19th STEW PERRY TOPBAND DISTANCE CHALLENGE

1. Contest period: 1500Z December 28th to 1500Z December 29th, 2014.
Operate for a maximum of 14 hours. Off times are 30 minutes minimum
and a maximum of four off periods are permitted.

A separate warm-up event will be held on October 19/20th with the
same time period and entry categories. A Summer event will be held
on June 15/16th - again with the same time period and categories.

2. Bands and mode: 160 meters CW only.

3. Categories: Single operator or multi-operator; high, low or QRP power.
Low power is 100 watts or less output. QRP is 5 watts or less output.
High power is 1500 watts output or whatever you can legally run in your
country - whichever is less.

4. Exchange: Four character grid square (i.e. CN85). RST is optional.

5. QSO Points: The number of QSO points for each contact depends on the
distance between the two stations. This is computed by taking the
distance between the centers of the two grid squares. Count a minimum
of one point per QSO and an additional point for every 500 kilometers
distance. For example, a QSO with a station 1750 kilometers away will
count for 4 QSO points. No additional distance for long path is allowed.

QSO Points are multiplied by 2X if you work a low power station and 4X
for working a QRP station. This is done based upon received logs and
is computed automatically during the log checking process.

Do not worry if your logging software does not compute the QSO points.
Our automated log checking software does this.

6. Welcome to Rule 6. We will try our best to describe what you can and can't
do for each of the categories. We realize that the beat of technology does
not stop - even for the TopBand. Because of this, we will try to start
with a statement expressing the intent of these rules, to give the reader
something to go on if some previously distinct line is blurred due to
advances in technology.

If you are single-op - we intend for you to not be assisted by other humans
during the event. Any communication with humans other than the exchanges
that take place over the air can be assistance. Obviously, you can ask
your wife to bring you a sandwich - and say hello to an old friend who
happens to call in. But - if the assistance starts to do things like
telling you that VK6VZ is on 1829.3 kHz, then that is going too far.

So - packet spotting is right out. Using a chat room for setting up skeds
is out. This is the "boy and his radio" category. Furthermore, the
technology has advanced to the point where it can give assistance that is
on par with a human. Having a skimmer, or reverse beacon network, or
whatever people come up with in the future that can tell you that VK6VZ is
on 1829.3 kHz is also viewed as assistance. Use of this technology is not
allowed in the single-op category. We do realize band scopes can show that
someone is on 1829.3 - but since they don't tell you who is actually there,
that is okay. We suppose this allows the use of "blind skimmers" but we
would really like to encourage you to turn off the skimmer and enjoy the
contest the way we did back when Stew Perry was around.

We do realize that some stations use remote receivers to eliminate their
local QRN issues. We wish to include them in the contest - but need to
put some kind of limit on it as we do not intend for people to have remote
receivers on the other side of their country - or in other continents.
That would totally destroy the concept of awarding extra QSO points for
copying QRP stations. Therefore, remote receivers are okay as long as
they are not more than 100 kM from your transmitter site. This equates
to roughly a grid square.

If you are multi-op, you can get assistance from other humans in your
shack. We still do not want to encourage the use of packet during the
contest, so would rather you not do that. If you have a skimmer - go
ahead and use it. Remote receiving sites within the 100 kM are okay.
If a networked connected skimmer is within 100 kM of you, go ahead
and use it (perhaps that is what is known as a Reverse Beacon Network,
but we get very concerned when we see "Network").

If you want to do something that doesn't fall into one of these two
categories (and still want to get on and make QSOs) - this is still a
good thing and you can submit your log as a check log. We will still
process your log and print your score. You can explain what you were
doing in your soapbox comments for all to see. Perhaps if enough people
are submitting logs that are doing the same thing you were - we will
consider creating a category for that type of operation.

We are sorry that this rule is so long. We really wanted to keep this
simple, but that didn't seem possible anymore. If you have any questions
after reading this - please let the Boring Amateur Radio Club know and we
will be happy to add a few more paragraphs.

Oh - we should mention cheating isn't allowed either - in case that was
not clear. This includes operating more than 14 hours and trying to make
it look like you operated only 14. It means running more power than you
are supposed to in your category and/or country. It also isn't nice to use
QRZ.COM to fill in those missing or questionable grid squares. This is a
RADIO contest and you should put in your log what you heard during the
contest - not what you found on the internet afterwards!!

Thank you for reading rule six.

7. Score: Final score equals the total number of QSO points. There is
no multiplier for different grids worked. Stations running more than
5 watts, but no more than 100 watts multiply their score by 1.5.
Stations running less 5 watts or less multiply their score by 3. Scores
will be grouped by category.

8. Reporting: Your log can be sent via the internet to TBDC@CONTESTING.COM
using the Cabrillo format within 15 days of the contest. You can also use
the form provided by WA7BNM on the web to enter your ASCII or paper log
data - http://www.b4h.net/cabforms/stewperry_cab.php.

Paper entries will only be accepted for logs with fewer than 50 QSOs in
them and must mailed to BARC 15125 SE Bartell Rd; Boring, OR 97009.

No paper logs will be accepted for the warm-up or summer events.

9. Plaques will be awarded for categories we have sponsors for. To
volunteer to sponsor a plaque, contact Lew Sayre, W7EW at w7ew@arrl.net.
A list of the plaques sponsored can be found on the web at
http://www.kkn.net/stew/plaques.txt.

There are no plaques or other awards for the warm-up or summer events.

To "apply" for a plaque such as a first time entry - or other special
category, please include this information in your SOAPBOX fields on the
Cabrillo log. Information contained elsewhere in your e-mail may not
be seen by the log checkers.

Only one plaque can be won by any station for a specific contest. BARC
will make decisions about which plaque you will win in cases where you
qualify for more than one.

Stations may enter two categories (i.e., QRP and High Power), but must
use a different callsign for each operation.

Results are published on the web in the spring. Look for an announcement
on the topband and contest reflectors. Warm-up results will be published
before the real event in December.