Spokane DX Association

You might notice that both CQ Magazine and the ARRL have a club competition in most of their contests. In both cases, three or more members of the club have to submit scores. If only two enter a particular contest, there is no club credit and the SDXA does not show up in the club standings.

Already the club (and its excellent contesting members) have won three gavels from the ARRL. To ensure that we have the necessary minumum of three entries, I have been known to make one or two contacts officially from my station in a contest just so that the other high scoring members can credit their scores to the club competition. These were contests in which I was not going to be in, but I made the effort to utilize the other members’s scores in the club competition.

Remember that you don’t have to “win” to be in a contest. It provides practice in communicating, typing, cw, talking efficiently, organization, listening , and perhaps stepping on a few toes.

CQ Magazine contests require that the names of the contestents be sent to them from a club. Presently, we have W3AS Doug doing that for us. The ARRL requires a list of possible contestents .

Let’s review the published rules on club competitons.
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ARRL

Here are the rules from the ARRL on club competition THAT APPLY TO US:

8.Club Competition:

8.1.There are eight ARRL-sponsored contests that are designated as Affiliated Club Competitions (ACC) for ARRL and RAC affiliated clubs:

8.1.1.January VHF Sweepstakes

8.1.2. RTTY Roundup (January)

8.1.3.(February and March) International DX Contest

8.1.4. June VHF QSO Party

8.1.5.September VHF QSO Party

8.1.6.November Sweepstakes

8.1.7.(December) 160-Meter Contest

8.1.8.(December) 10-Meter Contest

8.2.Only clubs actively affiliated with the ARRL or RAC may participate in the ACC.

8.2.1.Within the US and its territories, a club must:

8.2.1.1. Be affiliated with the ARRL, and

8.2.1.2. Have filed an annual report with the Field Services Department of ARRL HQ within the last two years.

8.3.For a club to be listed, the following conditions must be met:

8.3.1.A minimum of three entries from qualified club members must be submitted.

8.3.2.The entry must clearly indicate the club name in the Cabrillo file header.

8.3.3.To be eligible to submit a score in the Affiliated Club Competition, operators must be members in good standing of the club designated, and reside and operate in the club territory as provided in 8.4.1, 8.4.2, and 8.4.3. The Club Secretary or designated Club Scorekeeper for an affiliated club must submit a list of all club members eligible to compete for the club (not a club roster) and which level (unlimited, medium, local) they wish to enter for each competition within 30 days after the contest.

8.3.3.1. In lieu of mailing a list within 30 days after the end of each contest, the club may designate its Secretary or Scorekeeper to submit their club’s eligibility roster electronically to a secure web site (if
available). The designated club official may update the electronic eligibility list by the start of each ACC contest as new members join the club or established members no longer meet the eligibility requirements. The designated club official must contact the ARRL Contest Branch Manager in order to obtain access to the secure website.

8.3.3.2. Failure by the club to submit a valid list of member’s eligible to submit scores for the club either electronically or by mail may result in the club being declared ineligible for the Club Competition event in question.

8.3.4.A member’s score must be shown in the contest results to be counted for a club. Only that score shown in the results (or in subsequent corrections) will count for the club competition.

8.4.There are three categories of club competition:

8.4.1.UNLIMITED
8.4.1.1.Club submits 51 or more entries.

8.4.1.2.One station can submit two entries one on CW and one on Phone in the November Sweepstakes and the DX Contest.

8.4.1.3. The club territory is either defined by:

8.4.1.3.1. A 175-mile (282-kilometer) circle from a designated center; or
8.4.1.3.2. One ARRL section.

8.4.1.4.All stations must be located and all operators must reside within the designated club territory.

8.4.1.5.All members must be “members in good standing” according to the rules and requirements of the club.

8.4.1.6.Eligible members that operate stations outside the club territory may not compete in the club competition, except as provided in rule 8.6.

8.4.2.MEDIUM

8.4.2.1.Club submits 50 or fewer entries and does not qualify under the local club criteria.

