Frequent Contester Program – Rules

FCG Frequent Contester Program – Rules

1. Purpose: To provide a means of rewarding FCG members for their active participation in contests.

2. Time Period: The award year follows the calendar year, January 1 through December 31.

3. Eligible Contests: Points will be awarded for participation in the Major Contests (ARRL, CQ, NCJ, IARU), State QSO Parties and other countries’ DX contests. See Appendix A for the current approved list.

4. Scoring: The Contest Participation Score (CPS) is based on the amount of time operating in each contest as reported on 3830Scores.com multiplied by the multiplier of each contest. Final score is the sum of the individual CPSs.
Total CPS = Sum of (Individual Contest Op Time * Contest Multiplier).

4.1. Score Reporting: Only activity posted to 3830scores.com is counted. To be counted, Florida Contest Group must be selected as the club.

4.1.1. Exceptions:
4.1.1.1. The member is part of a Multi-op activity with non-club members where the FCG has not been selected as the club.
4.1.1.2. The member periodically reports scores to another club. In this case, the member must report at least 30% of their contests with the FCG during the year.
4.1.2. The member must notify the FCG FCP Administrator at to get credit for the activities under these exceptions. Please identify the operating callsign, member callsign and contest(s) involved.

4.2. OP Time: Operators must fill in the “Op Time” box in 3830scores. If an operator reports a contest but does not indicate an Op Time, the Op Time will default to “1”.

4.3. Multi-ops: Each operator receives the contest’s total OpTime divided by the number of operators.

4.4. Station Owners: A station owner who does not participate in a particular contest receives 25% of the points. (This does not affect the operators’ scores.)

4.5. Members will be on their honor to report correct information to 3830Scores.

5. Brackets: There are five brackets for the purpose of awards:
• Diamond
• Platinum
• Gold
• Silver
• Bronze.

6. Reporting: A list containing each member’s current bracket level and CPS will be posted monthly by the FCG FCP Administrator on the FCG member reflector and FCG website.

7. Awards: Only paid FCG members and Honorary FCG members may receive awards.
7.1. Participants in the Bronze bracket will receive a certificate at the end of the year.
7.2. Members in the Silver though Diamond brackets will be awarded extra tickets for the drawings at the Annual FCG Banquet at Orlando HamCation each year.
Bronze 100 points Certificate
Silver 500 points 1 ticket
Gold 1,000 points 2 tickets
Platinum 2,000 points 3 tickets
Diamond 3,000 points 4 tickets
7.3. Because the tickets can only be used for the FCG Banquet drawings, eligible members must attend the Banquet to receive their awards.

8. Contest Schedules: The following appendices list the approved contests, this year’s contest schedule and the contest schedules for individual modes (CW, SSB, RTTY and Other Digital). Note that multi-mode contests will appear in multiple contest schedules:

Appendix A – 2019 Approved Contests Alphabetical List
Appendix B – 2019 Contest Schedule All approved contests During 2019, Date Order
Appendix C – 2019 CW Contest Schedule All approved contests allowing CW or Mixed Modes
Appendix D – 2019 SSB Contest Schedule All approved contests allowing SSB or Mixed Modes
Appendix E – 2019 RTTY Contest Schedule All approved contests allowing RTTY or Mixed Modes
Appendix F – 2019 Other Digital Schedule All approved contests allowing Digital Modes other than RTTY or Mixed Modes (May also include RTTY)

8.1. The Florida QSO Party and the ARRL 10-Meter Contest are of special interest to the FCG. To spur interest in these two contests, they are considered Bonus Contests, each worth extra points.

8.2. Refer to the WA7BNM Contest Calendar for official contest dates, times, mode