Trans-Tasman Low-Band Contest

Contest Manager

Alan Shannon VK4SN

Contest Introduction

Next contest - 16 JUL 2022 The Trans-Tasman contest, held on the 3rd weekend in July, aims to encourage Low Band activity between VK and ZL Only contest bands 160 80 and 40M are allowed with SSB, CW and Digital (RTTY OR PSK) From 2018 this contest is an official WIA Contest and will count towards the Peter Brown Contest Champion Awards.

Aim Of The Contest

Work as many VK and ZL Prefixes and as many different stations on 160 80 and 40M in a short evening contest..

Upcoming Contest Date & Time

The contest is held on the Saturday night of the third full weekend of July. 17 JUL 2021 Start Time is 08:00 UTC and finish time is 14:00 UTC

Contest Rules

1. Contest Introduction This contest is to encourage Low Band Activity in Australia and New Zealand. The applicable bands are 160, 80 and 40M. 2. Objective Amateurs in VK and ZL will endeavour to contact other amateurs in VK and ZL. a. VK and ZL, means any station operating within Australia or New Zealand and their external territories. b. Points are only awarded for valid contacts between VK and ZL stations. c. The contest is made up of 3 individual two hour blocks. d. You are able to work another station once per band and mode in every block. e. Every different Prefix used by VK or ZL stations is a valid multiplier and credit can be claimed once per band per block. 3. Contest Date & Time a. The contest is held on the Saturday night of the third full weekend of July. b. Start Time is 08:00 UTC and finish time is 14:00 UTC 4. Categories (All band, All Mode) A. Single Operator – High Power B. Single Operator – Low Power (100 watts) C. Single Operator – QRP* E. Multi-Operator – Single Transmitter F. Multi-Operator – Multi Transmitter * QRP stations are limited to 5 Watts average (CW/RTTY/PSK) or PEP (SSB) at the transmitter output.

5. Permitted Bands and modes a. Bands: 160M 80M 40M ...SSB Voice transmission should be within: ...1843-1875, 3535-3570 and 3600-3700, 7080-7300KHz ...otherwise disqualification or score reduction may result. b. Modes: SSB, CW and Digital (Digital includes PSK or RTTY only) NB. PSK and RTTY are the only allowed digital modes and are combined, not counted separately. 6. Multi-operator Stations A. Multi-operator single transmitter stations a. are only allowed one transmitted signal on air at any time. i. If you are using three transceivers to scan the bands, simultaneous transmission will reclassify you as Multi Transmitter(Category F.) – your responsibility to stop multiple transmitters operating. B. Multi-operator Multi Transmitter stations a. Are only allowed maximum one transmitted signal per band, b. Simultaneous transmissions on different bands are permitted. c. Multi-operator stations are mixed mode only. 7. Contacts a.. Suggested Call: “CQ TT”, “CQ Contest”, or “CQ Test” b. Exchange: A valid exchange consists of RS(T) followed by a three figure serial number starting at 001 for each band or 001 for all bands. c. No cross band contacts are allowed. d. exchange of contact information via satellites, telephones, repeaters, Echolink, IRLP, or the internet is not in the spirit of the contest and is banned. e. (Operation of SSB Voice stations in the digital section (3570 to 3600) is not in the spirit of the contest and will be disqualified. - rule currently under review) 8. Scoring a. All contacts are worth one point b. Add the number of contacts made in the two hour block and multiply by the different prefixes worked on each band in that two hour block. c. NB external territories count as one prefix – eg VK0 counts as VK0 and not the separate DXCC same as for VK9 e.g. 160 80 40 total contacts 50 X 35 prefixes (total of each band added) = 1750 points. d. Final Score is the addition of the scores from the three two hour blocks starting at 08:00; 10:00 & 12:00 UTC 9. Logs Logs are due in within one week of closure of the contest. Submit logs via https://www.vklogchecker.com/ Logs MUST be in Cabrillo 3 format - this is the submission file produced by VKCL and N1MM Loggers. http://www.mnds.com.au/vkcl/ https://n1mm.hamdocs.com * The User Defined Contest (UDC)for N1MM is available for download from: vk4sn.com/downloads/VKTTRTTY.zip 10. JUDGING: The Contest Committee is responsible for checking and adjudicating the contest entries. Entrants are expected 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. Unsportsmanlike Conduct: Examples of unsportsmanlike conduct include, but are not limited to: * Arranging or confirming any contacts during or after the contest by use of ANY non-amateur radio means such as telephones, Internet, instant messaging, chat rooms, VoIP, email, social media or web sites. * Transmissions by the entrant on frequencies outside of license limitations. * Changing times in the log to meet band change or off time rules. * Taking credit for excessive unverifiable QSOs or unverifiable multipliers. * Signals with excessive bandwidth (e.g., splatter, clicks) or harmonics on other bands. * Running stations not identifying in a timely manner (i.e., 1 minute). * Use of Tag along operation where a restricted number of stations are contacted. 11. Disciplinary Actions: In the event of a violation, the entrant is subject to disqualification at the discretion of the Committee. Disqualified entries will be listed at the end of the published results and are not eligible for an award. Notification of Committee actions will be sent by email to the address provided with the log submission. The entrant has five days to appeal the decision to the Contest Director. After that time the decision is final. The Committee reserves the right to change the category of any entry based on its examination of the log or other information.

Contest Scoring

All contacts are worth one point – Add the number of contacts made in the two hour block and multiply by the different prefixes worked on each band in that two hour block. Final Score is the addition of the scores from the three two hour blocks starting at 08:00; 10:00 & 12:00 UTC

Submitting Your Log

LOGS ARE DUE WITHIN 7 DAYS OF CONTEST COMPLETION. After completion of the contest you need to: 1. Upload Your Cabrillo Ver 3 log to the log checking website at https://www.vklogchecker.com/ OR submit via VKCL one click upload after you create the cabrillo file/log. 2. Putting EMAIL: followed by your email address in the Cabrillo header will get you an automated reply. or failing that... 3. Email your log with ONLY your callsign in the subject to ttlogs@wia.org.au where an acknowledgement may take 48 hours.

Logging Software

VKCL N1MM Both Cater for the Trans Tasman Contest Logs MUST be in Cabrillo format - this is the submission file produced by VKCL and N1MM http://www.mnds.com.au/vkcl/ https://n1mm.hamdocs.com/ (* The User Defined Contest (UDC)for N1MM is available for download from: vk4sn.com/downloads/VK_TT_RTTY.zip)