8.4.2.2.One station can submit two entries–one on CW and one on Phone in the November Sweepstakes and the DX Contest.

8.4.2.3. The club territory is either defined by:

8.4.2.3.1. A 175-mile (282-kilometer) circle from a designated center; or;

8.4.2.3.2. An ARRL-section.

8.4.2.4. All stations must be located and all operators must reside within the designated club territory.

8.4.2.5.All members must be “members in good standing” according to the rules and requirements of the club.

8.4.2.6. Eligible members that operate stations outside the club territory may not compete in the club competition, except as provided in rule 8.6.

8.4.3.LOCAL

8.4.3.1.Club submits 10 or fewer entries.

8.4.3.2.One station can submit two entries – one on CW and one on Phone in the November Sweepstakes and the DX Contest.

8.4.3.3.All members must reside and operate within 35 miles of the club’s designated center.

8.4.3.4.All members must be “members in good standing” according to the rules and requirements of the club.

8.5.At Single Guest-Operator and Multioperator stations:

8.5.1. To claim a Guest Operator score for a club, the guest operator at a single-operator station must meet the membership and residence requirement for the club classification (Unlimited, Medium or Local see rule 8.4) and the station must be located within the defined club territory. The owner of the station does not need to be a member of the club claiming the score.

8.5.2. At least 50% of the operators at a multi-operator station must be eligible members of the club and the station must be located within the defined club territory. The owner of the station does not need to be a member of the club claiming the score. A club member who resides outside of the club territory counts as a non-member when determining the number of eligible members at a multi-operator station.

8.5.3. Multioperator entries may (optional) utilize non-member operators licensed one year or less without including such operators in the 50% calculation. (The intent here is to encourage clubs to recruit contesters from newer amateurs without adversely affecting the club aggregate score.)

8.5.4. All other applicable contest rules must be satisfied.

8.6. For the ARRL International DX Contest only, DXpedition (operating outside the United States and Canada) scores for either single operator or multioperator stations may be counted for Medium or Unlimited Clubs even though the operation is outside the club’s area, provided all other requirements are met.

8.7.For multioperator stations, the score may count for only one club and at least 50% of the operators must be members of the club receiving the score and meet all other criteria.

8.8.A club’s entry classification may be changed if, in the opinion of the ARRL Awards Committee, the club has manipulated its number of entries to allow the club to enter a lower classification. (For example, if a club with 100 members submits only the 10 highest scores, even if more than 10 of its members compete.)

8.9.It is not within the intent of these rules that a club should vote out a member or that a member resign and then be voted back into the club later so the member in good standing rule can be met.

8.10. The highest scoring active affiliated club entry in each category (unlimited, medium, local) will be awarded a gavel.
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To summarize the ARRL boundaries, if we stay in the LOCAL category, our circle of eligibility is a 35 mile radius. If we are in the other two categories , we have a 175 mile radius.
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CQ MAGAZINE

The CQ Magazine rules are:

CLUB COMPETITION:

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 center of club area (except for DXpeditions specially organized for operation
in the contest; club contributions of DXpedition scores are percentaged to the
number of club members on the DXpedition).

3. To be listed, a minimum of 3 logs must be received from a club, and an officer of the club must submit a list of participating members and their scores, both on phone and CW.
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CQ does not have the three classifications of clubs that the ARRL does. All clubs compete against each other.

So how can we take advantage of the rules to further the Association in the club competition?

I suggest:

1) ensure that we always have a minimum of three entries. Talk among yourselves and ensure that there are at least three. Just so you are competing against each other does not mean you cannnot talk it over for the good of the Association.

2) those in the contest must send the results in within the deadline and in cabrillo style.

3) those in the contest must designate the Spokane DX Association by title and NOT by abbreviation such as SDXA.

4) for the ARRL contests, if we get more than ten entrants, then we are in the MEDIUM category. So be it. We need to maximize the number of contestants in the organization; after all, our Constitution says:

Section 2 The purpose of this Association is to bring together those radio amateurs interested in the serious endeavor of working DX and DX contesting…

submitted December 25, 2005 by Steve K7AWB