County Challenge Award – Top List Rules and Operation
Version 10-Apr-24 (original by W6RK on 9-Aug-06)
DESCRIPTION: The CCA Top Lists are a changing ranking of county hunters
in different emission categories that is based solely on the total number of
county slots that are worked on the 10 non-channelized amateur HF bands (160m
through 6m). There are 5 ranked mode groups: Mixed Modes (which count CW -or-
Phone -or- Digital slots in each county), CW Mode, Phone Modes,
Digital Modes and Combo Modes (which count CW -and- Phone -and- Digital slots
in each county).
OBJECTIVE: To make valid contacts with other stations in as many counties, on as many bands and in as many mode groups as possible, up to the point where all counties have been worked on each band in all mode groups. The following 10 non-channelized bands are eligible for participation in the Top Lists: 160m, 80m, 40m, 30m, 20m, 17m, 15m, 12m, 10m, and 6m (no 60m or higher than 6m). In each ranked mode group, the total number of county slots worked on all bands is determined by the combined total number of county slots worked on each band. For example, if you have 500 county slots worked on 80m, 1500 on 40m, 2000 on 30m and 3000 on 20m in a given mode group, your Traditional Top List total is 7000 and you will have achieved CCA Level II within that mode group. Then once you work 2231 more county slots in that mode group you will have achieved CCA Level III. The Top Lists encourage county hunters to work and activate counties on as many bands and in as many mode groups as possible as well as to work fixed stations on bands and in mode groups that are not often or usually activated by mobiles. It also offers an opportunity to have one score per mode group to measure your progress in county hunting with a possibility to always improving it and reaching the next challenge level which is a goal that -you- set for yourself.
START DATE: All QSOs are counted. There is no start date for participating in the Top Lists.
TOTAL COUNTY SLOTS: The total number of county slots it is possible to work on each band in each of the Mixed, CW, Phone and Digital mode groups is the total number of counties in the U.S. which is currently equal to 3077. Although this number has been the same since the inception of the CCA Top Lists in 2006, it will be changed on the fly as the total number of counties in the U.S. changes over time, and if that number goes up, then it will likely have a profound effect on some of the “specialty” Top Lists discussed below.
CCA TOP LIST LEVELS: Every 3077 county slots worked in each mode group is one Level in a Traditional Top List.
CCA Level I: 3077 county slots worked
CCA Level II: 6154 county slots worked
CCA Level III: 9231 county slots worked
CCA Level IV: 12308 county slots worked
CCA Level V: 15385 county slots worked
CCA Level VI: 18462 county slots worked
CCA Level VII: 21539 county slots worked
CCA Level VIII: 24616 county slots worked
CCA Level IX: 27693 county slots worked (highest Level and WBOW in the
Phone mode group since there is no 30m Phone mode permitted)
CCA Level X: 30770 county slots worked (highest Level and WBOW in the
Mixed, CW and Digital mode groups)
CCA TOP LIST COMBO COUNTY SLOTS: In addition to individual CCA Mixed, CW, Phone and Digital mode groups, a special CCA Combo score is derived from the combined totals of each participating band and mode group. The Combo score is determined by summing the total number of county slots worked on each band in the CW + Phone + Digital mode groups. Levels of the CCA Combo score are every 9231 (3077 x 3 mode groups) county slots, e.g. CCA Combo Level I: 9231 county slots worked, CCA Combo Level II: 18462 county slots worked, CCA Combo Level III: 27693 county slots worked… to CCA Combo Level X: 89233, which is the total possible maximum county slots worked (92310 on 10 bands minus 3077 for no 30m Phone mode permitted).
SINGLE MODE GROUP SUBMISSIONS: It is perfectly acceptable to submit county slot totals for only a single, specific mode group. In this special case, Mixed mode group county slot totals may also be extrapolated as being identical to the those which are provided in the specific, single mode group submission. This means that if a participant submits county slot totals for only a single mode group in the CW, Phone or Digital mode group lists, then by default that participant will also automatically have an entry and rank in the Mixed mode group list even if Mixed mode group county slot totals have not necessarily been submitted. If this participant then adds another specific mode group to the submission that contains any non-zero county slot total, the Mixed mode group county slot totals may no longer be extrapolated because there are now two mode groups, and this will necessitate being removed from the Mixed mode group list unless and until Mixed mode group county slot totals are submitted as well.
LIST POSITIONING FOR MODE GROUPS AND COUNTY SLOT TOTAL TIES: Starting in February 2022, in each Top Lists mode group, currently licensed participants who have submitted county slot totals during the past 8 years are listed together first in an [Active] list, and silent keys as well as expired licensees, and now participants who have not submitted county slot totals during the past 8 years (added in December 2023) are listed together in an [Inactive] list immediately underneath the currently licensed and active participants. Currently licensed and active participants have county slot totals that can increase at any time, and silent keys as well as expired licensees, and now inactive participants who have not submitted county slot totals during the past 8 years have slot totals that are frozen in time and will likely never again increase, which defines a natural divide between these two groups of participants. In the event of county slot total ties in the Traditional Top Lists between two or more participants, list positioning is determined by “callbook” lookup order (i.e. call sign numerals + suffix + prefix).
