May 2000 QST

2000 ARRL Field DayRulesBy Dan Henderson, N1NDContest Branch Manager1. Eligibility: Field Day is open to allamateurs in the areas covered by the ARRL/RAC Field Organizations. DX stations maybe contacted for credit, but are not eligible tocompete.2. Object: To work as many stations aspossible on any and all amateur bands (excludingthe 30, 17, and 12-meter bands) andin doing so to learn to operate in abnormalsituations in less than optimal conditions. Apremium is placed on developing skills tomeet the challenges of emergency preparednessas well as to acquaint the general publicwith the capabilities of Amateur Radio.3. Date and Time Period: Field Day isalways the fourth full weekend of June, beginningat 1800 UTC Saturday and ending at2100 UTC Sunday. Field Day 2000 will beheld June 24-25, 2000.3.1. Class A and B (see below) stationsthat do not begin setting up until 1800 UTCon Saturday may operate the entire Field Dayperiod.3.2. Stations who begin setting up before1800 UTC Saturday may work only 24 consecutivehours, commencing when on-the-airoperations begin.3.3. No Class A or B station may begintheir set-up earlier than 1800 UTC on the Fridaypreceding the contest period.4. Entry Categories: Field Day entries areclassified according to the maximum numberof simultaneously transmitted signals, followedby a designator of the nature of theirindividual or group participation. Below 30MHz, once a transmitter is used for a contacton a band, it must remain on that band for atleast 15 minutes. During the period, the transmitteris considered to be transmitting,whether it is or not, for the purpose of determiningtransmitter classification. Switchingdevices are prohibited.4.1. (Class A) Club/nonclub portable:Club groups (or a nonclub group with threeor more licensed amateurs) set up specificallyfor Field Day. Such stations must be locatedin places that are not regular station locationsand must not use facilities installed for permanentstation use, nor any structure installedpermanently for Field Day use. Stations mustoperate under one call sign (except if a dedicatedNovice/Technician Plus station is allowed,it must be operated under a call signas provided later in these rules), and underthe control of a single licensee or trustee forthe entry. All equipment (including antennas)must lie within a circle whose diameter doesnot exceed 300 meters (1000 feet). All contactsmust be made with transmitter(s) andreceiver(s) operating independent of commercialpower mains. Entrants who for any reasonoperate a transmitter or receiver from acommercial main for one or more contactswill be listed separately.4.1.1. Any Class A group whose entryclassification is two or more transmitters mayalso operate one dedicated Novice/Technician84 May 2000Plus operating position without changing itsbasic entry category. This station must beoperated under a callsign issued to a Novice/Technician Plus operator and may only makecontacts within the Novice/Technician PlusHF subbands. It must abide by Novice/TechnicianPlus power and mode restrictions. Thisstation may only be operated by Novice/TechnicianPlus licensees. For Field Day purposesonly, any Canadian Amateur HF licensee whohas been licensed for six months or less priorto Field Day, shall be considered a “Novice”to provide a means for Canadian Field DayClass A stations to employ this rule. This stationdoes not qualify for a 100-point bonus asan additional transmitter.4.1.2. Any Class A group whose entrycategory is two or more transmitters may alsooperate one additional transmitter if it operatesexclusively on any bands or combinationof bands above 50 MHz (VHF/UHF) withoutchanging its basic entry classification. Thisstation does not qualify for a 100-point bonusas an additional transmitter. This stationmay be operated for the entire Field Day periodfor the club and all contacts count forQSO credit.4.2. (Class A—Battery) Club/non-clubportable: Club groups (or nonclub groups withthree or more licensed amateurs) set up specificallyfor Field Day, all contacts must bemade using an output power of 5 W or lessand the power source must be something otherthan commercial power mains or motor-drivengenerator (eg: batteries, solar cells, waterdrivengenerator). Other provisions are thesame for regular Class A.4.3. (Class B) One or two person portable:Nonclub stations set up and operatedfor Field Day purposes by no more than twolicensed amateurs. Other provisions are thesame for Class A. One and two person ClassB entries will be listed separately.4.4. (Class B—Battery) One or two personportable: Non-club stations set up andoperated by no more than two licensed amateurs.All contacts must be made using anoutput power of 5 W or less and the powersource must be something other than commercialmains or motor-driven generator. Otherprovisions are the same as Class A. One andtwo person Class B—Battery entries will belisted separately.4.5. (Class C) Mobile: Stations in vehiclescapable of operating while in motionand normally operated in this manner. Thisincludes maritime and aeronautical mobile.4.6. (Class D) Home stations: Stationsoperating from permanent or licensed stationlocations using commercial power. Class Dstations may only count contacts made withClass A, B, C and E Field Day stations.4.7. (Class E) Home stations—Emergencypower: Same as for class D, but using emergencypower for transmitters and receivers.May work stations in Class A, B, C, D, and E.5. Exchange: Stations in ARRL/RAC sectionswill exchange their Field Day operatingClass and ARRL/RAC section. Example: athree transmitter class A station in Connecticutwhich also has a Novice/Tech station andone VHF station would send “3A CT” on CWor “3 Alpha Connecticut” on phone. Foreignstations send RS(T) and QTH.6. Miscellaneous Rules:6.1. A person who participates by makinga QSO from a Field Day operation usingone call sign may not subsequently work thatstation for QSO credit using a differentcallsign.6.2. A station used to contact one or moreField Day stations may not subsequently beused under any other callsign to participatein Field Day. Family stations are exempt providedthe subsequent callsign used is issuedto and used by a different family member.6.3. Each Phone, CW and Digital (non-CW) segment is considered a separate band.A station may only be worked once per band.6.4. All voice contacts are equivalent.6.5. Cross-band contacts are not permitted.6.6. The use of more than one transmitterat the same time on a single band is prohibited.Exception: a dedicated Novice/TechnicianPlus station may operate in any Novice/TechnicianPlus sub-band.6.7. No repeater contacts are allowed.6.8. Batteries may be charged while inuse. Except for Class D stations, the batteriesmust be charged from a power source otherthan commercial power mains.7. Scoring: Scores are based on the totalnumber of QSO points times the power multipliercorresponding to the highest powerlevel under which any contact was made duringthe Field Day period plus the bonus points.7.1. QSO Points7.1.1. Phone contacts count one pointeach.7.1.2. CW contacts count two points each.7.1.3. Digital contacts count two pointseach.7.2. Power multipliers: The power multiplierthat applies is determined by thehighest power output of any of the transmittersused during the Field Day operation.7.2.1. If all contacts are made using apower of 5 W or less and if a power sourceother than commercial mains or motor-drivengenerator is used (batteries, solar cells, waterdrivengenerator) the power multiplier is 5.7.2.2. If all contacts are made using apower of 5 W or less, but the power source isfrom a commercial main or from a motordrivengenerator, the power multiplier is 2.7.2.3. If any or all contacts are madeusing an output power up to 150 W or less,the power multiplier is 2.7.2.4. If any or all contacts are madeusing an output power greater than 150 W, thepower multiplier is one.7.2.5. Only one power multiplier maybe applied to the score of any entry.7.3. Bonus Points: The following bonus