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As hams get ready to turn the calendar to 2009 in coming days, there will be some new rules to review before entering two of the more popular CQ Magazine contests.
Both the CQ 160 and CQ WPX Contests have tweaked their rules, in some cases following the lead of the CQ WW Contest Committee, and in others making steps on their own.
Maybe the biggest change right off the bat is in the CQ 160 contest, which will now begin at 2200z instead of 0000z.
That was done in part to erase what was perceived as an advantage for stations in the Eastern USA, who were able to use sunset on Sunday evening to make more contacts, especially to Europe.
One of the other noticeable changes will be for operators outside of the US and Canada, who must now send an exchange that consists of a signal report and their CQ Zone.
W/VE stations will still send their US state or Canadian province.
CQ 160 has also for the first time established a Single Operator Assisted class, making it the first 160 contest to do so, as both the ARRL 160 and Stew Perry contests relegate any single ops using assistance to the Multi-Op category.
There will be new time restrictions on Multi-ops in the CQ 160 contest starting in 2009, as they will have a new 40 hour time limit.
The biggest impact would seem to be in the CW contest, where the top finishing multi-ops in the US and Europe routinely operated most, if not all, of the 48 hour period. That will have to change in 2009.
Both CQ 160 and WPX have tightened their rules on the use of the internet, web sites and chat rooms to look for, set up or confirm contest QSO's. Part of that change stemmed from the 2008 use of chat rooms by several top competitors. Use of chat rooms this year will net you a DQ.
As for other WPX rule changes, multi-ops must now mark which transmitter makes a QSO in both the Multi-Single and Multi-Two categories.
One thing that might spur a little confusion is that Multi-Single stations now have options on sending their serial number - either by band, or like a single operator.
WPX has also officially made clear that there is a Single Band Assisted category for entries, in an effort to draw even more interest in that option. Single band entrants are now also being asked to send in all of their QSO's from other bands, to help with log checking.
Both CQ 160 and WPX have also added specific language governing "remote" operations by contesters - using equipment and antennas at another QTH.
"The use of any receiver located away from the main site is strictly prohibited," reads the CQ 160 rules, going after allegations that some contesters have been using receivers in different locations to enable them to hear better than they can at their regular QTH.
"All operation must take place from one operating site," says the WPX remote rules.
As for one of the most controversial rules skirmishes of 2008, the CW Skimmer program, both contests join CQ WW in deciding that use of that aid is okay only in the SO Assisted and Multi-Op categories.
The CQ 160 rules though make clear that Skimmer type aids which do not give callsign information are okay.
"Passive spotting does NOT include band scopes, SDR receivers, or the like, which provide no information about the signal other than its presence, which is allowed in all categories.
To look through the updated rules for both contests, you can find them at the CQ WPX and CQ 160 websites.
In Section 15 of the WPX rules, new language added for 2009 states "By submitting an entry in the CQ WPX Contest you agree that...2) your log entry may be made open to the public."
"I added the public clause to the rules so that we have that option, but no decision has been made yet," Thompson told radio-sport.net
The earliest that could happen would be a 2010 release of logs from the 2009 contests, but as Thompson said, that's only a possibility at this point.
Only two major contests make their logs public right now - CQ WW was the first - and the Russian DX Contest had announced earlier this year that logs from the 2008 RDXC would be published on the internet.
As of now, the preliminary results of the 2008 RDXC are available on the web, but not the logs of the various competitors. Originally, RDXC organizers promised that logs would be available on July 1 of 2008.
But that date has come and gone with no sign of any published logs.
The ARRL has made no moves to open logs in any of its contests as yet. A review of two reports in 2008 by the ARRL Contest Advisory Committee shows no mention of the open logs issue, so that's not expected to change any time soon.
In recent weeks the K8GP "Grid Pirates" multi-op team has pledged to make its logs public, and offered to host internet space for other VHF contesters who want to do the same.
"We will be using the www.vhfscores.info site for publishing logs for those with no public hosting capability," reads the announcement on the K8GP web site.
"In my opinion, making logs public adds credibility to the entire process and might even spur folks to try new things like eme, WSJT, scatter, etc. to bolster their score," wrote K8GP leader Terry Price W8ZN on the VHFcontesting reflector.
"The ARRL should really take this step as public logs are most useful when all the logs in the contest are made public," wrote James Duffey KK6MC.
Obviously, not everyone agrees with the idea of making contest logs open for all to peruse.
"It's not worth the grief of having a dozen people publicly question my motives over every transposed call sign, every QSO with a multi-op, every stop in a rare grid square," wrote Buck Calabro KC2HIZ.
As of this writing, K8GP has not as yet posted any of their contest logs.
The well known multi-op group finished second in the multi-operator competition of the ARRJ June VHF QSO Party in 2008. They were third in the 2008 January ARRL VHF test.
