First Iranian amateur radio contest

[mehdi]

The first Iranian ham contest is going to be held on February 1st, 2016 and will last for 10 days.

Objective: To encourage and increase contacts (especially DX ones) with Iranian radio amateurs.

Dates:
   Contest Period: 10 days (Feb 01, 00:00 UTC - Feb 11, 23:59 UTC)
   All modes (CW, SSB, RTTY) can be used on this period.

Bands:
   40, 20, 15 and 10 meters
   Note: On 20m, the upper limit is 14.250 MHZ

Contact information:
   For contest information and any sort of inquiries contact epcontest.2016@gmail.com

Certificates:
   Certificates will be awarded to:
   1- Top single operator (at least 30 contacts on all modes)
   2- Top CW operator
   3- Top SSB operator
   4- Top RTTY operator
   5- Any operator who contacts at least 3 Iranian hams

Getting QSL card:
   If you need the printed certificate, you should send 5USD (or equivalent in your                   currency) to this address: “P.O. Box 14185-736 , Tehran, Iran”
   Please use registered mail to make sure it delivers without problems.
   WebMoney and Bitcoin are also accepted. (Contact us for more information)


Misc:
   Iranian amateurs will use “/contest” at the end of their call sign for this contest.
   The deadline for contacting us for certificate is 3 months after the contest.

List of Iranian participants:
   EP2FM  : Abdollah Sajjadian
EP3RB : Reza Batebi
EP3AG  : Ali Ghanbari
EP2FA   : Farman Aghdasi
EP2CM : Jamshid Mansoori
EP4HR  : Hamid-Reza Rahimi
EP3MIR : Mohammad Mobini
EP3CQ : Ali Solh-Joo
EP2LMA : Mohammad Azimi
EP2LSH: Saeed Shokrollahi
EP2HZM : Hassan Zohoorian
EP2HEK : Hekmatollah Rahimi
EP5MKN : Majid Kiani Nejad
EP5ABD : Bagher Mir-Abdolhagh
EP7AHN : Hamed Nahrir
EP4KHA : Amin Kharadmehr
EP4MMM : Mohammad Mirab
EP2MA : Mohammad Ameli
EP2LSD : Sepehr Dalir
EP3EEE: Ehsan Esteki

[EEVblog]

Nice to see there is a local HAM scene there!

[zapta]

People != Countries they live in.

We all just want to raise our families the best we can, regardless of governments.

Did you read what those hams celebrate?

[nctnico]

People != Countries they live in.
We all just want to raise our families the best we can, regardless of governments.

Did you read what those hams celebrate?

Any reason is a good reason to get together and drink some beer 
I agree with what Miquelvp wrote. 99.9% of the people want to have a good life and raise their children in a safe place. I'm very much interested in learning how real people live in other countries I know very little about. It helps to put the propaganda from power hungry idiots into the right perspective.

[mehdi]

Nice to see there is a local HAM scene there!

Thanks.

@Mechatrommer: Every country has some national holidays (like independence day) that they celebrate it.
In Iran, this is the anniversary of our revolution. Don't mix ham radio with politics and religion.
Also it's our first contest and we know it would not be perfect, but we'll learn from this experience for future contests

[wraper]

People != Countries they live in.

We all just want to raise our families the best we can, regardless of governments.

Did you read what those hams celebrate?

I guess it's OK reason for them, not for Yanks though. Basically they celebrate getting free out of being USA marionette. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranian_Revolution
For them it's like Independence Day (USA) I guess.

[retrolefty]

Nice to see there is a local HAM scene there!

Thanks.

@Mechatrommer: Every country has some national holidays (like independence day) that they celebrate it.
In Iran, this is the anniversary of our revolution. Don't mix ham radio with politics and religion.
Also it's our first contest and we know it would not be perfect, but we'll learn from this experience for future contests

  Good luck with your contest. Ham radio allows people to meet and communicate on a person to person basis that cuts through a lot of political, religion, and hidden agendas.

[SL4P]

:::
Did you read what those hams celebrate?

Any reason is a good reason to get together and drink some beer 
:::

SORRY - No ham or beer in sight!

[mehdi]

Don't mix ham radio with politics and religion.

Like setting a ham event for celebrating a religious revolution?

It's the name of our country: Islamic Republic of Iran. We don't advertise anything. It's a simple contest. You don't want to participate? It's fine.

[cdev]

Thats great that Iran has ham radio. We're all here on the planet and we might as well communicate as we become more alike and hopefully all head into a peaceful, fun and prosperous future together.

Electronics buffs, and really everybody in the sciences, all around the world, and I suspect, we'll find in the future, even from different stars and different species, all speak the same language!

