1. Amateur radio is a hobby. It does not compete in terms of importance with one's job, one's safety, one's health or wellbeing or that of one's family. These after all are the important things in life. That said, how we spend our leisure time is critical to our happiness and quality of life.
2. The EPC international Award Programme was devised by the European PSK Club on 10th June 2006. The European PSK Club, or EPC for short, is an informal club of amateur radio operators dedicated to maintaining high levels of amateur radio communications on PSK modes. The EPC Award Programme's aim is to improve and expand geographical knowledge of the sovereign states world-wide, and to encourage radio amateur activity from various corners of the World on PSK modes.
3. The EPC awards are issued to EPC members only. Any EPC award may be claimed by a licensed radio amateur, club station, or DMS (SWL) eligible under these Rules who can produce evidence in a form of ADIF (Amateur Data Interchange Format) log of having contacted or monitored amateur radio stations required for certain award on B(Q)PSK31, B(Q)PSK63, and B(Q)PSK125 modes, unless specifically stated otherwise. Credit will be given for contacts made on any of the amateur bands from 1.8 to 52 MHz.
4. Our recommended frequencies for EPC activity are listed in the EPC HF Band Plan. We would suggest to leave first 2 KHz on each band for BPSK31 contacts. The EPC has established this band plan as the way to better organize the use of our activity on PSK modes efficiently. To the extent possible, this band plan is harmonized with the IARU Regions band plans. It is suggested that EPC members promote it widely amongst each other. Please operate in accordance with your licensing conditions.
5. QSL-cards are not required. Awards are issued to the person or club. The person or club can use any legal call sign. Contacts made from club stations or special event stations count to the credit of both the club and the operator. All stations must be operated in accordance with their licensing conditions. Contacts may be made from any location in the same DXCC country.
6. Unless specifically stated otherwise, confirmations from the DMS (SWL) stations are accepted as confirmed contacts. All stations contacted must be «Land Stations». Contacts with ships and boats, anchored or underway, and airborne aircraft, cannot be counted. For the purposes of the EPC Award Programme, remote control operating points must also be land based.
7. Any EU Area activated by EPC member counts to the credit of the member for his score of ETPA and any other EPC award based on EU Areas List against the same missing EU Area being activated.
8. The award manager reserves the right to spot call sign for inspection of applied contacts. The purpose of this is not to call into question the integrity of any individual, but rather to ensure the overall integrity of the EPC Award Programme. More difficult attained specialty awards are more likely to be so called. In some cases the award manager may request a QSL-card or its copy to verify a questionable QSO. Failure of the applicant to respond to such spot check will result in non-issuance of the EPC award. The decision of the award manager on this and other matters of dispute will be finals. The submission for credit of any altered or forged log extractions or, equally, bad behaviour on or off the air which is judged by the European PSK Club to bring our award programme into disrepute may result in disqualification of the applicant from the award programme.
9. All claims for the EPC awards should be made using our UltimateAAC Award Management Software written by Heinz Urban, DK5UR. The award applicant should re-submit his application when claiming for higher classes of awards. The award manager will keep all your records in our database. Please make sure before you submit your ADIF (Amateur Data Interchange Format) log that you have checked it with the appropriate software.
10. All EPC awards are issued free of charge in a high quality PDF format, and can be downloaded from the applicant's account at the EPC Member Centre. EPC awards can be printed with the highest quality and with optimal performance by applicants themselves. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the EPC executive award manager.
