Championship Medals Leader Board Rules
The Championship Medals Leader Boards are run in conjunction with but separate from the Championship Medals Award Program. The Leader Boards will track the progress of SMC members toward medal eligibility in three (3) separate categories based on station capability. The Leaderboards track Championship Medals Program points, not total QSOs.
Leader Board Categories
The LAA/CMA data coordinator (currently Tim, K9WX) will maintain ‘Leader Boards’ for three (3) categories of stations. The Leader Board will be updated periodically during the contest season on the SMC website. At the conclusion of the contest year, the final Leader Boards will be published. Leader Board categories are:
- Unlimited Antennas
- Tribander/Wires: This consists of a single tribander combined with single element wires/verticals. No limits on antennas 50 MHz and up. Formally defined as “During the contest an entrant shall use only one (1) tribander (any type, with a single feed line from the transmitter to the antenna) for 10, 15, and 20 meters; and single-element antennas on 40, 80, and 160 meters.” Single element antennas include rotatable dipoles.
- Wire/Vertical Antennas: Defined as wires/verticals only, no directional antennas. No limits on antennas 50 MHz and up. This category is intended for HOA and similar situations to give operators in restricted circumstances to participate in a Leader Board. Rotatable dipoles are eligible for this category and not considered directional antennas. Small magnetic loop transmit antennas are eligible for this category.
Leader Board Category Declaration
New SMC members will default to the Unlimited category but have 30 days from the date of membership, or October 1, to declare for a different category, whichever date comes last.
If a member upgrades their antennas during the eligible contest year and participates in an eligible contest prior to the end of the contest year, the member must inform the data coordinator and choose to either:
- Move into the next higher Leader Board category for the entire contest year.
- Choose to exclude any contests with the upgraded antennas from their declared Leader Board category for the contest year.
Note that all points earned still count toward the annual medals regardless of Leader Board category.
Except as allowed above, once a member joins a Leader Board Category for a contest season, the member remains in that Leader Board Category for the season and may not move to a category with more restrictive antennas.
Beginning July 1 of each year, a member can declare for a different category as long as the declaration is made before October 1. A member who does not declare for a different category will remain in the category from the previous year.
Members who operate a significant number of contests as either a single-op guest operator or remote operator should declare their Leaderboard category to match that of the station operated.
Multi-operator consideration for leader board categories: Participating in a multi-operator operation (as defined by the multi-operator rules under ‘Eligible Contests’) still counts for a declared leader-board category. For example, if WT2P had declared Wire/Vertical Antennas as his Leader Board category and then participates in a multi-operator operation at K9CT, he remains on the Wire/Vertical Antennas Leader Board and points earned from the multi-operator operation count toward his entry in the Wire/Vertical Antennas Leader Board category.
Leader Boards Awards
The Top-10 of each Leader Board category will be recognized at the SMC Fest and also receive an emailed PDF certificate.
The current leader boards can be viewed on the Leader Boards page.
More Information
If you have questions, please check the FAQs to see if your question has already been addressed.
