Bee Rules
From Adventure Radio Society
Rules for the Flight of the Bumblebees
This is a four hour event during the last Sunday of July, running from 1700 UTC/1000 PDT/1100 MDT/1200 CDT/1300 EDT to 2100 UTC/1400 PDT/1500 MDT/1600 CDT/1700 EDT. Thus, the hours of operation accommodate all four time zones. No matter where you live, there is time to for the Bumblebees to travel to their sites, set up their stations, operate the contest, and travel back to their cars.
Both home-based and portable operations are encouraged. Participants who want to operate in the Bumblebee category apply to Adventure Radio Society for Bumblebee status. ARS assigns each Bumblebee a Bee number. Bumblebees agree to walk, bike or boat to their sites. The distance traveled to the site is at the Bumblebee's discretion. Bumblebees add "/BB" to their calls.
Bumblebee numbers are only good for one year at a time (that is, if you had one last year, you need apply for a new one this year).
There is no limit on the number of Bumblebees. You may apply for, and receive, a Bee number at any time, up to noon on Friday before the contest.
Group operation is welcome in the Flight of the Bumblebees. You may operate under a single call and report a single score, or under multiple calls and report multiple scores. In any event, you are limited to operating a single transmitter at a time.
Maximum power is five watts. We operate CW on 40, 20, 15 and 10 meters, on the standard QRP frequencies. Each contact will receive one point. The same station can be worked on different bands for additional QSO points and multipliers.
If you are a Bumblebee, your exchange is RST, state/province/country, and your Bumblebee number. If you are homebased, your exchange is RST, state/province/country, and your power.
Contacts with Bumblebees generate a 3X multiplier. So your score equals QSO points times (number of Bumblebees times three). Here is an example. If you make 20 contacts on 40 meters and 30 contacts on 20 meters, and make a total of 25 Bumblebee contacts on both bands, your score is (50) X (25 X 3), or 3750.
Separate but equal commendations are awarded to the high scores for the homebased and Bumblebee participants. We will also commend Bumblebees in the following categories:
Most interesting equipment,
Most outrageous venture, and
Most beautiful site.
Logs are due by 0000Z 3 August 2010; please use the semi-automatic form.
