Automated Contacts Prohibited

Following the direction of the ARRL Board of Directors, ARRL has incorporated changes to the rules for all ARRL-sponsored contests and DXCC, prohibiting automated contacts.

These changes also apply to the Worked All States (including Triple Play and 5-Band WAS), VHF/UHF Century Club, and Fred Fish, W5FF, Memorial awards. The changes are effective immediately.

A resolution at the July 2019 ARRL Board of Directors meeting pointed to "growing concern over fully automated contacts being made and claimed" for contest and DXCC credit. The rules now require that each claimed contact include contemporaneous direct initiation by the operator on both sides of the contact. Initiation of a contact may be either local or remote.

More Information - http://www.arrl.org/news/view/arrl-contest-and-dxcc-rules-now-prohibit-automated-contacts

RSGB Announces New FT4 Contests

The Radio Society of Great Britain Contest Committee has announced a series of contests using the new digital mode FT4. The three short-duration events on 80 meters (dial frequency 3575 kHz USB) are aimed at offering experience to FT4 newcomers.

“As this series is experimental, there are likely to be changes as we develop experience with this mode, so please check the rules prior to each event,” the announcement said. The objective is to score as many points as possible based on the distance between stations (subject to a maximum score per contact).

The contests will take place on Monday 2nd September 2019, 1900 – 1959 UTC; Monday 7th October 2019, 1900 – 1959 UTC, and Monday 4th November 2019, 2000 – 2059 UTC.

RSGB Contest Committee - https://www.rsgbcc.org/hf/rules/2019/r80m_ft4.shtml

WSJT-X 2.1.0 Suite - http://physics.princeton.edu/pulsar/k1jt/wsjtx.html

Online Contest Scoreboards Available for ARRL Field Day

If your club wants to see how its Field Day efforts are faring in comparison with others in your category, check out the Contest Online ScoreBoard. It will be supporting ARRL Field Day. In addition, Bruce Horn, WA7BNM, has developed Score Distributor, which will relay your score to all scoreboards that support the event. Scoreboards can be very attractive to younger operators, in addition to enhancing the fun factor, and they can really motivate teams to keep on the air and active.

ARRL Field Day Contest Results - https://contestonlinescore.com/scoreboard/