The 14th IARU World HST Championship will be hosted by the Hungarian Radio Amateur Society.
In 1995, the International Amateur Radio Union entrusted the Hungarian Radio Amateur Society with organizing the first High Speed Telegraphy World Championship, held in Siofok, Hungary. After 22 years, Hungarian Amateurs will once again host this event in September 2017 and are inviting the world’s best telegraphers to show their skills and knowledge at the competition. It will be held in Esztergom, Hungary from September 8 to 12.
Rules for the HST are available on the IARU Region 1 website at: https://www.iaru-r1.org/index.php/hst/hst-rules.
They state:
“A national team participating in IARU HST Championships may consist of any number up to a maximum of 27 competitors in the following nine categories. The teams shall comprise of:
- A) Not more than THREE “YOUNGSTER FEMALES” (competitors belong to the category up to the end of the calendar year in which they reach the age of 16)
- B) Not more than THREE “YOUNGSTER MALES” (competitors belong to the category up to the end of the calendar year in which they reach the age of 16)
- C) Not more than THREE “JUNIOR FEMALES” (Competitors belong to the category up to the end of the calendar year in which they reach the age of 21)
- D) Not more than THREE ‘JUNIOR MALES” (Competitors belong to the category up to the end of the calendar year in which they reach the age of 21)
- E) Not more than THREE “FEMALES” (Competitors may compete in this category regardless of their age)
- F) Not more than THREE “MALES” (Competitors may compete in this category regardless of their age)
- G) Not more than THREE “SENIOR FEMALES” (Competitors aged 40 or older belong to the category from the beginning of the calendar year in which they reach the given age)
- H) Not more than THREE “SENIOR MALES” (Competitors aged 40 or older belong to the category up to the end of the calendar year in which they reach the age of 49)
- I) Not more than THREE “SENIOR MALES” (Competitors aged 50 or older belong to the category from the beginning of the calendar year in which they reach the given age)
Each team shall have a designated TEAM LEADER who must be at least 18 years of age. One competitor may act as team leader, too. A trainer, an interpreter, referees as well as unlimited number of visitors may also accompany each team.”
For more information please visit the Hungarian Radio Amateur Society website at: https://hst2017.org/en/introduction. An excerpt from the website has been provided below.
Samuel Morse invented the ancestor of today’s telegraph system, making it possible to send telegrams using electricity, revolutionizing communications. Morse code was in use until the end of the 20th century, by military organizations and shipping for the longest time out of all professional services. Today his code is only used by radio amateurs, despite the ever growing spread of digital modes, but as an intellectual sport, as well as in everyday radio traffic, Mr. Morse’s great invention lives on.
Nowadays high speed telegraphers can use the code and operate at a significantly higher level than the former “professionals”. They can receive and transmit it with such a high speed, where the weight of one basic element, a dit is only a matter of milliseconds. It is worth listening to the sample files available under the “Records” tab, which gives examples of the telegraphers’ exemplary skills.
On the HST World Championship the participants, from 4 female and 5 male categories, can try their skills and knowledge in the following 4 competition events:
Receiving tests: Receiving telegrams of letters, figures and mixed characters (letters, figures and other marks such as full stop, comma, slash, question mark and equation mark). Competitors can make a maximum of 10 attempts with different speeds, each type but only 3 of the received telegrams – freely chosen by the participant – are corrected and used to calculate the final result. Every telegram is 1 minute long, it may consist up to 5 reception errors to stay valid. The speed can be adjusted with 10 characters per minute steps.
Transmitting tests: Transmitting telegrams of letters, figures and mixed characters (letters, figures and other signs). Each transmission test is 1 minute long, and it can consist a maximum of uncorrected 3 mistakes. There are only 4 attempts possible, within the available 15 minutes counted from entering the transmitting site.
Rufz: Call sign receiving, using the RufzXP program. If a participant copies a call sign correctly, the speed increases, otherwise it decreases. The higher the speed is, the more points a call sign is worth. One attempt is made up of 50 call signs, and each participant can make as many as 2 attempts.
Morse Runner: The participants use a real, on-air contest simulator program where there are 4 stations calling simultaneously. One session is 10 minutes long, each participant can make as many as 2 attempts.
The results are announced by categories, by competition events and overall.”