WMPLOTA Rules and Awards

Objective

For amateur radio satellite operators to contact as many amateur stations operating from Walmart parking lots as possible during the contest period.

All legal operating modes are permitted, but contacts must be made through an amateur radio satellite.

Date and Contest Period

First Weekend in July, on 00:00 UTC Saturday through 23:59 UTC on Sunday

Entry Categories

Associate

1. An Associate is defined as operating for activation credit, a picture of the activated location must include either a Walmart branded shopping cart or yourself and some portion of a Walmart branded store. Walmart, Walmart Neighborhood Market and Sam's Club stores are allowable for credit. DX stations operating from a location not having a local Walmart branded store may activate the nearest local equivalent, but must operate portable.
2. The Associate must hold an appropriate transmitting licence.
3. The Associate must make a QSO, in which at least callsigns and two-way reports are exchanged. If possible, the Walmart Store Number should also be given as part of the QSO, but use your best judgement on FM satellites.
4. An Assocate may claim all QSOs for points, including QSOs made with Shoppers and also with Associates on other Walmart parking lots during the activation.
5. QSL cards or LoTW matches are not required, as the submitted Associate and Shopper logs can be used to verify your QSOs.

Shopper

1. A Shopper is any station operating from a location other than those defined as an Associate, and contacting an Associate.
2. The Shopper must hold an appropriate transmitting licence.
3. The Shopper must make a QSO with the Associate, in which at least callsigns and two-way reports are exchanged. Wherever possible, the Walmart Store Number should also be obtained as part of the QSO.
4. QSL cards or LoTW matches are not required, as the submitted Associate logs can be used to verify your QSOs.

DX

DX is an overlay category. DX is any station operating outside of the contiguous 48 US States and bordering Canadian Provinces. DX stations may enter as either Associate or Shopper.

Packet Rats

Packet Rats is an overlay category. A Packet Rat is any station operating packet satellites. Packet Rats stations may also enter in the Associate and Shopper categories.

Scoring and Bonuses

Associate

• 3 points for each Walmart Store worked (e.g. if you activate 3 stores during WMPLOTA, you get 9 points for these activations)
• 1 point per satellite pass with at least 1 completed QSO
• 1 point per QSO with either a Shopper or another Associate

Shopper

• 1 point per QSO with an Associate

Bonuses

• Gridline - 40 points for any Associate operating on a gridline in a Walmart parking lot (once per day bonus)

• BOGO - 20 points for any Shopper contacting an associate who is operating on a gridline in a Walmart parking lot (once per day bonus)

• Near Gridline - 15 points for any Associate operating Walmart parking lot within 3 km of a gridline (once per day bonus)

• Back to School - 25 points for any Associate or Shopper who is currently a student in kindergarten through college (one-time bonus)

• Alaskan Activator - 15 points for any Associate operating from Alaska (one-time bonus) Alaskan Shopper - 10 points for a QSO with an Associate from Alaska (one-time bonus) Northwest Passage Activator - 10 points for any Associate operating from Yukon, Northwest Territories, or Nunavut (one-time bonus)

• Northwest Passage Shopper - 5 points for a QSO with an Associate from Yukon, Northwest Territories, or Nunavut (one-time bonus)

• Aloha Activator - 30 points for a QSO for any Associate operating in Hawaii (one-time bonus) Aloha Shopper - 25 points for a QSO with an Associate in Hawaii (one-time bonus)

• Black Friday - 5 points for a QSO made on Friday night local time, from 00:00 UTC on Apr 28 until 00:00 midnight local time on Saturday (one-time bonus)

• Big Hop - 5 points for each QSO having more than 3,600 km distance between stations (6 digit grid squares must be provided)

• Big Talker - 7 points for a social media post highlighting your WMPLOTA activation using the #WMPLOTA hashtag. (one-time bonus)

• Zombie Apocalypse - 5 points for activating a Zombie Walmart, a permanently closed Walmart store that remains vacant (one-time bonus)

QSO Multipliers

• Zombieland Multiplier - 2x multiplier for each QSO made through the zombie sat Oscar-7 (AO-7)
• Zombie Apocalypse Multiplier - 20x multipler for each QSO made through the zombie sat PCSat (NO-44).

Zombie chasers always roll back the Power. If the zombies hear you, they'll eat you (and you'll kill the fun for everyone).

Awards

Award Submission

For Leaderboard updates while the WMPLOTA Event is active, Associates and Shoppers should send a messages to award@wmplota.org (mailto:award@wmplota.org) to update their point totals. Each message, including the first message and all subsequent updates, should contain their entire log for the WMPLOTA period. Total points, bonus details, and any applicable awards summarized at the top of the message are appreciated for quicker updates of the Leaderboard. The following details will be needed in each message:

• Callsign Contacted
• Walmart Store # Contacted (if known)
• Contact Date and Time (UTC)
• Satellite
• Band