CONTEST 2.0

 

 070 CLUB OFFICIAL

CONTEST RULES

 

 

General Rules

  1. These rules apply to all 070 club contests. Every contest has (in addition) its own set of contest-specific rules. Although we don’t expect conflicts, any contest’s specific rules should be viewed as superseding any conflicting general rules.
  2. All contest operations must be in compliance with the station’s national licensing regulations, including both station and operator privileges and limitations.
  3. All contacts must be two-way BPSK31 only (with the exception of 31 Flavors).
  4. No cross-band, cross-mode, or repeater contacts are allowed.
  5. All contest submissions must be in ADIF file format (why ADIF?) submitted via the upload links found on each contest rules page.
  6. All contest submissions are due 7 (seven) calendar days after the end of the contest. Each contest will list the specific due date.
  7. No 070 club contests include operation on WARC bands or 60m.
  8. A valid QSO (for contest purposes) is one in which each station transmits over the air its required contest exchange (as defined for the contest) and the other station receives that exchange over the air.
  9. Dupe rule - Only one contact is allowed between any two stations per band (or mode for 31 Flavors). Duplicate contacts (dupes) may be left in the submitted log, but are assigned zero QSO points. Logs with an excessive number of dupes may be disqualified or listed as check logs.
  10. Any given QSO may appear in one contest log submission only.
  11. For contests where scoring is location-based (SPC, or maybe future grid), the station location can change during the contest as long as all operations are from a single location category (e.g., state or province for SPC). All of these operations can be combined into a single contest entry, and these operations are subject to the dupe rule (for both stations). If operations are from multiple location categories (e.g., multiple states in an SPC contest), then those operations must be considered separate contest entries, and are not subject to the dupe rule. Entrants are encouraged to use unique callsign variants (e.g., KK4CPS and KK4CPS/4) to denote operations from different locations.
  12. Each station must operate a single transmitter at a time. No multi-transmitter operation is permitted.
  13. Each station entry must be operated by a single operator except for the club category.
  14. A station can alternate operation under multiple callsigns (e.g. a club call and an individual call) as long as callsign switches occur no more frequently than once every two hours. In other words, once a station is used under one callsign, it cannot be used under another callsign for contest contacts until at least two hours have passed.
    • The two-hour limitation does not apply to individuals' use of family stations, where multiple individual licensees share a station at a commonly-licensed address.
  15. A station cannot be operated simultaneously under multiple callsigns, e.g., a club call and an individual call.
  16. Unlike most “big” contests, self-spotting is allowed on 070 reflectors. There is no separate category for “assisted” stations who pay attention to spotting networks or read their email during the contest.
  17. A station’s contest score is calculated as the product of the total number of QSO points and the number of multipliers, to which is added the number of bonus points (if any), i.e. (QSOs * Multipliers) + Bonus.
  18. Operation from a single remote base station is allowed, but that remote base must be the only station used by that operator during the contest. For purposes of contest exchange and entry category, the station location is the location of the remote base station transmitter and receiver. Use of a remote receiver only, or of a split remote (with different locations for transmitter and receiver), is not permitted.
  19. Submission of a contest entry indicates the entrant’s assertion of compliance with all rules applicable to the contest and the entry itself.
  20. All 070 club members submitting a contest entry will receive an "attaboy" endorsement sticker for that contest.
  21. The 070 club leadership reserves the right to issue a final decision on rules interpretations and infractions, and to disqualify entries deemed not in accordance with the above rules or contrary to the spirit of club events.

Clubs are subject to the following rules:

  1. The club itself is subject to the same entry requirements as any individual would be.
  2. Clubs are limited to a single transmitter at a time.
  3. Clubs may alternate operators, but they must work shifts without overlaps.
  4. Entries must indicate the operator for each QSO.
  5. Multi-operator club operations are subject to the location limitations listed in rule 11.

Contest-Specific Rules

Each contest has a set of rules that are specific to that contest. These rules will include the following:

  1. Allowed bands for the contest.
  2. The operating period for the contest.
  3. Entry categories (e.g., power level, type of entrant, or location).
    • Type of entrant may include gender (for Valentine’s Day), Bonus Station (for TDW), club, or individual.
  4. Output power limits (if any), either by entrance category or overall.
  5. The point value for each valid QSO, and the criteria for distinguishing between QSO categories (e.g., YL , OM, and Club QSOs during the Valentine’s Day Sprint).
  6. Multiplier definitions (if applicable).
  7. Bonus point definitions (if applicable).
  8. Awards to be issued for the contest.

 Any questions or comments, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.



