Rules of Participation

What is the FMT Project

FMT (Frequency Measurement Tests) is an international project for radio amateurs and engineers, where participants compete in the accuracy of measurements of real radio signals. The main idea is to give everyone the opportunity to test their equipment and skills through three types of tasks, with results automatically converted into points and ratings.

Project Goals

• Develop a culture of precise radio engineering measurements.
• Provide participants with a clear training and progress system.
• Make the competition transparent: all data, formulas, and results are open.
• Unite practicing engineers who want to improve the stability of their receivers, frequency standards, and synchronization systems.

How Competitions Work

The season is divided into tours (usually every two weeks). Each tour includes three tasks:

• Carrier frequency (FREQ) — determine the carrier frequency of the signal.
• Pulse duration (PULSE) — measure the pulse duration.
• 1 PPS offset (PPS) — determine the offset relative to the GPS 1 PPS reference pulse.

Participants choose which metrics to provide: you can participate only in FREQ and PULSE, or in all three. A submission contains measured values, the chosen class (PRO or Hobbyist), and optionally raw data.

How Points are Awarded

We evaluate results based on three main factors: placement in the tour, measurement quality, and the full credit threshold.

1. Placement points. All participants are sorted by measurement error — lower is better. First place receives maximum points (100), last place tends toward zero. If two participants have the same result, they share the placement and receive equal points. This is the most straightforward indicator: you can see exactly what the points are awarded for.
2. Measurement quality. To ensure fair comparison across tours with different numbers of participants, we build a curve based on the current tour's percentiles: top 10% (E10), median (E50), and 90% level (E90). Based on these, we calculate a Quality Score from 0 to 100. This is then converted into a Quality bonus up to 10.0 points (Quality Score × rule weight). You see progress relative to the actual error distribution, not a hypothetical ideal.
3. Full credit threshold. Winning among 30 participants is harder than among three. Therefore, the result for each metric is multiplied by a field multiplier: field_multiplier = √(min(N, Nref) / Nref). Here N is the number of participants in the tour, and N_ref is the full credit threshold, which depends on current rules. In current rules N_ref = 10. With a large number of participants, the multiplier approaches 1, while in smaller tours the result is slightly reduced so that a mini-tour doesn't outweigh a large one.
4. Proof bonuses. We encourage verifiability and measurement culture:
   • Declared uncertainty — +5 points if the actual error does not exceed the declared uncertainty and fits within the metric limit.
   This improves data quality and helps everyone analyze each other's methodologies.
5. Tour total. Points from all submitted metrics are summed with consideration of their weights: total_points = Σ(metric_points × weight). Weights are managed by organizers, so a season can emphasize a specific metric.

Participant Classes

• PRO — participant with a synchronized reference oscillator (GPSDO or equivalent).
• Hobbyist — participant without a reference oscillator. They have access to FREQ and PULSE, and can submit PPS at their discretion.

What Participants Need to Do

• Conduct a measurement and submit the result before the tour deadline (all times are in UTC).
• Optionally specify your uncertainty estimate.
• Wait for the table publication — it will show your placement, points, and progress chart.

Season Standings

After each closed tour, Season Standings are recalculated — the rating tables. They apply the active version of rules (Score Rules), which specify:

• maximum points for 1st place;
• full credit threshold N_ref;
• quality bonus weight and verification bonus values.

Season results account for the best N tours (e.g., 8). We maintain several standings simultaneously:

If a participant works only with pulses, they compete in Pulse Cup and their Hobbyist rating, while all-rounders participate in Overall.

Quick Tour Example

Suppose a tour has 10 participants. Base points are distributed linearly from first to tenth place.

Why All This

To provide an opportunity to compare your equipment's accuracy with colleagues worldwide.

To create a unified standard for objective measurements in the amateur radio community.

To show progress: you can see how error decreases and stability increases.

To provide motivation — ratings, badges, achievement awards.

Simply put: FMT is not just a contest, but a precision laboratory where each participant sees their level, grows, and contributes to overall measurement quality.