CQIR - Ireland Calling Contest Rules

Revision 25th July 2007

In 2007 the Irish Radio Transmitters Society (IRTS) celebrates
the 75th anniversary of its founding in 1932.  As part of the
jubilee celebrations the Society is organising an International
Radio Contest, "CQIR - Ireland Calling".

CQIR is a once-off event, with a difference - overseas entrants
with 75 or more QSOs have the opportunity to win a trip to
Ireland.

In these rules, references to Ireland mean the island of
Ireland and its offshore islands.

1 Object: 

1.1 CQIR celebrates the IRTS Jubilee and the "Irish" amateur-
    radio community worldwide.  It's where the Irish, at home
    and abroad, work the World - and where those of Irish
    descent identify themselves by including their ancestral
    county in the exchange, for example: County Cork, County
    Antrim etc. 

1.2 This is an "everyone works everyone" event on the five
    contest bands from 10 to 80 metres. 

2 Date and Contest Period: 

2.1 From 12:00 UTC Saturday 29th September 2007 to 12:00 UTC
    Sunday 30th September 2007.  Note: The contest finishes
    (is over) at 12:00:00 on the Sunday. 

3 Entry Categories: 
3.1 Irish
    Single-Op All-Band CW
    Single-Op All-Band SSB
    Single-Op All-Band Mixed (CW/SSB) 

3.2 World
    Single-Op All-Band CW
    Single-Op All-Band SSB
    Single-Op All-Band Mixed (CW/SSB) 

3.3 Entrants are "Irish" if:
    - they operate from Ireland, or
    - they were born in Ireland, or have a direct ancestral
      link to Ireland - with no time limit.  Anyone whose
      partner/spouse qualifies under this section can be
      Irish too.

3.4 All other entrants are "World" entrants. 

4 Contest Exchange: 

4.1 Irish entrants (EI/GI) send a serial and their county
    code (the county in which the station is located).
    County codes are listed in Section 11. 

4.2 Irish entrants outside Ireland, known as "Overseas Irish",
    do not send a serial, but identify themselves by sending
    a 4-digit year and a county code. 

4.2.1 The year indicates the most recent year they, their
      partner/spouse or their direct ancestor as relevant,
      left Ireland to live overseas - for example 1849, 1978,
      2002.  This year should be the same for all QSOs. 

4.2.2 The county code indicates the most recent Irish county
      resided in by themselves, their partner/spouse, or
      their direct ancestor.  The county code should be the
      same for all QSOs. 

4.3 Other, non-Irish, entrants send a serial, but no county
    code. 

4.4 Serials must be a minimum of 3 digits, with leading zeros
    as appropriate, starting at 001, and increasing
    sequentially for each QSO logged. 

5 Scoring: 

5.1 CW QSOs  - 3 points.
    SSB QSOs - 2 points. 

5.1.1 Points are doubled for QSOs with "Irish stations",
      those giving a county code in accordance with these
      Rules. 

5.2 The same station may be worked once per band/mode
    combination. 

5.3 Multipliers are each different Irish county code, on each
    band and and on each mode.  The maximum is 32 per band
    for single-mode entrants, and 64 per band for mixed-mode
    entries. 

5.4 Invalid QSOs, not in conformance with these Rules, score
    zero points, do not qualify as multipliers, and do not
    count towards Prize Draw entry. 

5.5 QSOs logged with incorrect Serial/Year or County score
    zero points, do not qualify as multipliers, and do not
    count towards Prize Draw entry. 

5.6 Penalties: 

5.6.1 Each QSO logged with a "busted" or "not-in-log"
      callsign may, at the discretion of IRTS, incur a
      penalty of up to three times the expected QSO score,
      may not qualify as a multiplier, and may cause a
      deduction of up to three QSOs in the count towards
      Prize Draw entry. 