PODXS 070 Club

 

The beginning as written by Jay N3DQU #0010 around September 2010:

Before the history of this very active group can be examined, one must first look at the roots of the sponsoring organization, the Penn-Ohio DX Society. The birth of the Penn-Ohio DX Society (PODXS) is an interesting story in itself, perhaps a subject for another time. What follows is a short synopsis, so the reader can understand the driving force behind the Ø7Ø Club and how it came to be.

More commonly known to its members as PODXS (pronounced PO-dix), the Penn-Ohio DX Society is a somewhat obscure independent amateur radio club based in New Castle, Pennsylvania. What some might call a renegade group, PODXS was formed in July 1996 by N3DQU, AA8QQ, KA3X and N3XC, with membership being restricted to those licensed General Class and above. Perhaps "renegade" is too strong a term when talking about PODXS, suffice to say that the Penn-Ohio DX Society was formed in response to a very strong, local club environment which supported VHF while virtually ignoring the HF side of amateur radio.

A short time after PODXS was formed, KA3X joined as the fifth member of the group, to bring the total regular membership to five. The regular membership of PODXS has never numbered more than 5 members and currently stands at three: N3DQU, AA8QQ and N3XC. Over time however, a number of honorary members have been privileged to join the PODXS ranks. Except for a yearly meeting and a "changing of the hats", PODXS remained a loose-knit group, putting their efforts into enjoying this great hobby of ours, rather than getting caught up in the mundane organizational aspects that tend to be a drag on what an amateur radio club should be all about.

In the original bylaws, the stated purpose of PODXS was "...to enjoy the traditional aspects of amateur radio and to maintain an active ARRL-VEC testing team in the New Castle, PA area." The phrase "traditional aspects" refers to all those activities that one normally associates with HF operating: sky wires, chasing DX, contests, wallpaper and QSL cards, sunspots, propagation, etc. Not long after the inception of the club, the VEC testing team was dropped for certain reasons, leaving the stated purpose to stand as it has been ever since, "The Penn-Ohio DX Society exists to to enjoy the traditional aspects of amateur radio."

Fast forward to the year 2000. Something new has been happening in the amateur radio world and it is significant in a hobby, where numbers are beginning to be negatively affected as the advance of the internet threatens the hobby's membership base. The "soundcard modes" have emerged, bringing new and old blood back into amateur radio and it looks like PSK31 is leading the pack. But something is missing. There are amateurs out there putting PSK31 on the air to be sure, but except for one-on-one QSO's, there is not much out there for them to do, no base of operations, no flame to congregate around. Enter the Penn-Ohio DX Society.

Jay Hudak, KA3X, affectionately known as the "Old Dood", was the first PODXS member to experiment with the new soundcard mode, PSK31. Once the other members got involved, it became obvious that here was an opportunity for "The PODXS Boys" to give something back to the amateur radio hobby, in a sense to become part of amateur radio history. KA3X and N3DQU decide to form a support group for PSK31, called the Ø7Ø Club, a reference to some of the operating frequencies where PSK31 can be found, with KA3X as the Club Manager and N3DQU doing yeoman service as webmaster, awards boss, et al. On September 21, 2000, the Old Dood, Jay Hudak, KA3X, officially becomes the very first member of the Ø7Ø Club, as Ø7Ø #001. The first four members were: KA3X, N3DQU, AA8QQ, and N3XC. The first club endorsement offered was a challenge to work all 4 of them. By the end of 2000, the Ø7Ø Club boasted a membership of 25 members, and now at the time of this writing, September 2010, stands at over 800 members worldwide. 

Except for a very short period, the Ø7Ø Club has always offered membership free of charge to all amateurs licensed to operate on the HF bands. The Ø7Ø Club is very proud of the fact that all operating costs have been paid by donations of time and money from the members of PODXS and the Ø7Ø Club.

Of course, the Ø7Ø Club did not blossom to over 800 members over night and there is still quite a bit yet to tell...of endorsements, the TDW, PSKFest, Dayton eyeball QSO's, Honorary PODXS members, APE, LONP and the Low Band Sprints, Rollo, Mona and her cat...all parts of Ø7Ø Club history. But this article is long enough. For now, let me tell you something you probably didn't know. Back in 2001, the Old Dood and I talked about just how far we were going to take the Ø7Ø Club project. After all, it looked like PSK31 was starting to take off on its own and there were other outfits out there that were offering contests and awards for the fledgling mode. We had accomplished what we set out to do, to give something back to the hobby, maybe even make our mark in amateur radio history. So it was decided that, once we hit member #100, we would pull the plug on the Ø7Ø Club and move on to other things!

Little did we realize... 73 de Jay, N3DQU, Ø7Ø #010 September 2010

 

W3HF had a blog entry written on 12 September 2008:

 

The following is an excerpt from a blog posting by Steve – W3HF – 070 #025, on 12 September 2008.

