[CQ-Contest] IARU HQ Callsigns

Wed Jul 10 09:44:44 EDT 2013

Good morning all,

I'd like to shed some light on the IARU HF Championship callsign debate,
put forth the final action plan and have us move on.

Several years ago, the World Wide Radio Operators Foundation (WWROF)
offered to take on the tasks of scoring and adjudicating the HQ station
logs for the IARU HF Championship. The ARRL agreed. As a result, WWROF has
been providing log-checking and score-calculation services for this event
to ARRL since that time and have had no issues.

In recent days, we have become aware that the Italian national society
(Associazione Radioamatori Italiani, or ARI) plans to use more than one
callsign on several bands in the contest next weekend (different callsigns
on CQ and Phone on some bands). The ARI has been operating in this manner
for a few years. This is a violation of Rule 4.3.3, which states "Only one
HQ station callsign per member society per frequency band is permitted."

This rule exists so that it is clear that working the same HQ station on
Phone and CW on one band counts for only one multiplier. With different
callsigns on each mode, some operators may think they are working a new
multiplier when they contact a "second" HQ station in the same country.

In some countries, it is possible to use a single callsign across all
regions (TM0HQ, for example). In other countries this is not allowed
(Italy, Spain, Japan, for example), so a multi-site operation may require
the use of multiple callsigns for one HQ operation. If you review the IARU
HF Championship results for 2012, you will notice that the HQ stations in
Italy and Japan are listed as "IUxHQ" and 8NxHQ", since each of these
stations was spread out over multiple call areas and the score computed as
if all were using the same callsign.

A close review of last year's logs shows that three HQ stations (LRxF,
IUxHQ, and 8NxHQ) violated Rule 4.3.3 by using different callsigns in the
CW and Phone segments of several bands. This rule was not enforced last
year nor in any previous years.

The URE (Spain) has announced their plan for an operation in this weekend's
2013 contest that is in full compliance with the rule (e.g., the HQ
stations will use the same callsign on both modes on the same band).

On the other hand, both the ARI and the Radio Club Argentino have also
announced their plans for this weekend with a planned callsign approach
that does not comply with Rule 4.3.3.

The ARI has claimed that they received permission from someone at ARRL at
some time in the past to use different callsigns on a band. Any such
permission was given in error. However, we will honor that permission this
year, and will not disqualify the ARI entry or any other entries that
violate Rule 4.3.3.

Planning a major multi-site HQ station operation is a significant
undertaking, and it seems unfair to force the ARI (or RCA, or JARL) to move
some of their stations to different call areas at this late date in order
to comply with a rule that has never been enforced. We will note in the
results that the ARI station (and any other stations in the same situation)
did not comply with Rule 4.3.3.

This is going to be a one-time exception. All IARU member society HQ
stations will be required to comply fully with all rules for the 2014 IARU
HF Championship.

It is understandable that some member societies that are working hard to
plan HQ operations in strict compliance with the rules will be unhappy with
this ruling. We ask that they accept this decision in the spirit of good
sportsmanship and that everyone have fun and make lots of QSOs this weekend.

73,
John, K1AR
Chairman, WWROF

On Wed, Jul 10, 2013 at 12:49 AM, Martin , LU5DX <lu5dx at lucg.com.ar> wrote:

> Hi Tree.
> Well...That is your interpretation of the rule.
> LU4AA has been entering the contest using the same callsign scheme since
> 2007 upon agreement with the organizers.
>
> To me:
> 10 M CW is one frequency band
> 10 M SSB is a complete different frequency band.
>
> Band plans are split by MODE, not only considering a range of frequencies
> "per se".
>
> Vy 73.
>
> Martin, LU5DX
>
> PD: According to LU regulations we cannot enter the contest using a single
> callsign for the 12 stations. LU Call areas are divided by territory
> Provinces and those are identified by the first letter of the callsign
> suffixes.
>
> [CQ-Contest] IARU HQ Callsigns*Tree* tree at kkn.net
> <cq-contest%
> 40contesting.com?Subject=Re%3A%20%5BCQ-Contest%5D%20IARU%20HQ%20Callsigns&In-Reply-To=%3C20130709022055.GA18235%40kkn.net%3E
> >
> *Mon Jul 8 22:20:55 EDT 2013*
>
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> ------------------------------
>
> Saw this recently posted:
>
> >* The Radio Club Argentino LU4AA and the LUCG (LU Contest Group) put
> together*>* a team for the upcoming IARU HF Championship next weekend and
> several*>* stations will be giving out the RCA multiplier.*>* *>* Stations
> as follows - hosts in parenthesis - :*>* *>* 10 SSB: LR1D*>* 10 CW LR2H*>*
> 15 SSB LR0H*>* 15 CW LR0F*
> ...
>
> This appears to conflict with the following rule for the IARU contest:
>
> "4.3.3. Only one HQ station callsign per member society per frequency band
> is
> permitted."
>
> The rules can be found here: http://www.arrl.org/iaru-hf-championship
>
> I would interpret a "frequency band" as being all of 10 meters for example.
>
> This is likely the case because of the way the multiplier rule is worded:
>
> "Multipliers: The total number of ITU zones plus IARU member society HQ
> stations worked on each band (not mode)."
>
> In the case above - I am sure the intent of the rules would not have been
> to count LR1D and LR2H as two multpliers in the contest.
>
> Tree N6TR
>
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