{
  "contest": {
    "id": "arsi-vu-rookie",
    "name": "ARSI VU Rookie Contest",
    "sponsor": "ARSI",
    "sponsor_home": "https://arsi.info/",
    "country": "IN",
    "summary": "India's contest for operators licensed under five years: 24 hours of SSB on four HF bands, with experienced operators encouraged to work them.",
    "modes": [
      "SSB"
    ],
    "bands": [
      "40m",
      "20m",
      "15m",
      "10m"
    ],
    "exchange": "",
    "power_categories": [],
    "log_format": "",
    "log_deadline_days": null,
    "log_submit_url": "",
    "timezone": "",
    "local_rolling": false,
    "eligibility": {
      "scope": "entity_list",
      "entities": [
        "VU"
      ],
      "verified": false,
      "note": "ARSI states the objective as encouraging newly-licensed operators 'in India' and gives no explicit participation clause. VU is this catalog's reading of that, not ARSI's wording, so it is unverified. Ask ARSI."
    },
    "active_from": null,
    "active_until": null,
    "note": "A rookie is defined by licence age rather than by operator age -- first licence less than five years old -- and non-rookies are invited to work them. ARSI PUBLISHES DATES, NOT A RECURRENCE. Every one of its contest pages opens with the year's dates and states no rule anywhere -- no 'annually on', no ordinal weekend. So all five records are manual and hold exactly the 2026 editions ARSI published. Fitting an ordinal to one date would be inventing a rule ARSI has not written, and Asia is thin enough that the temptation is worth naming.",
    "verified": true,
    "rules_url": "https://arsi.info/arsi-vu-rookie-contest/",
    "rules_url_pattern": "",
    "rules_url_archived": "",
    "rules_url_checked": "2026-08-19",
    "source_note": "arsi.info/arsi-vu-rookie-contest/: 'Date : 25 - 26 April 2026. Duration : Sat 25 Apr 12:00 UTC to Sun 26 Apr 11:59:59 UTC (Sat 17:30 IST to Sun 17:29:59 IST).' 'Bands - HF Bands: 40, 20, 15, 10 M. Mode - SSB only.' Objective: 'To encourage newly-licensed operators (\"Rookies\") in India to operate on the HF bands and experience competitive Amateur Radio operating. Experienced operators (\"Non-Rookies\") are strongly encouraged to participate and help new operators.' 'Rookie - Any Radio Amateur whose \"first\" license is less than 5 years old.'"
  },
  "rule": {
    "plain": "Dates set by the sponsor each year (no derivable rule)",
    "raw": {
      "type": "manual",
      "dates": {
        "2026": [
          "2026-04-25"
        ]
      }
    },
    "start": {
      "day_offset": 0,
      "time": "1200"
    },
    "end": {
      "day_offset": 1,
      "time": "1159"
    },
    "sessions": null
  },
  "next": []
}