 

In Memory of Jay Hudak

 

Jay Hudak – KA3X was one of the founders of the 070 Club.  Although I wasn’t around at its creation – I joined about six months later – I’m told  that he was the one with the original vision for the club.  He was the first to meet the membership requirement and thus held membership certificate #001.  He also served as the first membership manager and my membership certificate bears his signature.  Unfortunately I never met him face-to –face – we exchanged emails and had a few PSK QSOs though.  Over the years, his level of activity with the club started to trail off, and others took on the leadership roles he held.  Jay passed away last month at the age of 68.

The 070 Club decided to rename its annual fall 80m contest in Jay’s honor, the Jay Hudak Memorial 80m Sprint.  This contest had existed for five years previously, but now and in the future will serve as a remembrance to the man whose ideas and efforts resulted in the club we now enjoy.  It was wonderful to see all the activity on that band last Saturday night.  My waterfall was full, in spite of the usual evening QRM from W1AW’s CW practice.  I sure most of the contestants weren’t thinking about Jay; most were just calling “CQ Contest” or “CQ 070 Sprint” as the rules suggested.  But my CQ was different.  I called “CQ Hudak  Sprint” in his memory.

 

Update August 2021

 

The 070 Club has become more than any of the founders could have ever imagined.  As of this writing, there are over 2850 members worldwide! The concept as written above by N3DQU of moving on after hitting member number 100 has disappeared into the ionosphere like a refracted radio wave. (see chart below for growth progression of the club) Lucky members can still catch Jay #0010 on the bands, and Steve W3HF #0025 is very active in all the club activities (and he is the one that ensures that we still follow the core values of the founding members in our activities and operations).

Over the years, leadership has changed (check the Staff Directory for the current list of volunteers) and the club has continued to develop contests and events to further the use of PSK31 throughout the world. 

Virtually every month has a contest, and there are continous opportunities to receive endorsements and recognition for operation.  Besides the coveted LONP, we have added some very difficult achievements such as Work The World (WTW), 365/366, 24/7, APE, Chimp, Endorsement Daze, for which information about each can be found on the website. 

One of the memorable contests was when we achieved member #500, and we had a 500 mile race with points being awarded for contacts. The first to reach 500 points was declared the winner! 

The club has added the Rollo Cup Championship, RC3, which spans the entire year.  Members accumulate points for this coveted Revere cup trophy by operating and scoring in all of the contests spanning the year.  The first ever RC3 cup was awarded to Lee, N5SLY for accumulating the most points in 2019, with the most recent being John KC3FL for 2020. 

We are looking forward to achieving membership level 3000, for which you can be sure there will be a huge celebration, and a contest that will challenge each and every one of us.

Until the next update,

73 de Jim K5SP #483

 

Member #1: 9/21/2000  25 members by the end of 2000
Member #100: June 2001
Member #200: March 2002
Member #300: July 2003
Member #400: Feb 2005
Member #500: Oct 2006
Member #1000: Aug 2009
Member #1500: March 2012
Member #2000: March 2015
Member #2500: March 2018


 

Ø7Ø CLUB 31 FLAVORS CONTEST

 

PURPOSE:

To work as many stations as possible in the allotted time using 6 PSK mode variants.

 

ENTRY CATEGORIES:

QRP (max power 5 watts output)

Low Power (max power 25 watts output)

Medium Power (max power 50 watts output)

 

DATE:

Choose any 6 hour block between:

1st Saturday in April 1000UTC <--> 1st Sunday in April 0359UTC

You may operate the entire contest to allow others in different time zones the opportunity to get you in their log, but, 

for scoring, your six hour block will begin with the hour that you select on the scorer page and continue for the next 6 hours.

 

EXCHANGE:

For all participants: State/Province/DXCC Entity

It may be useful to call CQ in BPSK 31, and after initial contact, transmit indicating which mode variant will follow:

'Call de Your Call - switching to <Mode Variant> k'


Recommended Call:

'CQ CQ PSK 31 Flavors de Your Call k'


BANDS:

20 meters only!. Work each station once per mode.

All contacts must be 2-way

No repeater, cross-mode or cross-band contacts allowed.

 

Modes:

Use the following 6 PSK mode variants -

  • BPSK 31 [Narrow bandwidth]
  • QPSK 31 [Narrow bandwidth]
  • BPSK 63 [Wide bandwidth]
  • QPSK 63 [Wide bandwidth]
  • BPSK 125 [Very wide bandwidth]
  • QPSK 125 [Very wide bandwidth]

These mode variants are available in most popular digital software, i.e. WinWarbler, HRD/DM780, FLDigi, etc.

