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Doc # 33

For the American Radio Relay League
Board of Directors Meeting

January 2004

Submitted by

This past September Dave Sumner, K1ZZ, ARRL Executive Vice President, proposed that a study be made by the CAC as to whether, and if so, how, low-power and QRP categories could be added to the IARU HF World Championship. In the event that the study concluded that rules changes should be made, the CAC was asked to include recommendations for doing so in a way that did not increase the net cost of administration of the contest.

The members of the Contest Advisory Committee conducted a thorough discussion of this issue concluding that the addition of the new categories would be beneficial to the contest.

A formal response was submitted to the MSC presenting a set of eight specific recommendations for changes to the rules for the IARU HF Contest along with a group of suggestions for "cost efficient" implementation. This report was submitted to Coy Day, N5OK, MSC Chairman on Thursday, November 6th.

A copy of the CAC's recommendation is attached for reference.

The committee has not been tasked with any other issues since.

Attachment

To: ARRL Membership Services Committee
Attention: Coy Day, Chairman
From: Contest Advisory Committee
Subject: Proposed Changes to the Rules For The IARU HF World

Championship

Dave Sumner, K1ZZ, ARRL Executive Vice President, proposed to the MSC that "a study by the CAC be commissioned as to whether, and if so, how, low-power and QRP categories should be added to the IARU HF World Championship. If the study concludes that rules changes should be made, it should include recommendations for doing so in a way that does not increase the net cost of administration of the contest.

The members of the Contest Advisory Committee have concluded their discussion of this issue and make the following recommendations.

1. Each of the existing Single Operator categories, i.e. Phone, CW and Mixed should be expanded to allow entries in any one of three power classes, High Power, Low Power (100 watt max) and QRP (5 watt max).
2. The Multi Operator, Single Transmitter, Mixed Mode category should remain unchanged.
3. The IARU member society HQ stations feature should remain unchanged.
4. Recognition of accomplishment in each power category for each mode should be evidenced by the award of a certificate to the competitor.
5. Recognition of the overall winners in the Low Power and QRP categories should be included within the text of the published article appearing in QST.
6. A distinctive power identifier should be added to all Low Power and QRP entries included on the ARRL's Contest Website.
7. Separate summary "boxes" for each power/mode category should be appear in the contest's Web Report.
8. All IARU member societies should be encouraged to actively circulate word of these changes to the amateurs in their respective venues.

With regard to the stipulation that the net cost of administration of the contest should not increase, the CAC has the following comments.

1. There will of necessity be certain non-recurring costs required to implement the recommended changes, particularly as regards the modification of the data handling software.
2. Including references to the winning Low Power and QRP scores within the text of the QST article should require very little additional space beyond that currently allocated. A few succinct sentences should suffice.
3. Additions to the information presented on the ARRL Website should not present any ongoing costs once the necessary upgrades are implemented.
4. The potential for recurring costs associated with the additional certificates could be moderated by several possible means.
   1. The addition of the new group of "winners" could be offset by raising the level of qualification for the current Achievement Level Awards. Setting the level at 300 QSOs and 75 Mults, and by requiring a minimum of 10 IARU HQ stations would probably suffice. (Note that there are over 400 potential multipliers, and that the HQ stations are usually Multi Operator and are very prevalent on all bands.)
   2. A quick look at past results should reveal that many potential winners in the new Low Power and QRP classes are already receiving certificates. As is the case in most international contests, the 100 watt station makes up the bulk of the entries. The number of additional awards will probably be significantly less than actual number of entries in the new power classes.
   3. As a first step in implementing the new rules, Low Power and QRP winners' certificates could be confined to the winning score in each IARU zone, regardless of the total number power class entries, and to only those State and DXCC winners where there were at least 25 entries in the power class.
   4. Eliminate the Achievement Level Award to any entry that receives a High Score Award. Two awards for the same performance is redundant.

It has been suggested that since the CAC is exclusively an ARRL body, any proposed changes to the rules for the IARU HF World Championship should be opened to comment from other participating organizations. It is our understanding that soliciting such comments is not within the purview of the CAC. It would seem that such efforts would fall within the province of the ARRL's liaison activities with the various IARU representatives.

Worth noting is the fact the initial impetus for consideration these changes "arose recently because of a grassroots effort to add a low-power and possibly a QRP category to the contest". Apparently the IARU Administrative Council members began receiving emails promoting this idea. Since the IARU Advisory Council was not well equipped to deal with such an issue, the ARRL was requested to have its Contest Advisory Committee consider the merits of proposals for such changes.

As a final comment, it is possible that the content of the annual QST article will tend to underplay the role of the new power classes. However, one should recognize that in an international contest many, if not most, of the contestants never see the actual magazine write-up. Proper handling of the reporting on the ARRL Contest Website should be more than adequate to meet everyone's need for suitable recognition.

Respectfully Submitted by:

Joe Staples, W5ASP
Chairman
ARRL Contest Advisory Committee
November 6, 2003