5.6.2 There is no penalty for dupes - they should not be
      removed from your log. 

6 Awards: 

6.1 For each and every 75 valid QSOs logged, entrants will
    qualify for one entry to the CQIR prize draw.  Two
    prizes will be awarded, one for entrants operating from
    outside Ireland, and the other for entrants operating
    in Ireland. 
  
  i) For entrants operating from outside Ireland:
     Air travel to Ireland for the entrant and one other
     person - with accommodation for one week in Kinnitty
     Castle, Co. Offaly. http://www.kinnittycastle.com. 
  
  ii) For entrants operating from Ireland:
      A weekend in New York City for the entrant and one
      other person. 

6.2 Prizes are not transferable, and can not be exchanged
    for cash or other goods.  Prize winners must consent to
    being interviewed and photographed.

6.3 Prize winners must bear full personal liability for any
    delay, injury or incident incurred while away from home.
    As such, acceptable evidence of comprehensive travel
    insurance must be provided to IRTS before travel begins.
    Likewise, prize winners must make their own arrangements
    for acquiring any necessary passports and/or tourist visas.
    Do I need a Visa to come to Ireland?.

6.4 Time Limit: IRTS will use its best endeavours to
    facilitate prize-winners' preferences with regards to
    timing.  Nevertheless, a prize-winner who, for any
    reason, does not avail of the prize within 11 months of
    the contest will forfeit the prize.

6.5 Each entrant with 75 or more valid QSOs logged will
    receive a participation certificate. 

7 Conditions of Entry: 

7.1 This is a single-operator event for human operators. 

7.2 The operator must not avail of operating, logging or
    external assistance during the contest period.

    External assistance is "information from any source,
    other than that already known or possessed by the
    the operator at the starting time of the contest, sought
    or acted upon with the intent or potential to increase
    the operator's score".  

    Exception: Information obtained by the operator in the
    normal course of listening and logging on the band(s)
    and mode(s) corresponding to the entry class is not
    deemed to be external assistance.

7.3 The operator must not volunteer or supply information
    that might represent external assistance to other
    entrants.  In particular, any use of any spotting
    network is prohibited. 

7.4 Cross-band and/or cross-mode QSOs are not permitted. QSOs
    must take place in the recommended IARU band segments for
    contest operation. 

7.5 The operator must not transmit on any other band or mode
    within 10 minutes of the first QSO logged on a specific
    band/mode combination. For example, if the first such QSO
    is logged at 21:02, no QSO is permitted on any other band
    or mode before 21:13.  QSOs in breach of this rule will
    score zero points, will not qualify as multipliers, and
    will not count toward Prize Draw entry.

7.6 The operator must not use more power than generally
    permitted by his/her licence class, regardless of any
    individual variation(s) or exemption(s) that may have
    been granted. 

7.7 Only one transmitted signal is permitted at any time. 

7.8 The operator and the station (all equipment and antennas)
    must be located within a circle of 500 metres diameter. 

7.9 The microphone or key(er), transmitter, amplifier (if
    any) and antennas must be connected by wire at all times. 

7.10 QSOs must be logged in real-time.
     The operator must not use recording equipment to assist
     with logging or to verify logged QSOs.  In this context,
     "equipment" includes hardware and/or software, even if
     such equipment is an integral component of the station. 

7.11 QSOs must not be solicited during the contest other than
     by calling other entrants directly on-air, by calling CQ
     on-air, or by the on-air arrangement of skeds with other
     entrants.  Bands or modes or technologies which are not
     permitted in this event or which do not correspond to
     the entry class are not considered to be "on-air". 

7.12 All entries become the property of IRTS.
     
7.13 Entrants agree to be bound by the provisions and intent
     of these rules.  In any dispute, the decision(s) of IRTS
     alone shall be final. 

8 Submission: 

8.1 Logs must be emailed, as attached uncompressed files, to
    cqir-logs@irts.ie by 31st October 2007.  They must be named
    YOURCALL.LOG where YOURCALL is the entrant's call used
    during the contest. 

