Radiosport is a term that can be used as only a single word or two different words. It is used to refer to the “ham” or the radio equipment used by amateurs for playing radio controlled games. These games could be group or single person events. It can also involve external competitors in a real time race or a performance of some sort over a period of time.
These contest, usually sponsored events, last from as less as a few hours to a few days. World wide being two days long. It can be local or it may even involve traveling some distances. It can range from contests that last only for a few hours to contests held cumulatively for many weekends. Each event has its own set of rules including which regions or stations can participate and more.
This is popularly known as radiosports. A few contests are listed.
Dx-Contest:
This involves stations making contact in a two manner with as many other stations as possible covering the longest distance they can. Today, this is popularly known as the International DX contest. People are given awards for the following. The ‘Worked All States Award’- given if the entrants contact at least one person from every state present in the USA. Similarly the “Worked All Continents Award’ is given away if someone from all the continents are contacted. The “Worked All Zones Award” follows the same logic for different time zones. The other awards are DX Century Club award, and VHF/UHF century club award.
One other event is Amateur Radio Direction Finding with the help of radios. It involves finding a definite number of transmitters from a definite location in a map, all before arriving at the finish line. This requires good athletic ability as well as direction finding skills with radios.
Bunny hunting or Fox Oaring: This, though similar to the aforementioned contest, involves ham’s short range equipment and hence more direction finding skill of the contestant as compared to athletic ability. There is larger technicality in this contest. As the radio can only detect signals within a 100 m radius, the contestant must identify the hidden transmitter in an area or radius 200 meters.
Radio Orienting contest: this is a severely restricted game played in compact areas. Very large technical skill is required to play this game.
Another form of bunny hunting utilizes vehicular transportation over long distances. The hams travel in the vehicles to the required region and locate the transmitter. Whoever can find the transmitter and reach the end line first is the winner. In another, the person who finds a specific number of hidden transmitters from different places first, wins. For this, traveling skill, equipment efficiency and orientation skill should be good.
These events are referred to as ARDF contest, abbrevatiation for Amateur Radio Direction Finding Contests. Radio sports and contests are only one side of the hobby. It is not necessary to enter contests. However many people get obsessed with this and start collecting dozens of winning certificates. At the other end of the curve are people who use the ham for their own communication and satisfaction.
One significant thing that can’t go without mention is that hams often contact space stations. There are many astronauts who become licensed radio operators and utilize the radio for educational and emergency purposes.
Once spanning just a small region within a given radius, the ham has now penetrated even space. Initially only based on Morse code, this has evolved into variations including digital transmission, voice etc. Radio transmission has indeed changed a lot in the recent years.
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