARRANGE, or CONFIRM any contacts during the contest. Unsportsmanlike conduct also includes out of band transmissions by the entrant.

3. Taking credit for excessive unverifi- able QSOs or unverifiable multipliers may result in a yellow or red card at the dis- cretion of the CQ WW RTTY CC.

4. An entrant is free to withdraw his/her submitted log for any reason prior to receiving an official letter from the CQ WW RTTY CC. The log will then be handled per the entrant’s request. If after receiv- ing an official letter from the CQ WW RTTY CC an entrant chooses to withdraw their log, the entrant’s call will be listed at the end of the results showing their log as having been withdrawn.

5. By submitting a CQ WW RTTY Contest log, an entrant agrees that the issuing of Red cards, Yellow cards, and other decisions of the CQ WW RTTY CC are official and final.

6. A card penalty given to an entrant will be honored by all CQ sponsored contests, the EUHFC, the SCC RTTY Cham- pionship and the JIDXC.

2. An extension of up to one month may be  given  if  requested  by  e-mail  to

<w0yk@cqwwrtty.com>. The granted extension must be confirmed by the Contest Director, must state a legitimate reason, and the request must be received before the log mailing deadline. Logs postmarked after the extension deadline may be listed in the results but will be declared ineligible for an award. All paper logs should be sent to Ed Muns, WØYK, POB 1877, Los Gatos, CA 95031-1877, USA.