HIGHEST BAND SLOTS (BY HIGHEST RANK) LIST: This is a separate short listing immediately following the Traditional Top List in each mode group which tracks the participants who have the highest 3 county slot totals on each of 10 bands (only 9 bands in the Phone mode group). In the event of Highest Band Slot ties between two or more participants, the one with the highest rank and positioning in the Traditional Top List for that mode group is selected first (see above for how Traditional Top List positioning is determined for mode group county slot total ties). The complete mode group county slot totals and levels for each selected participant in a Highest Band Slot List are derived from the Traditional Top List in each mode group. There is a very interesting statistic about these Highest Band Slot Lists: A participant who has one of the highest 3 county slot totals on any band in any mode group also occupies one of the highest 3 ranks for that mode group in a Traditional Top List only about half, or 50% (±7%) of the time. Conversely, this also means that a participant who does not occupy one of the highest 3 ranks for any given mode group in a Traditional Top List can very easily have one of the highest 3 county slot totals on any band in that mode group.
SINGLE BAND 3077 SLOTS (IN ORDER BY RANK) LIST: This is another set of listings immediately following the Highest Band Slots (by highest Rank) List in each mode group which tracks participants who have worked all 3077 county slots on Single Bands (9231 county slots for Single Bands in the Combo modes group except 6154 county slots on 30m because there are no Phone modes permitted on that band). The complete mode group county slot totals and levels for each selected participant in a Single Band 3077 Slot List are derived from the Traditional Top List in each mode group. There is also a separate rank that is assigned in a Single Band 3077 Slot List, and this rank tracks in an identical fashion with the ranks of these participants in the Traditional Top List for each mode group. Please note that while MARAC accepts “self-credit” for its own “USA - Single Band” award (reference page 40 in the MARAC Award Rules document), it does NOT accept “self-credit” for its own “County Challenge” award levels, and the Top Lists are aligned with this policy (reference page 16 in the MARAC Award Rules document).
ROBOTIC OR UNATTENDED OPERATION: The Top Lists are aligned with MARAC Award Rules policy on this, which states that, All contacts for MARAC awards require that the operator be fully involved in each and every contact, without the aid of software that would otherwise make the contacts without the presence of the operator (reference page 11 in the MARAC Award Rules document).
FORMATTING AND HIGHLIGHTING: Each mode group category in the Top Lists has a specific bordering color which identifies it and conditional formatting is utilized each month to highlight entries that are designed to draw attention to those participants who reach milestones on the Top Lists.
Bordering
The Mixed (CW -or- Phone -or- Digital) Modes Top Lists bordering is highlighted in this color.
The CW Mode Top Lists bordering is highlighted in this color.
The Phone Modes Top Lists bordering is highlighted in this color.
The Digital Modes Top Lists bordering is highlighted in this color.
The Combo (CW -and- Phone -and- Digital) Modes Top Lists bordering is highlighted in this color.
Entries
Silent Keys and those who have expired licenses have an italic font in their call sign and last submission date columns.
Those who last submitted county slot totals prior to the previous 366 days have a light gray font.
Those who last submitted county slot totals in the previous 366 days but prior to the previous month have no special formatting.
Those who last submitted county slot totals in the previous month have a bold black font.
Those who are brand new entries in the Traditional Top Lists or Single Band 3077 Slots (in order by Rank) Lists are highlighted in this color.
Those who achieve a new CCA or MARAC Level or a new #1 position in the Traditional Top Lists, Highest Band Slots (by Highest Rank) Lists or Single Band 3077 Slots (in order by Rank) Lists are highlighted in this color.
County Slots
County slot totals last submitted prior to the previous 366 days that are >3073 (or >9227 in the Combo Top Lists) have a bold italic light gray font.
#1 county slot totals last submitted prior to the previous 366 days that are >3073 (or >9227 in the Combo Top Lists) have a bold underlined italic light gray font.
All other #1 county slot totals last submitted prior to the previous 366 days have a bold underlined light gray font.
County slot totals last submitted in the previous 366 days that are >3073 (or >9227 in the Combo Top Lists) have a bold italic brown font.
#1 county slot totals last submitted in the previous 366 days that are >3073 (or >9227 in the Combo Top Lists) have a bold underlined italic brown font.
All other #1 county slot totals last submitted in the previous 366 days have a bold underlined black font.
