Islands On The Air (IOTA) 50th ANNIVERSARY MARATHON Sunday, 1 January 2012

IOTA 50th ANNIVERSARY MARATHON
INTRODUCTION
THE YEAR 2014 marks the 50th anniversary of the launch of the Islands On The Air (IOTA) Programme by British SWL Geoff Watts, BRS-3129. To celebrate the occasion, the RSGB IOTA Manager and Committee announce an exciting activity period in which all licensed amateurs world-wide are invited to participate.
For a two-year period during 2012 and 2013, IOTA chasers are encouraged to contact as many different IOTA groups as possible, and IOTA activators to play their part by operating from as many groups as possible, with special emphasis on the less-frequently activated ones. The points system adopted rewards 'Activators' with higher scores for activating the rarer IOTA groups. Certificates and awards will be available to both 'Chasers' and 'Activators' to reflect attainment of graduated bands of performance.
The challenge provides a level playing field for everyone, whether they are complete newcomers to IOTA or are holders of the prestigious IOTA 1000 Islands Trophy, because everyone starts with a clean slate on 1 January 2012. Furthermore, the long time scale of the challenge means that, should a participant miss a DXpedition to an island, there is a chance that he / she may be able to pick it up at a later date if the group is activated again during the 50th Anniversary Marathon period or, failing that, to replace it with another counter from the 1100 activated groups.
Prizes will be awarded to the highest-scoring individuals in both the ‘Chasers’ and ‘Activators’ sections and these will, if circumstances allow, be presented during the IOTA 50th Anniversary celebrations at the RSGB Convention in 2014. Certificates will be available to other participants who reach the specified grade levels.
RULES
GENERAL
1. The IOTA 50th Anniversary Marathon takes place from 0000UTC 1 January 2012 until 2359UTC 31 December 2013.
2. Its purpose is to promote the IOTA Programme during the lead-up period to the Anniversary and to provide enjoyment and fun to participants by encouraging greater activity from IOTA island groups and in particular the less-frequently activated ones.
3. There are two sections: ‘IOTA Chasers’ and ‘IOTA Activators’. Participants may enter both the ‘IOTA Chasers’ and ‘IOTA Activators’ sections.
4. Participants must be licensed radio amateurs and will be required to certify that they have followed licensing conditions applying in the country of operation.
5. Participants may use any band and any mode for which they are licensed.
6. Participants are urged to follow best operating practice as published in the amateur press. Instances of bad behaviour may result in disqualification.
7. All participants, and in particular IOTA ‘Activators’, are strongly encouraged to upload their logs to Club Log (http://www.clublog.org), a free web-based tool for producing league tables, log search services etc. The IOTA Committee may in cases of doubt use Club Log as a tool to confirm the accuracy of applicants’ logs, so uploading to Club Log could in certain circumstances remove that doubt and secure the claimed points.
8. As the IOTA 50th Anniversary Marathon is a separate event from the normal RSGB IOTA Programme, applicants must still obtain QSL cards (or obtain confirmations during the RSGB IOTA Contest in July), in the normal way, in order to count island groups contacted during the 50th Anniversary Marathon period towards their regular IOTA score.
9. The decisions of the RSGB IOTA Committee are final.

APPLICATIONS
All logs must be submitted electronically. Paper logs will not be accepted. All applications should be made after the end of the IOTA 50th Anniversary Marathon period, i.e. not before 1 January 2014. The deadline for applications is 28 February 2014. Full details of the application procedure will be available on the RSGB IOTA web-site at http://www.rsgbiota.org closer to the time. Any questions about the IOTA 50th Anniversary Marathon rules may be sent to: iota [dot] chaser [at] gmail [dot] com or iota [dot] activator [at] gmail [dot] com as appropriate.