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 City Parks:

Any Rockwall City municipal park is eligible to operate at. Here is a list of the current parks:

1 - Breezy Hill

2 - Dalton Ranch

3 - Emerald Bay

4 - Fontana

5 - Foxchase

6 - Gloria Williams

7 - Greens Lake Park

8 - Harry Myers

9 - Henry M Chandler

10 - Heroes Memorial Park

11 - Hickory Ridge

12 - Jewel Park

13 - Leon Tuttle Athletic Complex

14 - Lofland

15 - Meadow Creek 1

16 - Meadow Creek 2

17 - Northshore

18 - Phelps Lake

19 - Raymond Cameron Lake

20 - SH 66 Public Boat Ramp

21 - Shores Park

22 - Stone Creek

23 - Terracina

24 - Windmill Ridge

25 - Yellowjacket

For more information on these parks go to https://www.rockwall.com/parks_additional.asp and look under "Parks".

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