«RUSSIAN DX CONTEST» 2024 RULES
1. Contest sponsors
The "Soyuz Radioljubitelej Rossii" (Union of Radioamateurs of Russia), SRR is pleased to announce 31st International "Russian DX Contest"
2. Contest dates, bands, and modes
· 1200 UTC 16 March till 1159 UTC 17 March 2024
· 160, 80, 40, 20, 15 and 10 meters. No contest QSOs on WARC bands
· CW and Phone
3. Entry categories:
· Single Op, All Bands, MIXED, High Power
· Single Op, All Bands, MIXED, Low Power 100 watts
· Single Op, All Bands, MIXED, QRP 5 watts
· Single Op, All Bands, CW, High Power
· Single Op, All Bands, CW, Low Power 100 watts
· Single Op, All Bands, SSB, High Power
· Single Op, All Bands, SSB, Low Power 100 watts
· Single Op, single band, MIXED (6 different band entries, separately 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10 m)
· Multi Op, All Bands, Single transmitter, MIXED
· Multi Op, Two transmitters, MIXED
· Multi Op, Multi transmitters, MIXED
· SWL - MIXED
Additional entry categories:
· Single Op, All Bands, MIXED, High Power, Classic
· Single Op, All Bands, CW, High Power, Classic
· Single Op, All Bands, SSB, High Power, Classic
· Single Op, All Band, MIXED, Low Power, Classic
· Single Op, All Band, CW, Low Power, Classic
· Single Op, All Band, SSB, Low Power, Classic
· Single Op, All Bands, MIXED, High Power, Senior
· Single Op, All Bands, CW, High Power, Senior
· Single Op, All Bands, SSB, High Power, Senior
· Single Op, All Band, MIXED, Low Power, Senior
· Single Op, All Bands, CW, Low Power, Senior
· Single Op, All Band, SSB, Low Power, Senior
· Single Op, All Band, MIXED, High Power, Junior
· Single Op, All Band, MIXED, Low Power, Junior
· Single Op, All Band, MIXED, High Power, YL
· Single Op, All Band, MIXED, Low Power, YL
· Multi Op, All Bands, Single transmitter, MIXED, Junior
· Multi Op, All Bands, Single transmitter, MIXED, Single TX/RX
3.1 The participant can operate and submit the log for two different single band categories to be eligible for awards, for instance, 10m and 80m as per 11.3.
3.2 Single Op, single band entrants may operate on other bands during the contest and are encouraged to submit their entire logs to help in the log cross-checking process. These contacts will not affect the Single Op, single band score but will be credited to other stations.
3.3 Classic entries criterias:
- Only a single transceiver can be used without using a second receiver during transmission.
- The receiving of callsigns, exchanges and any other information necessary for the QSO in the contest must be carried out by the station operator by ear.
- Transmission work (correspondent's call signs, exchanges, own call sign, confirmation of the end of the QSO, etc.) during each QSO must be initiated directly by the station operator. It is allowed to generate standard messages (voice or CW) from a computer or other electronic devices, as well as from the CW keyboard.
- The operator must provide an audio recording of his work at the request of the judges.
3.4 Senior entries criterias:
- age more than 75 years;
- working time - 12 hours, starting from first QSO (allowed rest (off-time) periods no less than one hour long).
3.5 Junior entries criterias: participant age under 19 years.
3.6 Multi-Op, Single Transmitter, Single TX/RX entry criteria: all contest QSO are performed from single transceiver.
4. Club Competition
4.1 The club score is the total aggregate score from logs submitted by club members. National organizations (e.g., JARL, REF or DARC) as well as their subsidiary divisions are not eligible for the club competition. The participant’s log must clearly indicate the full name of the club in the field CLUB: [text].
5. General Rules
5.1. All transmitters, receivers, and amplifiers must be within a single 1000-meter diameter circle. Antennas must be physically connected by RF transmission lines to the transmitters and receivers.
5.1.1. Remote operation is permitted if the physical location of all transmitters, receivers, and antennas are at one station location.
A remotely operated station must obey all station license, operator license, and category limitations. The call sign used must be one issued or permitted by the Regulatory Authority of the station location.
5.1.2. The use of publicly available potting assistance (DX cluster, CW Skimmer etc) is allowed for all entries.
5.1.3. The use of any calls other than participant’s for any reason including keeping the run frequency on any band, making schedules, DX-spotting, moving the multipliers is prohibited.