Maybe you've seen it, I hope so, (this film always makes me cry, for some reason)  the movie Contact starts out with Jodie Foster as a young girl, using her ham radio- Then later on in the film - they first establish hyperdimensional communications with another intelligence, light years away, and they start building up a common language via math?

Ham radio is in a sense, like that.

[sleemanj]

Hey mods, Dave, how about you just strip out all these political/religious posts from this thread (including this one), which is a thread about a HAM Radio contest, posted in the RF, Microwave and HAM Radio forum.

People who want to talk about religion and politics and similar bullshittery, there is General Chat for that, there is no need to be derailing mehdi's thread ABOUT A HAM RADIO CONTEST just because you want to talk about the country he happens to live in.


Edit: brainfart on OP's username.

[c4757p]

Oh god, General Chat has sprung a leak

[xrunner]

To celebrate 37th anniversary of Iranian Islamic revolution, the first Iranian ham contest is going to be held on February 1st, 2016 and will last for 10 days.

Objective: To encourage and increase contacts (especially DX ones) with Iranian radio amateurs.

Cool beans. I need a contact with Iran so I'll be very much interested in listening (so will most other hams into DXing) so the pileups will be huge. 

[c4757p]

Can't you people just go away

[wraper]

Can't you people just go away

Yeah, IMO every post starting from 2nd should be deleted. And especially Mechatrommer should not be allowed to post in this tread for the reason of starting this religious debate (right vs wrong Islam  ). Just let them do this contest and keep you opinion to yourself.

[zapta]

Yeah, IMO every post starting from 2nd should be deleted.

Read the first paragraph of the first post, it's a call to participate in a celebration of a religious revolution so questioning the justification is on topic.

The OP could just announce the HAM event itself without the religious and political aspect of it and nobody would say a word.

It's the OP that tied RF to religion and politics.

[m98]

It's the OP that tied RF to religion and politics.

No, he just tied it to a national celebration. Other people made the big political discussion out of it. Please, get human rights right in your own countries, before blaming others about them. Would you also make such a big thing out of it, if someone made a christmas contest? I don't think so.

[zapta]

Would you also make such a big thing out of it, if someone made a christmas contest? I don't think so.

I didn't 'make such a big thing out of it'.

[c4757p]

Didn't anyone ever teach you people manners

[m98]

I didn't 'make such a big thing out of it'.

Sorry, that wasn't meant for you exclusively.
But it would be great if we could come back to the topic.

[KD0CAC John]

They need to reschedule , when propagation is better - at least for my QTH

[Theboel]

just curious why there is no 160m and 80m band.

[LightlyDoped]

I would like to talk to hams in Iran, but I doubt my 100 watts into a relatively low elevation dipole will let me. When I was a baby ham, it was illegal for U.S. hams to contact stations in Cuba. That restriction was eventually lifted. Just two days ago, I was excited to receive my first QSL card from a station in Havana. Now the U.S. and Cuba are finally normalizing their relations. Most people around the world have the same hopes and dreams. It sometimes takes way too long for governments to work out their differences and come to their senses. I hope the Iranian ham contest is a great success.

[mehdi]

just curious why there is no 160m and 80m band.

Well, first of all the number of ham amateurs in Iran is very low (about 30)
Second: we can't find good commercial equipment on the market (like antenna tuners)
Third: Not everyone can afford a big space (yard or roof) for an antenna for those bands, especially in big cities.
(In the past, amateur radio was not very welcomed here. Neither the government nor the normal people embraced it and everyone had to install an antenna that wasn't eye-catching. For example I'm using a dipole. And out of 30 hams, just two of them have a yagi AFAIK)

[GreyWoolfe]

I will be happy to make an attempt at a contact even though I am a 'little pistol' instead of a big gun.  I leave politics out of ham radio except for club politics of course 

[Theboel]

Well, first of all the number of ham amateurs in Iran is very low (about 30)
Second: we can't find good commercial equipment on the market (like antenna tuners)
Third: Not everyone can afford a big space (yard or roof) for an antenna for those bands, especially in big cities.
(In the past, amateur radio was not very welcomed here. Neither the government nor the normal people embraced it and everyone had to install an antenna that wasn't eye-catching. For example I'm using a dipole. And out of 30 hams, just two of them have a yagi AFAIK)
[/quote]

Assalammualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh,

Ok Thats a same problem all over the world I think many our fellow HAM will give You idea how to solve it if You want.
btw with Your permission I like to broadcast this news to my local HAM comunity

DE YB2LU

[mehdi]

Assalammualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh,

Ok Thats a same problem all over the world I think many our fellow HAM will give You idea how to solve it if You want.
btw with Your permission I like to broadcast this news to my local HAM comunity

DE YB2LU

Hi
I would be glad if you broadcast this to your local community.
By the way, we don't say hello like that. That's used mostly in Arabic countries. We just say "salam"

[mehdi]

I checked with our regulatory. Hams with class 3 license are not allowed to operate on 80 meter. They can operate the 4 abovementioned bands. That's another reason.

