YOTA Contest 2024
1. Organizer: IARU R1 Youth Working Group cooperating with MRASZ (Hungarian Amateur Radio Society)
2. Objective: Increasing youngsters activity on the air, strengthening the reputation of the YOTA program and demonstration of support for youngsters across the world.
3. Date and time:
a. 1st round: 10th March, 10:00 – 21:59 UTC
b. 2nd round: 20th July, 10:00 – 21:59 UTC
c. 3rd round: 30th December, 10:00 – 21:59 UTC
YOTA Contest 2025:
1st round: 9th March 10-22 UTC
2nd round: 19th July 10-22 UTC
3rd round: 29th Dec 10-22 UTC
4. Participants:
a. Every amateur radio operator in the world, accepting these contest rules affixed here.
b. YOTA: defined by IARU (International Amateur Radio Union), any youngster ≤ 25 years old
5. Bands: 80m, 40m, 20m, 15m, 10m
6. Modes: CW and SSB
7. Categories:
a. Single Operator 3 Bands Mixed (open)
b. Single Operator 3 Bands Mixed (open and YOTA)
3 bands with the biggest score worked are automatically chosen form the log, therefore it’s not required to predetermine these.
c. Single Operator All Bands Mixed (open)
d. Single Operator All Bands Mixed (YOTA)
e. Single Operator All Bands Mixed 6 hours – only YOTA
Maximum of 6 hours operating time, with ceases of operation being at least 1 hour. It means that a break between QSOs of more than 60 minutes does not count as operating time.
f. Multi Operator Single Transmitter All Bands Mixed – only YOTA
The 10-minute rule applies for band changes only for RUN stations. You can change modes within the same band without restriction.
Up to 2 signals can be transmitted at a time: one on the “RUN” band and the other on the “MULT” band.
Older HAMs may assist YOTA contestants, but operating and the making of QSOs must be done by YOTA.
g. Station sponsors: station owners inviting youngsters may apply to a separate category with photos submitted, and be rewarded for their efforts.
I. Please provide sponsor callsign in operator list.
8. Contest contacts:
a. Everyone can work with everyone.
b. It is possible to work with the same station on the same band in CW and SSB modes.
9. Exchange:
a. Single operator: RS(T) + age on 1st of January
b. Multi operator: RS(T) + average age on 1st of January
10. Scoring:
a. QSO with own continent, a station aged over 25 (non youngster): 1 point
b. QSO with other continent (DX), a station aged over 25 (non-youngster): 2 points
Continents are defined as the following: North America (NA), South America (SA), Europe (EU), Africa (AF), Asia (AS) & Oceania (OC)
c. QSO with youngsters, regardless of continent:
I. < 12 years: 13 points
II. 12-16 years: 12 points
III. 17-21 years: 11 points
IV. 22-25 years: 10 points
d. Multipliers: different exchanges (“ages”) worked per band, regardless of mode
e. The final result is the sum of points earned per band and mode multiplied by the sum of multipliers worked per band.
11. Logs:
a. Cabrillo file format (V 2.0 and higher) can be uploaded at https://contest.ham-yota.com
b. Log submission deadline: 7 days after the end of the contest. Participants shall receive an email confirmation after submission. Regarding log submission, questions from participants are being answered at contest@ham-yota.com until the deadline.
c. Every station can submit 1 log. If more than 1 log is submitted with the same callsign, the last one counts.
12. Log checking, main guidelines:
a. Logs are checked using specifically designed software and human evaluation.
b. Dupe contacts do not result in penalty points.
c. There is no penalty for bad QSO’s. Contacts with incorrect callsign, exchange, date, time are worth 0 points.
d. We accept a QSO even if a participating station does not send a log, we evaluate the QSO’s based on their REVERSE log (in other words, mirror-log), provided that the participant appears to be consequently participating in the contest.
e. If someone sends inconsistent reports throughout the contest (eg. starts with age 12 and finishes with age 40) those are put into check-log and evaluated manually.
f. There are around 150 thousand QSO’s made on air each round. If a QSO’s validity cannot be checked against other QSO’s in the database, for example because the callsign only shows up once in the whole contest, it is considered 0 points. While we understand that a QSO can be made with anyone, a participant in the contest would likely make more than 1 QSO.
13. Evaluation:
a. There will be an overall evaluation of the 3 rounds per year as well.
b. MRASZ is responsible for checking and evaluating the logs, and publishing the results.
c. Participants are expected to follow written and unwritten rules of amateur radio operations. Violations of the competition rules or unsportsmanlike conduct may result in action by the YOTA Contest Committee.
14. Prizes:
a. Plaques for stations scoring in the first places in all categories in each round.
b. Awards for all participants are available to download after the results evaluation.
15. Other provisions:
a. The radios and antennas must be located within 500 meters of each other. This location choice is fixed for a given callsign. Participants wishing to participate from different locations within a single contest need to use a different callsign for each.
b. Do not delete dupes or any contacts made! Even if you submit in the Single Operator 3 Band category, please include all QSOs made on any band within the contest.
c. For logged contacts, the time difference between the 2 stations’ log records may not exceed 3 minutes. Exceeding that, the contact will be deleted. This does not authorize anyone to establish a contact outside of the contest period. It is advisable to synchronize your computer clock with your GPS or Internet time server before the contest.
d. DX-cluster and skimmer use is allowed in all categories, including self-spotting.
e. If the participant’s logger program malfunctions or has unintended operation other than the contest rules, it does not entitle the participant to object the YOTA Contest Committee’s decisions and evaluation. Therefore, operators are responsible for submitting log files in a readable Cabrillo format. In cases where other file types are submitted and can not be converted, the log entry will be reclassified as a checklog.
f. Total output power must comply with the local regulations and not exceed them on any band at any time.
g. Remote operation is permitted if the physical location of all transmitters, receivers, and antennas are at one station location. A remotely operated station must obey all station license, operator license, and category limitations. The call sign used must be one issued or permitted by the Regulatory Authority of the station location.
h. By submitting a YOTA Contest log, and in consideration of the efforts of the YOTA Contest Committee to review and evaluate that log, an entrant unconditionally and irrevocably agrees that he/she/they has:
I. read and understood the rules of the contest and agrees to be bound by them,
II. operated according to all rules and regulations that pertain to amateur radio for the station location,
III. agreed the log entry may be made open to the public,
IV. accepted that the issuing of disqualifications and other decisions of the YOTA Contest Committee are official and final,
V. if an entrant is unwilling or unable to agree to all of the foregoing, the entrant should not submit the entry or submit the entry as a checklog only.
In case of conflicting translations the definitive rules will be the English rules as published on yotacontest.mrasz.org at the time of each contest’s start.
Questions pertaining to the YOTA Contest rules may be submitted to yota-contest@mrasz.hu
If you want to contribute towards the YOTA Contest, feel free to do so. Many thanks in advance!