5.1.4. Self-spotting is permitted during the contest.
5.2. Single Operator participants may change bands and modes without restrictions. Only one signal can be transmitted at any given time.
5.2.1. Single Operator categories: one person (the operator) performs all operating, logging and spotting functions. Any other human or automated assistance will result in reclassification into the Multi Operator category or disqualification at the discretion of the contest committee.
5.3. Multi Op, Single transmitter stations are subject to a 10 minutes band change rule. Mode change within current band is allowed without limitations.
5.3.1. Start time is determined by the time of the first QSO made on the band. The band may be changed after 10 full minutes have elapsed.
5.3.2. Only one signal can be transmitted at any given time. Exception: two signals on two different bands are allowed if (and only if) the station on another (and only one) “multiplier” band works a new multiplier.
5.3.3. The “multiplier” transmitter is subject to its own 10 minute rule for band changes as described in 5.3.1.
5.3.4. Contacts which violate band change rules, should be clearly marked in the log with an X-QSO: key (as per 11.11 ). They will neither be counted nor penalized for an entrant, but will be counted for the station contacted.
5.3.5. Tampering with the QSO time to comply with the 10 minute rule (“rubber clocking”) will result in disqualification.
5.4. Multi Op, Two transmitters: A maximum of two transmitted signals at any time on different bands. Each transmitter may make a maximum of 8 band changes in any clock hour (00 through 59 minutes). For example, a change from 40 meters to 80 meters and then back to 40 meters constitutes two band changes. Both transmitters may work any and all stations. A station may be worked twice per band (CW and SSB) regardless of which transmitter is used.
5.5. Multi Op, Multi transmitters: A maximum of six transmitted signals, one per band at any one time. All equipment (transmitters, receivers, amplifiers, antennas, etc.) must be located in same DXCC entity, including remotely controlled equipment. Six bands may be activated simultaneously. Use a separate serial number sequence for each band. Limits in 5.1 do not apply.
5.6. All MIXED categories entrants can work the same station twice per band (CW and SSB).
6. Exchange:
6.1. Non-Russian stations: signal report + QSO number, starting with 001.
6.2. Multi Op may alternativley use separate serial numbers for each band.
6.3. Russian stations: signal report + oblast code as per attached list.
7. QSO Points.
7.1. Russian stations:
- QSO with your own country (Russia on your continent) – 2 points,
- QSO with Russia on another continent – 5 points,
- QSO with a different country on your continent – 3 points,
- QSO with another continent – 5 points.
7.2. Non-Russian stations:
- QSO with Russian station – 10 points,
- QSO with your own country – 2 points,
- QSO with a different country on your continent – 3 points,
- QSO with another continent – 5 points.
7.3. Kaliningrad (UA2F), Franz Josef Land (RI1FJ) and Russian Antarctic stations (RI1AN) each count as a separate DXCC entity and a separate Oblast (double multiplier) with Kaliningrad counts as European Russia for scoring purposes.
7.4. Maritime mobile (“/MM”) stations do not count as multipliers and score 5 points for all participants.
7.5. SWL points are calculated along the same principles as described in 7.1 and 7.2.
8. Dupes
8.1. Dupes are contacts made with the same station on the same band and mode. If the first contact between stations is valid, dupes have 0 points value. If the first contact is not valid, then second (dupe) contact is accepted.
8.2. Dupe contacts are not penalized; they do not have to be marked in the log. All entrants are strongly recommended to leave DUPES in the log.
9. Multipliers
There are two types of multipliers:
- One multiplier for each different oblast contacted on each band, including UA2F, RI1FJ and RI1AN as per 7.3.
- One multiplier for each different country (DXCC entity list + WAE multipliers list) contacted on each band.
10. Final Score
10.1. The final score is the result of the total QSO points multiplied by the sum of oblast and country multipliers.
11. General Log Submission Requirements
11.1. Logs are accepted in CABRILLO file format only.
11.2. Filename of your log should be yourcall.log or .cbr. Example: UA1AAA.log.
11.3. If a competitor claims two separate bands in the SOSB category (as per 3.1 ) these two bands should be clearly marked. Example: CATEGORY-BAND: 10m, 15m.