Some of the contest mode variants are relatively wide. Please allow sufficient room between your signals and those of your fellow PSK explorers. Certainly give plenty of room to civilians in the accepted PSK and RTTY sub-bands.

 

Power:

Use no more than the stated maximum for your entry category. Please keep your power output set to a reasonable level to avoid QRMing others. Use the MINIMUM power necessary to make the contact at all times!
 

SCORING:

 QSO points - Each contact counts one (1) QSO point, dupes count (0) points.

Contacts counted once per PSK mode variant

For example, W9SMR contacts N5SLY as follows:

  • Once in BPSK 31
  • Once in QPSK 63
  • Once in BPSK 125

W9SMR and N5SLY can count 3 QSO points for these contacts.

Multipliers - Each different state/province/country (SPC) worked. Use current ARRL DXCC list for country reference.

Final Score = (Total QSO Points) x (Multipliers).

 

Scoring Notes:

SPC Definition: S = U.S. States, P = Canadian Provinces, C = DXCC Countries

 

Multipliers: 1 multiplier for each State/Province/DXCC Entity in each mode variant

Count the number of US States, Canadian Provinces and DXCC countries (S/P/Cs) worked in each mode variant.

KH6 and KL7 count both as states and as separate DXCC entities. Be sure to count US and Canada as DXCC entities.

 

For example, W9SMR makes the following contacts:

  • 25 States/Provinces/DXCCs in BPSK 31
  • 15 States/Provinces/DXCCs in BPSK 63
  • 10 States/Provinces/DXCCs in QPSK 31

W9SMR can count a total of 50 multipliers for these contacts.

 

AWARDS:

Place certificates will be sent for each category. Highest Ø7Ø Club member score gets Top Dawg and a Rollo Dog Tag!

All Ø7Ø Club member entries received will automatically qualify for an endorsement sticker.
 

Entries:

Logfile format: ADIF (why adif?). Please submit logs via the 31 Flavors Uploader. (will be activated when contest starts).

All entries must be received by One (1) week after the 31 Flavors Contest.

Entries with excessive dupes will be listed as check logs. All entries are subject to verification.

 

The 070 Club reserves the right to disqualify entries deemed not in accordance with the above rules or are contrary to the spirit of this event.

 

If you have questions, please contact our contest support staff: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

 

 

JAY HUDAK MEMORIAL 80M SPRINT

Sponsored by the Ø7Ø Club and
Dedicated to the memory of Jay Hudak KA3X, Ø7Ø #001

 

When:  

Choose any 6 hour block between:

  2000 UTC 1st Saturday in September -

1959 UTC 1st Sunday in September

You may operate the full 24 hours of the contest! 

For scoring, your six hour block will begin with the hour that you select on the scorer page and continue for the next 6 hours.

 

Who:

All licensed radio amateurs. Look for Ø7Ø Club members in the event.

Categories:

The Contest will have four separate entry categories - single-op club station entries are welcome in any category:

 

QRP: Maximum power not exceeding 5 watts
Low: Maximum power not exceeding 25 watts
Medium: Maximum power not exceeding 50 watts
High: Maximum power not exceeding 100 watts

 

Frequencies:

80 Meters only - 3.580Mhz Dial Freq

 

Exchange: State/province/country (SPC). Call "CQ 80m Sprint".

  • Work each station only once.
  • All contacts must be 2-way, PSK31 only
  • Cross-mode or cross-band contacts not allowed.

 

Multipliers:

Each different state/province/country (SPC) worked, counted only once. Use current ARRL DXCC list for country reference. If you work your own SPC, do not forget to take credit for the multiplier. Note also:

First U.S. station worked counts as two (2) multipliers (country and state).

First VE station worked counts as two (2) multipliers (country and province).

First Alaska station worked counts as two (2) multipliers (country and state).

First Hawaii station worked counts as two (2) multipliers (country and state).

(Note: Washington, DC counts as MD.)
 

Total Score: QSO Points X Multipliers

 

Awards:

Highest Ø7Ø Club member score gets Top Dawg and a Rollo Dog Tag!

Place certificates will be awarded in each category.

All Ø7Ø members participating and submitting logs will receive an endorsement sticker.

 

Entries:

Logfile format: ADIF (why adif?). Please submit logs via the 80m Sprint Uploader. (will be activated when contest starts).

All entries must be received by One (1) week after the contest.

Entries with excessive dupes will be listed as check logs. All entries are subject to verification.

 

The 070 Club reserves the right to disqualify entries deemed not in accordance with the above rules or contrary to the spirit of this event.

 

Questions? Problems with the Contest Scorer?

Contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.