Ham Spirit Contest

[SM0JHF]

The thread is HAM SPIRIT CONTEST, but all comments refer to another contest.
In my humble opinion the idea of this Ham Spirt Contest is excellent.
1. The autumn propagation in Northern Hemisphere is usually more attractive than for example in July during the IARU HF Championship.
2. The 24-hour format is more humane for average contester. I think very few people can stay up 48 hours without some kind of stimulants.
3. Scoring based on ITU Zones is more fair than in many other competitions. North Americans, Europeans and Asian can make significantly more contacts.
4. Maidenhead Fields multipliers are less discriminatory to participants in regions with dense ham population.
5. The contest exchange must be actually copied during the QSO (until a new database is created).
6. This contest should be in fact sponsored by the IARU.

If I have a chance to be on the air then, I will participate in both parts of the Ham Spirit Contest.

Henryk, SM0JHF

P.S. I suggest starting another thread for discussing the CQ World Wide and IOTA contests.

[4L5A]

Dear Henryk I agree 100 percent The organizer of the Contest has not stated that these competitions are held as an alternative to some other contest.

[4L5A]

HAM Spirit Contest updated rules
HAM SPIRIT CONTEST
“ No political, religious, military or commercial purposes are pursued in the amateur radio service”. The Amateur’s Code by Paul M. Segal, W9EEA (1928)
Based on the radio amateur code,
the «Central Siberia DX-club» decided to establish
the Ham Spirit Contest.
Contest Period:
Two Ham Spirit Contests will be held annually.
CW Ham Spirit Contest:
Start: October 29, 2022 at 06:00 UTC.
End: October 30, 2022 at 05:59 UTC.
Bands: 160m, 80m, 40m, 20m, 15m, 10m.
SSB Ham Spirit Contest:
Start: November 26, 2022 at 06:00 UTC.
End: November 27, 2022 at 05:59 UTC.
Bands: 160m, 80m, 40m, 20m, 15m, 10m.
Objective:
Radio amateurs from all over the world who have a radio amateur license are invited to participate.
The goal is to improve amateur operating skills by conducting 2-way radio communications with as many amateur radio stations around the world and from as many ITU Zones and square Fields of the QTH Locator as possible on the HF bands.
Entry Categories:
Single Operator Category:
a) SOAB - High Power: Total Output Power must not exceed operator’s license limits
b) SOAB - Low Power: Total Output Power must not exceed 100 Watts
c) SO Single Band: Low and High power - single nomination. Competitors may operate on all bands, but only on one of them can apply.
One person (the operator) performs all operating and logging functions.
The entrants may use QSO finding assistance technology or other source that provides call sign or multiplier identification such as CW decoder, DX cluster, DX spotting Web sites, e.g.
There is no limit on band changes.
Single operator stations are only allowed one transmitted signal at any given time.
Multi Operator, Single Transmitter, High Power
Only one transmitting signal is allowed at any given time.
Exception: One, and only one, other transmitted signal may be used if it is on a different band from the run transmitter and the station worked is a new multiplier.
There is no limit on band changes.
Alternate CQs on two or more frequencies using the same band is prohibited.
Output power (PEP) is limited by the terms of the owner's license.
All operators must comply with the rules governing the operation of amateur radio stations in their country.
Contest Exchange:
Exchange number consists of a signal report RS(T), number of their ITU zone and QTH locator square Field.
Examples: 599 27JN, 599 28JN, 599 42MM, 599 42MN, 599 32NO, 599 32OO. The ITU zone and Squares Fields should not have separation to put them into log.
Scoring:
The QSO with station in your own ITU zone, regardless of the square, count one (1) point.
The QSO within your continent but with a different ITU zone count three (3) points.
The QSO with a different continent and ITU zone count five (5) points.
Multipliers:
The multipliers on each band are various combinations of ITU zones and Squares Fields. Examples: 27JN, 28JN, 42MN, 42MM, 32NO, 32OO are six different multipliers.
Final score:
The final score is a result of Total QSO Points multiplied by the total sum of worked multipliers.
Logs Submission:
Logs are accepted ONLY in electronic form in CABRILLO format.
Logs are loaded through the Web interface of the site ua9qcq.
All LOGS must be sent WITHIN SEVEN (7) CALENDAR DAYS after the end of the contest.
Any log received after this date is accepting for CHECKLOG only.
QSOs are not counted in the following cases:
- if the QSO is not confirmed by the correspondent's logs;
- if there are errors in the call signs or/and in the received control number;
- the QSO time differs by more than 3 minutes in correspondent's logs;
- if no report is received from the correspondent or/and the correspondent is “unique” (call sign
occurs in less than 3 contest logs);
Awards
Plaques are awarded to participants who performs the best three results in each of the categories.
Electronic certificates will be awarded to everyone who submits an entry.
The winners of the multiplier territories (Examples: 27JN, 42MN, 32OO … etc.) in each Entry Category will be awarded by еlectronic certificates
Amateur radio or other organization, as well as individual radio amateurs, may establish and sponsor their own awards.
Contest software:
N1MM, TR4W, DXLOG, 5MC and any other loggers that support IARU HF Championship.
Identifier QTH locator Sector:
dxcluster.ha8tks.hu/hamgeocoding/
Home page: hamspiritcontest.com

[4L5A]

I dont see that members of the HAMSPIRIT Contest promoting contest internationally.
No idea who is members of the Contest Committee RC9O and RA0AM?