11.4. Russian stations will include their RDA in the LOCATION: field.
11.5. Web upload is the only method of log submission. Web upload of logs is available at: https://ua9qcq.com/hf-logs.php
11.6. All QSO times must be in UTC.
11.7. All sent and received exchanges must be clearly shown in the log.
11.8. The header of the electronic log must specify entry category and your full mailing address to receive the awards.
11.9. Please do not remove duplicate QSOs from the log.
11.10. Multi Op logs (Single transmitter and Two transmitters) must identify which transmitter made each QSO. For Multi Op, Single transmitter entries RUN =0, MULT =1. For Multi Op, Two transmitters entries RUN1 = 0, RUN2 = 1. Alternative identification is not allowed. The logs without such identification will be reclassified to Check Log.
11.11. Logs aiming for the top 3 position in any contest category (excluding SWL entry) must indicate the frequency of every QSO made (using transceiver CAT) with a minimum resolution of 1 kHz.
11.12. Any QSO marked with the key X-QSO: will be ignored in your log and credit will be given to the other station.
12. Log Submission Deadline
12.1. Logs must be submitted to the contest sponsors within 14 days after the end of the contest (until 23:59 UTC on 31.03.2024). Logs aiming for the top 3 position in any contest category (excluding SWL and additional categories entries) must submit log until 23:59 UTC 18th March, 2024.
12.2. Receipt of the log will be confirmed on the "Uploaded Logs" page on ua9qcq.com Website.
12.3. Logs submitted after the deadline may be listed in the results, but are not eligible for awards.
13. Awards
13.1. Special plaques for world winners and medals for 2nd and 3rd places in the following categories:
- Single-Op All Band High Power Mixed;
- Single-Op All Band Low Power Mixed;
- Single-Op All Band QRP – Mixed;
- Single-Op All Band High Power CW;
- Single-Op All Band Low Power CW;
- Single-Op All Band High Power SSB;
- Single-Op All Band Low Power SSB;
- Multi-Ops Single Transmitter;
- Multi-Ops Two Transmitters;
- Multi-Multi.
13.2. Medals for 2nd and 3rd places winners in the above categories.
13.3. For the complete list of sponsored plaques please visit "AWARDS" page
13.4. All participants who have submitted the log will receive PDF participation certificates.
13.5. The additional category winners will be awarded plaques or pennants if there is sponsorship and there are at least 5 participants in particular category.
14. Contest-Related Information
14.1. Each participant who sent their electronic log will have access to their UBN with declared/confirmed results separately by bands/modes and a list of QSOs containing their errors and errors of spent stations.
14.3. Any RDXC related questions should be sent to e-mail mail@rdxc.org
15. Judging
The Russian DX Contest Committee is responsible for checking and adjudicating the contest entries which is done electronically. Participants are requested to follow the rules and best amateur radio practices. Violation of the rules of the contest or unsportsmanlike conduct may lead to disciplinary action by the Committee in its sole discretion.
Audio Recordings: Any single operator entrant competing for a TOP-3 finish at the World, including Classic Overlay, must record the transmitted and received audio as heard by the operator for the duration of the contest operation. The recording must be in a common format (e.g., mp3) and should include the audio to each ear as a separate channel. The recording must be a continuous recording (not a recording of individual QSOs). Time “off the air” (when not transmitting or receiving) does not have to be recorded. The recording may be requested by the Committee within 90 days after the log deadline to help adjudicate the log. The recording files must be provided by the entrant within 5 days of the request. Failure to submit a requested audio recording may result in the reclassification of a log entry or disqualification.
16. Penalties
Penalties are worth two times the QSO point value for the contact.
16.1. Penalty is appllied if:
· incorrectly logged calls (Bad Call);
· incorrectly logged exchange numbers;
16.2. QSO neither counted nor penalized for the following:
· QSO time difference of more than 3 minutes (except for cases in which the judges determines error as fault of the correspondent);
· QSO bands or modes difference (except for cases in which the judges determines error as fault of the correspondent);
· 10 minute rule violation for Multi Op, Single transmitter (as per 5.3.1 and 5.3.3 above);
· Band change violation for Multi Op, Two transmitters (as per 5.4).
16.3. The log will be reclassified into Check Log in case of more than 75% score reduction after checking.
16.4. RDXC Contest Committee decisions are final.
RDXC Contest Committee invites all the radio amateurs from Russia and foreign countries to take part in 31 Russian DX Contest, which became one of the most popular contests in the world.
