RAEM International HF Contest CW 2023
Ernst Krenkel Memorial
Radio amateurs from around the world are invited to participate in the 52-th contest. The RAEM contest is organized by «Soyuz Radioljubitelej Rossii» (Union of Radioamateurs of Russia) in memory of Ernst Krenkel (1903-1971) – famous polar investigator and radio communications operator (callsign RAEM), Hero of the Soviet Union, chairman of the USSR Radiosport Federation (1959-1971), and the first chairman of Central Radio Club of the USSR. Beginning in 1924, Krenkel was a pioneering member and main radio operator of many Russian Arctic winter research expeditions, as well as a veteran of the Russian Arctic polar station «North Pole-1» and numerous other Arctic marine expeditions.
RULES
1. Date. Bands. Mode
RAEM contest is held every year on the Sunday of the fourth full weekend of December.
At year of 2024 the contest starts 22-th December at 00.00 UTC and ends 22-th December at 11.59 UTC. Period of operation – 12 hours.
Bands: Only the 80, 40, 20, 15 and 10m bands may be used.
Mode: CW only.
2. Entry categories
Select only one of the following:
- MULTI-ONE: Multiple operators, Single transmitter, all bands
- SINGLE-OP ALL HIGH: Single operator, All bands, High power
- SINGLE-OP ALL LOW: Single operator, All bands, Low power (total output power must not exceed 100 W)
- SINGLE-OP 80M: Single operator, 80m band
- SINGLE-OP 40M: Single operator, 40m band
- SINGLE-OP 20M: Single operator, 20m band
- SINGLE-OP 15M: Single operator, 15m band
- SINGLE-OP 10M: Single operator, 10m band
- SINGLE-OP–MECHANICAL ALL LOW — Straight Key; Sideswiper (Cootie key); Mechanical semi-automatic (Bug key)
During the contest, the Ernst Krenkel memorial amateur radio station will be on the air with the callsign RAEM. The honour of operating RAEM is given to the previous year’s high scoring Russian MULTI-ONE team. The RAEM memorial radio station does not compete with other participants and has no limitations on the number of transmitters.
3. Exchange
The exchange is formed from the following parts:
– progressive contact serial number starting with 001 for the first contact;
– your geographic latitude rounded to one degree precision;
– one-letter designator of hemisphere: «N» for North and «S» for South;
– your geographic longitude rounded to one degree precision;
– one-letter designator of hemisphere: «О» for East (from German Ost) and «W» for West.
Example:
RW9HZZ sends «001 57n85o»: 001 is QSO number, 57n and 85o are coordinates;
RX0LWC sends «001 44n133o»: 001 is QSO number, 44n and 133o are coordinates.
4. Terms of operation
1. A station may be worked once on each band for QSO point credit.
2. A maximum of ten band changes for MULTI-ONE may be made during any clock hour (00 to 59 minutes). Otherwise, all QSOs made after the eleventh band change and until the end of that clock hour give no points. For SINGLE-OP stations there is no limit on band changes.
3. Only one transmitted signal is permitted at any one time for all categories. When two or more transmitters are present, either a software or hardware interlock must be used to prevent more than one signal at any time.
4. Use of any assistance or information provided by any outside person or device is not allowed. The exception is that publicly accessible (open) information networks (e. g. DX clusters) are allowed in every category.
5. Single-band entries are permitted to operate on other bands. Only QSOs on the claimed category-band give points.
6. The number of duplicated sent or skipped QSO numbers must not exceed 2% of claimed QSOs.
7. By submitting an entry in the RAEM International DX Contest you agree that you have read and understood the rules of the contest and agree to be bound by them.
5. Scoring
1. Every valid QSO gives 50 points.
2. Every one degree in geographic coordinates’ difference in latitude (your and received coordinates in exchange) gives one point in addition; the same for longitude.
3. Every QSO with a polar amateur radio station (defined as a station located within the Earth’s Polar Circles and sending a latitude of 66 degrees or greater) adds 100 to points from p.2.
4. Every QSO with the RAEM memorial amateur radio station adds 300 to points from p.2.
6. Final score
The final score is the sum of QSO points, geographic coordinates’ points, polar contacts’ points, and RAEM station points. Example: (300 QSOs) х 50 + 11000 points for coordinates + (17 QSOs with polar stations) х 100 + (RAEM QSOs on each of five bands) х 300 = 29200 points.
For participants located within the Polar Circles, the score above is multiplied by factor 1.1.
The calculation of claimed score is provided by Contest Committee. It is not required for participants themselves to calculate the score.
7. Awarding
Plaques will be awarded to the world’s 1st, 2nd and 3rd scores in every category with five or more participants.
Certificates will be awarded to the 1st, 2nd and 3rd scores in MULTI-ONE, SINGLE-OP ALL HIGH and SINGLE-OP ALL LOW categories.
Special achievement certificate will be awarded to every participant with 100 or more confirmed QSOs.
All certificates will be arranged on the RAEM contest web site (raem.srr.ru) as JPG files for downloading and printing.
Sponsors are welcome (contact Organizing Committee).
8. Logs
1. Electronic log submission is required for all logs which may come in 1st to 10th position in each section.
2. Please send logs in Cabrillo format, and be sure to include the full exchange.
3. All entries must be emailed, uploaded or postmarked no later than 14 days after the contest (January 05, 2025).
4. Logs sent after the deadline or received more than 15 days after the contest may be used as checklogs only.
5. An additional time period for log submission can be requested by any participant: if this is required, send a request to the Contest Committee.
9. Address
Web upload of logs is available at: http://ua9qcq.com/
Contest home page on the Internet: raem.srr.ru