[RC9O]

Hi Ali
My name is Anatoly and surname RC9O.
I thought how to answer your question Ali “who is who in the HAM SPIRIT Contest organization”, and I think the simpler answer, the clearer it will be for everyone.

Leonid RA0AM is our BOSS he heads the Siberian DX Club and is the boss of RW0A. In this case he is my boos too ))

When the idea of establish a HAM Spirit Contest arose, a committee was created by the club team, and the committee elected me as chairman (after all, someone should personally answer if anything )

As for the promotion of the contest, I agree with you that we are not doing enough, but I must say that we have done a lot in a month. We developed the a Rule and referee program almost from zero.
We developed a website hamspiritcontest.com and sent out to at least 80 invitations to the national federations and contest clubs of more than 200 leaders. We are preparing more than 10 thousand personal invitations….
Our contest is included in some calendars of national clubs and websites UA9QCQ com, QRZ ru, cqcontest eu, contestcalendar com.
Through the efforts of developers and those who support the logger programs, modules supporting the HAM SPIRIT Сontest were developed: N1MM Classic, N1mm +, TR4W, 5MC, DXLog ... .. And also a file initial.ex for more than 75 thousand call signs was developed.
This is of course not a complete list of the work that our contest committee has done. And we will be very grateful to those who will support us with advice or a kind words and, of course, participation in the HAM Spirit contest.
Best regards,
Chairman of HAM Spirit Contest
Comittee Anatoly RC9O )

[4L5A]

A Contest Reminder

The last weekend of October 2022 can mark the start of The Great Reset, Not the brainchild of the ambitious ruler from Davos, though. I hope the time has come to revise the paradigm of global Amateur Radio contesting. Many so-called ”world-wide” competitions implement obsolete definitions of geographical locations for scoring purposes. The 40-zone concept was accidental and served a purpose 60 years ago, coined by a publisher of a ham-radio magazine. This publisher has been balancing on the verge of bankruptcy for decades now, failing to deliver subscribed magazines, violating copyright laws and changing owners. Yet, they claim to be ”The Authority on Amateur Radio”. Well, they ain’t (unless they are owned by BlackRock or Vanguard). The true global authority on Amateur Radio is The International Amateur Radio Union. The IARU is our voice in the International Telecommunication Union. In order to avoid chaos and anarchy in the radio and satellite spectrum, ALL have to comply with the ITU rules - we too. The only and official world zones that we should implement in contests, awards and in general, are the ITU Zones. There are 75 zones covering land areas - islands and continents, with an additional dozen or so, zones covering the oceans.

The second definition in global use, but truly outdated, is ”the countries list”. This listing, which started almost a century ago, is both political and controversial. The United Nations has some 190 member states, but the ”countries list” shows some 340 of them, and still counting. The definition of ”a country”, or ”entity” is as easy to understand as the Tax Code. Why some places, never inhabited by humans, are ”countries”? Why the largest Greek island is, while the largest Italian island is not? Why a self-declared republic within Serbia is ”an entity”, while a self-declared republic in Eastern Ukraine is not? I could show dozens of other questionable ”entities”. Add the confusion identifying a ”country” by a call sign - some countries issue the same prefix to stations located in very distant locations, for instance the TO prefix can be, in among others, Mayotte, Martinique or Guyana.
Using Maidenhead Locator System instead of ”countries” is politically neutral, gives approximate location of each station, enables instant calculation of antenna heading, distance between the station and so on. This system has been in use in VHF contest for decades, and in recent years the automated digital modes on HF have this information embedded.

The Ham Spirit Contest

A small group of experienced contesters from Siberia have announced a novel global contest with easy to understand rules, fair scoring and equal opportunity approach. Please read the rules first hamspiritcontest.com
Just a few words highlighting the good points, in my opinion, of the contest rules, Midwest (USA) stations get 3 points for contacts with California and New England, for example. Stations in Siberia (UA9-UA0) can make plenty of 3-point contacts as the Asiatic Russia has a dozen, or so, ITU Zones. Even without DX propagation everyone can find ”something to do”.
The rare-multiplier pile-ups will not be as massive as in other world-wide events. You have to copy the contest exchange first in order to know what multiplier it is. No need to guess the country status whether it is a legally licensed station in Northern Cyprus or a Kon-Tiki raft in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

Contesting is Art

Not everyone can become a contest operator, one has to have talent. A small percentage of all active licensed operators get ever involved in contesting. Of the thousands participating only a part can be considered artists. Virtuosos who enter a trance state, totally absorbed in the space of sounds coming from the radios, withstanding the physical and mental fatigue and stress. I come to think about a few such persons, that I have had contact with - Alexander, 4L5A - Jose, CT1BOH or Fabian, DJ5CW. You can’t learn to be a super-contester if you don’t have the gift for it. But every active radio amateur should try contesting, at least a few times in the lifetime. It is an excellent opportunity to improve one’s operating skills. Hams can build and maintain radio stations, but also should be proficient in using them for reliable communication. The most expensive and advanced piece of equipment is useless when you can’t handle it.


