Complete Rules

Rookie Roundup Rules [PDF]





1. Mission and Objective

1.1. Mission: To encourage newly-licensed operators (“Rookies”) in North America (including territories and possessions) to operate on the HF bands and experience competitive Amateur Radio operating. Experienced operators (“Non-Rookies”) are strongly encouraged to participate and help new operators – either on the air or in person.



1.2. Objective: Rookies exchange information with as many other stations as possible on the 80, 40, 20, 15, and 10 meter HF bands. Rookie entrants are encouraged to read “HF Contesting – Good Practices, Interpretations and Suggestions.”

2. Time Period, Modes, Frequencies and Power:

2.1. Time period: The Sunday of the third full weekend of April, August and December from 1800 UTC through 2359 UTC.



2.2. Modes: April = SSB, August = RTTY, December = CW.

2.3. Frequencies: Contest activity will most likely be found in and around these frequency ranges:

2.3.1. Phone: 3.840-3.860, 7.215-7.235, 14.240-14.260, 21.315-21.335, and 28.390-28.410 MHz

2.3.2. CW: 3.545-3.555, 7.045-7.055, 14,045-14.055, 21.045-21.055, and 28.045-28.055 MHz.

2.3.3. RTTY: 3.580-3.585, 7.080-7.085, 14.080-14.085, 21.080-21.085, and 28.080-28.085 MHz



2.4. Power: All categories are limited to 100 watts transmitter power output.

3. Entry Categories:

3.1. Single-Operator, Rookie

3.1.1. Rookie entries are limited to operators who have either:

3.1.1.1. Made no contacts at all or have made their first amateur radio contact during the current or preceding two calendar years.

3.1.1.2. Have not made any contacts on the contest mode (SSB, CW, or RTTY) before the contest. Operators may only enter in this category only one time and must send the current year in their exchange.



3.1.2. The use of information from a spotting network (“spotting assistance”) is permitted. Spotting yourself on a spotting network (“self-spotting”) or asking others to spot you is not allowed. See “HF Contesting – Good Practices, Interpretations and Suggestions” for clarification. (See 1.2 above)

3.1.3. Rookie stations may contact Rookie or non-Rookie stations. (Also see 3.4)

3.1.4. Rookie stations are encouraged to identify themselves as a Rookie station by calling “CQ RR” on CW or RTTY and “CQ Rookie Roundup” on SSB.

3.2. Multioperator, Rookie

3.2.1. Any number of Rookie operators may participate as a multioperator entry from a single station. (Also see 6.6)

3.2.2. Multioperator stations may transmit only one signal at a time using a single transmitter during the contest.

3.2.4. Multioperator stations are not eligible to participate in team entries.

3.3. Team

3.3.1. Team entries may be submitted containing up to five (5) different single-operator entries. The single-operator entries will be listed separately in the results. A single-operator entry may be a member of only one team.

3.3.2. Team entries must be registered with the ARRL Contest Branch prior to the contest using the on-line form on the Rookie Roundup web page (www.arrl.org/rookie-roundup). See the Rookie Roundup web page for registration deadlines.

3.4 Non-Rookie

There is no Non-Rookie entry category but experienced operators are encouraged to participate and report their contact totals using the online score reporting form on the Rookie Roundup web page (www.arrl.org/rookie-roundup). Non-Rookies may call CQ but may only work Rookie stations in the contest. Non-Rookie stations should call “CQ Rookie” on SSB and “CQ R” on RTTY or CW.

4. Exchange: Call sign of station worked, your call sign, your first name, two-digit number of the year first licensed (“check”) and state, Canadian province, Mexican call area, or “DX”.

Examples:

NØAX from KB1QAW, Carol, 08, Connecticut

KX9X DE VE7XYZ DAVE 07 BC

KD2ABC DE XE1KK RAMON 96 XE1

KG6PQR from JH4NMT Toshi 75 DX

4.1. Rookies must have a check from the current year or any of the preceding two calendar years. For example, in the 2015 Rookie Roundup events, Rookies must have a check of 15, 14, or 13.



5. Scoring:

5.1. Points: 2 points for completed QSO between Rookie stations, 1 point for a completed QSO between a Rookie and a Non-Rookie station. Contacts between Non-Rookie stations are not valid contacts in this event.

5.2. Multipliers:

5.2.1. Each US state and the District of Columbia (51 total) – use US postal codes as abbreviations. Be careful – many states have similar spellings and abbreviations! i.e. Missouri is MO, Minnesota is MN, Michigan is MI, Mississippi is MS, Maine is ME, Massachusetts is MA, etc.See the complete list of abbreviations at the end of these rules.

5.2.2. Canadian Provinces (13 total) : See the complete list of abbreviations at the end of these rules.5.2.3. Mexican call areas (5 total): XE1, XE2, XE3, XF1, and XF4

5.2.4. One generic DX multiplier, which includes contacts with US possessions (such as Puerto Rico KP4 and Guam KH2) and all other entities not listed in 5.2.1, 5.2.2 or 5.2.3.

5.2.5. The total number of possible multipliers is 70.

6. Miscellaneous:

6.1. Stations may be worked once per band. Multiplier credit is only given once, regardless of band.

6.2. Cross-band and cross-mode QSOs are not permitted. i.e. – Both stations must be on the same band and using the same mode.

6.3. During any single contest, entrants must make all QSOs from the same

state, province, call area, or DX entity. i.e. - Your exchange must contain

the same location information for all contacts.

6.4. QSOs made through repeaters or digipeaters are not permitted.

6.5. QSOs with aeronautical mobile stations do not count.

6.6. Non-rookie operators are encouraged to assist Rookie operators in person with

operating technique and instruction, including acting as the control operator to allow Technician class licensees to transmit with General or Extra class privileges. Non-rookie operators may not, however, make any transmissions from the station or log any contacts.

7. Awards: Electronic certificates will be available for download by the top five scoring stations in each US call area, Canadian province, Mexican call area and DX stations. No national winners will be recognized. A commemorative participation certificate will be available for download to every Rookie operator submitting a score.

8. Submission: All scores must be submitted via the Rookie Roundup online score report form within 72 hours of the contest’s conclusion.



9. Other information.

9.1. See “General Rules for All ARRL Contests” and “General Rules for ARRL Contests on Bands Below 30 MHz (HF)."

9.2. All contest queries should be directed to contests@arrl.org or by telephone to 860-594-0232.

APPENDIX

US State Postal Abbreviations [txt]

State Abbreviation ALABAMA AL ALASKA AK ARIZONA AZ ARKANSAS AR CALIFORNIA CA COLORADO CO CONNECTICUT CT DELAWARE DE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA DC FLORIDA FL GEORGIA GA HAWAII HI IDAHO ID ILLINOIS IL INDIANA IN IOWA IA KANSAS KS KENTUCKY KY LOUISIANA LA MAINE ME MARYLAND MD MASSACHUSETTS MA MICHIGAN MI MINNESOTA MN MISSISSIPPI MS MISSOURI MO MONTANA MT NEBRASKA NE NEVADA NV NEW HAMPSHIRE NH NEW JERSEY NJ NEW MEXICO NM NEW YORK NY NORTH CAROLINA NC NORTH DAKOTA ND OHIO OH OKLAHOMA OK OREGON OR PENNSYLVANIA PA RHODE ISLAND RI SOUTH CAROLINA SC SOUTH DAKOTA SD TENNESSEE TN TEXAS TX UTAH UT VERMONT VT VIRGINIA VA WASHINGTON WA WEST VIRGINIA WV WISCONSIN WI WYOMING WY

Canadian Provinces