8.2 All QSO records in your logs must conform to the Cabrillo
    specifications in Section 10 of these Rules - based on
    the specifications for the RSGB IOTA Contest at
    http://www.kkn.net/~trey/cabrillo/qso-template.html.

    If your logging software does not support this format,
    you must prepare your log with software that does, or
    must reformat your log accordingly.

    Logs that do not conform will not be accepted and will
    not qualify for any award.

8.3 Paper logs will not be accepted and will not qualify for
    any award. 

9 Logging Software: 

9.1 Free software for this event is available from
    http://www.ei5di.com/sd/sdsetup.exe.  SD runs on any
    Windows PC.  When SD starts, enter a new contest/file
    name (suggest CQIR07) and select the "CQIR" template. 

9.2 As and when other contest loggers announce support for
    CQIR, they will be listed here. 

10 Cabrillo Specifications: 
   Note: - Although there is no requirement in CQIR to exchange
   signal reports on-air, they must be included in your Cabrillo
   log. 

10.1 EI/GI Entrant - sends Serial & County: 

                              -----------info sent--------- ----------info rcvd----------
QSO: freq  mo date       time call          rst nr   ex2    call          rst nr   ex2
QSO: ***** ** yyyy-mm-dd nnnn ************* nnn nnnn aaa    ************* nnn nnnn aaa
QSO: 21222 PH 2007-09-29 1302 GI3PDN        59   001 ANT    EI7CC         59   031 DUB
QSO: 21022 CW 2007-09-29 1759 GI3PDN        599  204 ANT    HA1AG         599  302 ---
QSO:  7012 CW 2007-09-30 0911 GI3PDN        599 1316 ANT    W3LPL         599 1922 COR
00000000011111111112222222222333333333344444444445555555555666666666677777777778888888888
12345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789


10.2 Overseas Irish Entrant - sends Year and County: 

                              -----------info sent--------- ----------info rcvd----------
QSO: freq  mo date       time call          rst nr   ex2    call          rst nr   ex2
QSO: ***** ** yyyy-mm-dd nnnn ************* nnn nnnn aaa    ************* nnn nnnn aaa
QSO: 21222 PH 2007-09-29 1359 W3LPL         59  1922 COR    EI7CC         59   031 DUB
QSO: 21022 CW 2007-09-30 0359 W3LPL         599 1922 COR    HA1AG         599  848 ---
QSO:  7012 CW 2007-09-30 0359 W3LPL         599 1922 COR    G4BUO         599 1986 MAY
00000000011111111112222222222333333333344444444445555555555666666666677777777778888888888
12345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789 

10.3 World Entrant - sends Serial only: 

                              -----------info sent--------- ----------info rcvd----------
QSO: freq  mo date       time call          rst nr   ex2    call          rst nr   ex2
QSO: ***** ** yyyy-mm-dd nnnn ************* nnn nnnn aaa    ************* nnn nnnn aaa
QSO: 21222 PH 2007-09-29 1759 HA1AG         59   302 ---    GI3PDN        59   001 ANT
QSO: 21022 CW 2007-09-30 0359 HA1AG         599  848 ---    W3LPL         599 1922 COR
QSO:  7012 CW 2007-09-30 0806 HA1AG         599 1026 ---    UA0QL         599  117 ---
00000000011111111112222222222333333333344444444445555555555666666666677777777778888888888
12345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789


11 Ireland - County Codes: 

ANT Antrim          ARM Armagh          CAR Carlow             CAV Cavan
CLA Clare           COR Cork            DER Derry/Londonderry  DON Donegal
DOW Down            DUB Dublin          FER Fermanagh          GAL Galway
KER Kerry           KLD Kildare         KLK Kilkenny           LAO Laois
LEI Leitrim         LIM Limerick        LON Longford           LOU Louth
MAY Mayo            MEA Meath           MON Monaghan           OFF Offaly
ROS Roscommon       SLI Sligo           TIP Tipperary          TYR Tyrone
WAT Waterford       WES Westmeath       WEX Wexford            WIC Wicklow