Contest Maniacs

People get addicted to most anything, radio contesting not excluded. I have met folks unable to talk about anything else, neglecting their health and family. Amateur Radio is a superb hobby, but should remain only a hobby, a spice in life. No spice should dominate a dish if it is to be tasty and healthy. Some dudes, as it is usually guys who fall in this trap, think that contesting is the meaning of life, a road to paradise and eternal happiness. The contest points will not accumulate on your pension fund account, the diplomas and trophies will most likely end up in the garbage bin since your inheritors won’t be able to turn them into cash. The benefit is only in doing it, like so many other things in life. Sportsmen and performers usually get a financial reward for their efforts in competitions - contesters do not, instead they spend huge funds on participation. It is one of the aspects baffling ”normal” people who consider us all weirdos.



Run Low Power - Save the Planet

This Ham Spirit Contest is probably a good chance for those running low power. Hundred watts of RF power and average directional antenna is enough to make almost any contact. There won’t be huge pile-ups of hundreds of kilowatts ERP to cut through. Presumably a side effect of simultaneous pumping of megawatts ERP in the ongoing global event on the opposite mode can stimulate the ionosphere to the advantage of an average station. I do not believe in saving the planet by running low power, but I believe in saving the wallet when the electricity bills, at least in Europe, are skyrocketing now.

The Times Are Changing

One hundred years ago Amateur Radio was a fascination that spread all over the world. A QSL card was invented since the postal service was reliable, although slow, while radio was still a mystery. Today the postal service is an expensive mystery, while wireless phenomenon is basically under control. Very few radio amateurs bother with printed cards, yet some active operators will insist on exchanging them. It is as outdated as sending telegrams by post. Some private world zones and odd country lists should also pass to the realm of history of Amateur Radio. I know well that many active radio amateurs will, until their death, say 20 meters instead of 14 MHz (which is approximately 21 meters, not 20), believe that there are 40 world zones and that there are 340 countries. They might use 21st century technology, but passing certain mental barriers is unmanageable.

The bottom line

All things considered - the humane 24-hour format of this contest, transparent rules and a chance to take part in a historical event from the very start - it is absolutely worth giving it a try. The success depends on the participants, rational and modern. A contest for freethinking believers in the Ham Spirit.

Henryk Kotowski, SM0JHF
October 2022

[4L5A]

HAM Spirit Contest.
I do not know who came up with the idea of ham spirit contest, as the beginning of development was very tumultuous and spontaneous.
I am currently judging by what is happening now, I think that ham spirit contest is even more evil than the policy CQ WW CC.
Why?
Because the organizers of this test went the way of even more radical division of radio amateurs on the national ghost.
Becoming in the position of the victim began to blame everyone in a row instead of focusing on the development and popularization of the test.
Even the invitations have not yet sent out properly.
I talked to many contesters in Russia and abroad, and they have not received invitations to participate and who are the organizers?
Their position completely trampled ham spirit, they have completely perverted the very idea of such a test.
Director or as he calls himself the president of the contest everywhere emphasizes the fact that the contest was created in opposition to the CQ WW contest and emphasizes its national affiliation.
If there is a claim to be the only fair contest that takes into account the interests of the Amateur Radio world of different countries, where are the representatives of these countries in the committee?
Whether invited someone in committee from radio amateurs of Ukraine?
How to pour dirt and blaming everything on UR0MC is please all ready and ready to devote tons of texts.
It's all Roma's fault it turns out.
After those statements which make the organizers of the test they are still surprised that they get unflattering letters in response or what kind of accusations to Kazimir, EW4M, from the chairman of the test RC9O?
Kazimir, EW4M quite fairly noted that the politicization of contests and amateur radio has no place on the site of radio amateurs of Belarus and cited at the same time post RC9O and in my opinion quite fairly banned him.
The policy of the Ham Spirit committee, in my opinion, not only discredited the concept of ham spirit, but also turned away quite a large number of radio amateurs from the contest.
I do not know where there will be more participants from Russia and Belarus in ham spirit or CQ WW.

[4L5A]

Well the 2nd series of Ham Spirit Contest is coming up this year and unfortunately I don't see the organisers changing their stance. Everything remains as it was. In other words, as no changes in the position of the organisers of the CQ WW Contest.

[4L5A]

According to the activity in the current Ham Spirit Contest we can say that the contest died without being born.
Many of the organizers scolding CQ WW DX and took part in it according to their own version supported the sanctions in their own address