What is ROTA, the RARC Quarterly HF QSO Contest?

Rockwall On The Air (ROTA) is a RARC sponsored QSO contest that will run through the quarter to encourage local hams to get out to local parks and operate. You can operate on any day or anytime a Rockwall City park is open. Points will accumulate throughout the quarter and will be tallied, then announced at the in-person meeting following the end of the quarter. 

If you have any questions, you can contact jake@w5txx.com, n5ydx@arrl.net, or wb5wrc@arrl.net. Good luck!

Rules:

1. The QSO contest power limit is a maximum of 20 watts.

2. Any portable antenna may be used as long as it is deployed by a single operator.

3. All QSO’s must be made from a portable station within any Rockwall City park.

4. There is no restriction on how many times you can operate at a given park.

5. Station operators may use any HF band that they are eligible for under their license including the WARC bands.

6. All modes that support the required exchange are permitted.

7. Operators may count each station once per band/mode. 

8. The required exchange is call sign, signal report, and QTH

9. QSO logs will be submitted each week in .adi file format via email to Jake@w5txx.com 

Please note: 

• Ensure your log file includes your operating power to qualify for the QRP bonus points

• The subject line should include your call sign

• Note the park you're operating at in the comment field.

Scoring:

• Phone contacts = 3 points

• Digital Contacts = 2 points

• CW contacts = 2 points

• DX contact bonus = +2 points (Any QSO outside the 48 contiguous US states are considered DX)

• +1 bonus point per qso if entire log QRP

• +1 bonus point per unique grid square worked

• +10 bonus points if log has more than 100 qso's

• +10 bonus points if worked 7 days in a row

Awards:

Quarterly winners will receive contest certificate and bragging rights.

Eligible Parks:

Any public park within Rockwall County is eligible to operate at. Here are links to the the various city park sites in Rockwall County:

• Rockwall City parks go to https://www.rockwall.com/parks_additional.asp and look under "Parks".

• Royse City parks go to: https://roysecity.com/Facilities

• Heath City parks go to: https://www.heathtx.com/parks-trails/

• Fate City parks go to: https://www.fatetx.gov/174/Parks-Trails-Facilities

• Rowlett City Parks  located within Rockwall County: Shorewood Park, 5014 Williams Way, Rowlett, Scenic Point Park, 9501 Lakewood Pkwy, Rowlett. 

To see the weekly tally of scores go to the Contest Scoring Page.