Bullet Ranks
Bullet Ranks in the Traditional Top Lists mark an upward change of the current month’s Rank to the previous month’s Rank with a bolded up arrow for easy spotting. If a participant in any Traditional Top List has had upward movement from the previous month, the current Rank is highlighted in red with a ▲ Bullet. The term “with a bullet” originates from the practice which started in 1961 by the Billboard and Cashbox recording industry trade Magazines of placing a circular “bullet” (or red background marking) on a chart list rank that has moved upward from one position to another with notable speed.
CCA TOP LISTS ONLINE: The Traditional, Highest Band Slots (by highest Rank) and Single Band 3077 Slots (in order by Rank) Top Lists for each mode group are maintained and published online at countyhunter.com under the [Top Lists] dropdown. The Top Lists contain the total county slots worked on each band per mode group for each participant as well as the Combo scores if separate CW, Phone or Digital mode groups are included. Here is a direct link to the CCA Top Lists.
PARTICIPATION AND FEES: There are no fees for participating in the Top Lists. The intent is never to remove anyone from the Top Lists for simply not submitting county slot totals on a regular schedule. It is implied and understood that when you submit county slot totals to the Top Lists, even if only a single time, your last submission will be recorded on these Lists in perpetuity. If you want to be removed from the Top Lists permanently you must send a specific request in an email addressed to toplist@countyhunter.com. At that time, you will be recorded on the Top Lists page as having been a former participant and removed by request.
Four templates are available online to accommodate different software requirements for use to submit county slot totals:
CCAtemplate.xls for MS Office Excel 97-2003 (and higher) and TDF LibreOffice Calc users
CCAtemplate.ods for Apache OpenOffice Calc and Sun StarOffice Calc users
CCAtemplate (Excel 95).xls for MS Office Excel 5.0-95 users
CCAtemplate (Works).xlr for MS Works Spreadsheet users
The XLS (MS Office Excel and LibreOffice Calc Spreadsheet) templates are “locked” so that you can enter data into or modify only the cells which are highlighted in this color to indicate that they available for your use. The ODS (Open Document Spreadsheet) and XLR (MS Works Spreadsheet) templates are not locked so it is very easy to enter data into or modify any cell of the template. BE VERY CAREFUL to leave all formulas in the other highlighted cells of these templates unchanged.
County slot totals only (no logs) may be submitted once per month and PRIOR TO the first day of each month. You may either download the template of your choice and use it to submit your county slot totals, or, in the MARAC Roadrunner Logger 2 program, select [County Challenge And Top List] in the [Tools] menu dropdown on your screen, press the [Save Top List] button to save your county slot totals to a CSV (Comma Separated Values) file for export, and then follow the on-screen instructions after the Save operation to submit them. Attach your CSV (Roadrunner Logger 2 export) file, XLS (MS Office Excel or TDF LibreOffice Calc) template, ODS (Apache OpenOffice or Sun StarOffice Calc) template, or, XLR (MS Works) template to an email addressed to toplist@countyhunter.com.
Please note that as specified in the SINGLE BAND 3077 SLOTS (IN ORDER BY RANK) LIST section above, the Roadrunner Logger 2 software has been programmed to NOT include “self-credit” contacts in the export files for the CCA Top Lists that it generates, even though a Roadrunner Logger 2 user who has “self-credit” enabled will likely see these contacts counted in their numbers for the MARAC USA - Single Band award.
Normally, submissions are accepted through the LAST DAY of each month and new Top Lists are posted on the second day of the new month. A late submission (i.e. a submission that arrives on the first day of the new month) will be backdated to the last day of the previous month if it arrives before posting and the support files have not yet “gone to press”. Once the Top Lists have been posted, any submissions subsequently received during that month will be included in the next month’s posting.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
MARAC County Challenge Award
The Mobile Amateur Radio Awards Club also has a County Challenge Award. The text below is taken from page 15 in the MARAC Award Rules document.
IN MEMORIAM: The County Challenge Award is dedicated to Bill Inkrote (K2NJ-SK). In addition to his years of service to MARAC and leadership as MARAC President, Bill was an active DXCC Honor Roll member, contester, DXpeditioner, and a dedicated county hunter who led the way in working counties on all bands and modes.
OBJECTIVE: To encourage county hunters to work and activate counties on as many bands as possible and to work as many counties as possible on the following bands: 160m, 75-80m, 40m, 30m, 20m, 17m, 15m, 12m, 10m, and 6m.
SPECIAL RULES: The number of counties worked for the award is the combined total of counties worked on each band. For example, if 500 counties are worked on 80m, 1500 on 40m, 2000 on 30m, and 3000 on 20m, the County Challenge total is 7000.
AWARD LEVELS: Each one thousand (1000) counties worked is one level of the award. For example, a CC total of 7,000 counties would be eligible for CC Level #7.
APPLICATION AND FEES: Standard application, logs, and fees.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________