Bylaws of the Amateur Radio Group: DL-DX RTTY Contest Group

1. Name, Address and Business year

This association of radio amateurs carries the name DL-DX RTTY Contest Group with the abbreviation DRCG. The business address is that of the President and the business year runs from 01 July to 30 June the following year. 

2. Representation in Public

The DRCG represents its self publicly with the Website http://drcg.de. The Logo is a black globe on a white background with circular lettering “DL-DX RTTY Contest Group DRCG”.

3. Purpose

The purpose of the DRCG is to promote and support RTTY.  Additionally the DRCG sponsors the annual DRCG contests, support a Website and an email - reflectors.

4. Members

Any radio amateur or interested person who supports the goals and ideas of the DRCG may apply for membership. Applicants must be QRV on RTTY on the amateur bands.

5. Membership

An application for membership must be supported by two DRCG members. They shall forward the application with their approval to the President. The President can then approve the application and will inform the applicant and the membership of the decision. If there is a doubt that the applicant does not fulfill the requirement of item 4, the President can reject the application after consulation with the club officers. A rejected application can be resubmitted in 6 months after date of disapproval. Membership starts at the date of the Presidents approval. Membership ends by a members respective declaration  to the Executive Committee, by death or exclusion, effective the next day.

 6. Exclusion of Members

A member can be excluded from the DRCG by the Executive Committees decision  for the follwing reasons
 - Failure to pay dues for at least two years
 - Damage to the image of the DRCG

7. Elements

The DRCGs most important element is the general membership meeting. During the time between membership meetings the executive committee will conduct the business of the DRCG. Communication among the membership and information from the executive committee will be conducted through an e-mail reflector.

8. Annual Membership meeting
 
An official membership meeting will be called by the Executive Committee at least once a year. The membership will be notified by email at least two weeks prior to the meeting. The email will contain the agenda and all points to be considered and voted on. The invitation per email may be replaced by other technical means only after acceptance by the membership.

The membership meeting may be held by email as long as ¾ of all members agree. In this case the executive committee will send the agenda, all reports, and recommendations to be voted on by email to the members. A period of two weeks will be set aside for discussion. After this time the executive committee will summarize all points to be voted on and send these as a ballot to all members. All votes must be returned within one week.

All points will be decided by majority vote of all members present, unless otherwise defined in the bylaws. Every member has one vote. Members that are absent may vote by proxy through another DRCG member.

Major points of the membership meeting include the following
 - Rule changes of the DRCG Contests by ¾ majority vote
 - Changes in the bylaws of the DRCG by ¾ majority vote
 - Termination of the DRGC by ¾ majority vote
 - Appointment of two persons for the review of finances
 - Protocol approval, treasurers report, and formal approval of the actions of the executive  committee
 - Usage of extra dues collected

9. Executive Committee

The Executive Committee of the DRCG consists of:
 - President
 - Treasurer
 - DRCG Contest Manager

The Executive Committee will be elected by ballot. All DRCG members are eligible to vote.
Ballots will be sent to all eligible members by email, after casting their ballots they will be returned to the Election Manager by email.
Election will be held every two years and all terms of office are also two years.
An Election Manager appointed by the Executive Committee will create a ballot of all candidates for office.

The Executive Committee will conduct all business of the DRCG including
 - Acceptance and approval of new members
 - Decision for exclusion of members after hearing opinions of other members
 - Call for membership meetings
 - Confirming the results of the DRCG contests.

10. Membership dues

Membership dues are 12 Euro per calendar year. New members joining the DRCG between January and June will be required to pay a full year dues. Members joining between July and December will pay 6 Euro.
Members under 18 years of age, students and family members from other DRCG members are not required to pay dues.

11. Usage of dues and donations

The membership dues and donations to the DRCG will be used for and including 
 
 - Sponsoring international RTTY activity including but not limited to sponsoring of trophies for other contests in the name of the DRCG, DX-Expeditions with announced RTTY activity and DRCGmember participation.                                                                                                                                                    - Cover cost of DRCGs public representation.

Each business year two members will be appointed to check if all finances have been used according to the DRCG bylaws. The persons appointed to check the finances are appointed at the membership meeting for 2 years. The persons can be appointed again.

12. Contest Commitee

The Contest Commitee will consist of 5-7 experienced contesters, their funktion is to advise the contest manager and answer dircectly to him. Election to the contest committe is for 2 years, and there are no restictions on reelection. The Contest Manager is a standing memeber of the contest committe. The elected contest committe have the right and authority to ammend the current DRCG Contest rules.

13. DRCG Club participation in Contest

The DRCG takes part in Club Competitions of contests.
Each DRCG member is free to donate his score to the DRCG club score.
The DRCG deliberately ignores any limits of distance or radius in contests which would eclude any of its members from participation.    

14. Validity, Limitations, Announcements

These Bylaws are valid as of 14. March 2013 and replace all others.

These Bylaws are published on the DRCG website.

Update: 14th March 2013