[Kalvin]

just curious why there is no 160m and 80m band.

Well, first of all the number of ham amateurs in Iran is very low (about 30)
Second: we can't find good commercial equipment on the market (like antenna tuners)
Third: Not everyone can afford a big space (yard or roof) for an antenna for those bands, especially in big cities.
(In the past, amateur radio was not very welcomed here. Neither the government nor the normal people embraced it and everyone had to install an antenna that wasn't eye-catching. For example I'm using a dipole. And out of 30 hams, just two of them have a yagi AFAIK)

In the spirit of DIY, there are lots of schematics available without spending a fortune for the equipment.

[Sal Ammoniac]

Speaking as a DXer who still needs Iran, I welcome this. Let's leave the politics to the politicians.

[cdev]

WSPR, and the various JT modes, as well as Olivia, and probably many others (digital modes) would allow people with non-optimal antennas to get QSOs.

Do they allow use of digital modes?

[EEVblog]

Hey mods, Dave, how about you just strip out all these political/religious posts from this thread (including this one), which is a thread about a HAM Radio contest, posted in the RF, Microwave and HAM Radio forum.

Yep, I agree, moving religious rubbish now.
If we can't have some (rare it seems) HAM's from Iran posting here without people jumping into religion, then the forum is a lost cause.

[xrunner]

WSPR, and the various JT modes, as well as Olivia, and probably many others (digital modes) would allow people with non-optimal antennas to get QSOs.

Do they allow use of digital modes?

I don't know if they allow those modes in Iran, but I do know the JT modes are way too slow for a much wanted DXCC like Iran. They just don't allow for the number of QSOs required. Each one is going to take minutes to complete while hundreds of stations are going to be waiting. I work the JT modes all the time and I wish I could work Iran using JT65 or JT9 but they just take too long. 

[VK5RC]

 I would love to work Iran but lots of qrm here,  psk31 is not bad  for contests and has pretty good decode s/n ratio. None of this wait for the minute to finish. ?

[mehdi]

WSPR, and the various JT modes, as well as Olivia, and probably many others (digital modes) would allow people with non-optimal antennas to get QSOs.

Do they allow use of digital modes?

Unfortunately digital modes are not allowed for license 3 (Beginner)
For now, the only thing other than CW and SSB, is RTTY.
Our club (EP2C) will work other digital modes, but not in this contest.

[German_EE]

"Getting QSL card:
   If you need the printed certificate, you should send 5USD (or equivalent in your currency) to this address: “P.O. Box 14185-736 , Tehran, Iran”

Aside from the risks of losing cash when sent through the mail is it now legal to send money to Iran? I know there used to be sanctions in place and I hope that they are now lifted. Anyway, I am looking forward to your contest, I expect a pileup of monumental size the moment your callsigns are heard, see you on the air!

[Nuno_pt]

Instead of the $5, why can't you guys ask for an LOTW account and upload all the contacts there, everybody would be happy.

I've a few contacts with Iran in all bands, all confirmed by LOTW, but I've one with an EP3S** on 40m that I will never confirm since he's asking $10 for QSL.

Best of luck for your contest, hope to work some of you guys.

[mehdi]

"Getting QSL card:
   If you need the printed certificate, you should send 5USD (or equivalent in your currency) to this address: “P.O. Box 14185-736 , Tehran, Iran”

Aside from the risks of losing cash when sent through the mail is it now legal to send money to Iran? I know there used to be sanctions in place and I hope that they are now lifted. Anyway, I am looking forward to your contest, I expect a pileup of monumental size the moment your callsigns are heard, see you on the air!

As far as I know, it's not under sanctions to send money for a QSL card (we've had QSL exchanges without problems)

@Nuno_pt : None of these hams have LOTW account. Nearly all of them (except some old hams) have gotten their license in 2014.

[Nuno_pt]

@Nuno_pt : None of these hams have LOTW account. Nearly all of them (except some old hams) have gotten their license in 2014.

LOTW account is very easy, take a copy of your license and copy of one document put in a letter sent it to ARRL, download TQSL program, fill in what is ask, upload the request certificate, and wait for ARRL send the registration back to you by email.

After that nothing more is need, just upload your QSO's to LOTW.

See here < https://lotw.arrl.org/lotw-help/getting-started/ >