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 Previous: A QRP Vacation in the Caribbean: St. Maarten |  Next: ARRL Members' Donation Will Help to Preserve Amateur Radio History |
 The design of the Field Day 2002 pin reflects the fact that all IARU Region 2 countries--North and South America--have been invited to take part in Field Day. Field Day 2002 pins and T-shirts may be ordered via the ARRL Web catalog. |
NEWINGTON, CT, Jan 29, 2002--The ARRL has adopted rule changes affecting Field Day and the ARRL-affiliated club competition. The changes were included in the report of the Membership Services Committee (MSC), presented to the ARRL Board of Directors at its January meeting in Fort Worth, Texas.
The primary Field Day change--effective with this year's event June 22-23--phases out the Novice-Technician station and replaces it with a new station category, the "Get-On-The-Air"--or GOTA--station. A GOTA station is intended for operation by Novice and Technician operators or by generally inexperienced or inactive amateurs as well as by as-yet-unlicensed or "under-licensed" operators working under the privileges of a licensed control operator. Under the revised rules, any Class A Field Day entry operating at least two transmitters may include a GOTA station, which will not count as an additional transmitter for the purpose of entry category.
The GOTA station may operate on any Field Day
band and mode, but only one GOTA transmitter may be in use at any given time.
The GOTA station may complete up to 400 QSOs to be counted toward the group's
total Field Day score. A Field Day group can claim 100 bonus points, if its
GOTA station successfully completes 400 QSOs. The GOTA station does not affect
the additional VHF/UHF station provided under Field Day rule 4.1.2.
Field Day 2002 will mark the first in which stations throughout the Americas have been invited to participate. As approved at the July 2001 ARRL Board of Directors' meeting, all International Amateur Radio Union Region 2 countries--North and South America--may take part in Field Day starting this June.
Complete Field Day rules and information packet will be available on the ARRL Web Contest Forms and Rules page in early February. Field Day 2002 pins and T-shirt may be ordered now via the ARRL Web catalog.
 The CW operating position at the 2001 Wichita Amateur Radio Society's N5WF Field Day operation in Wichita Falls, Texas. The club operated in Class 3A. [WARS Photo] |
The Board also adopted the MSC's recommendations regarding club competition. In accordance with the advice of the ARRL Contest Advisory Committee, five specific changes were approved and will go into effect November 1, 2002, when the "General Rules for All ARRL Contests" are updated for the 2002-2003 contest season. Under the revised ARRL club competition rules:
· The Board has altered the requirement that a member must attend at least two club meetings a year in order to be allowed to submit a score for a club in the unlimited and medium categories. The new rules will allow participation by "a member in good standing," as defined by the club. "In part, this change recognizes that the dynamics of many clubs have changed," said ARRL Contest Branch Manager Dan Henderson, N1ND. "Many clubs hold meetings on the air and on the Internet. Many clubs have large, active participation on club e-mail reflectors." Henderson said that by allowing clubs to define their own standard for "member in good standing," clubs can include more operators as active participants in contesting activities.
 The Field Day 1999 setup of the Hiawatha Amateur Radio Association, K8LOD, in Marquette, Michigan. Antennas included two triband Yagis for HF and a five-element Yago for 6 meters. [HARA Photo] |
· Medium and unlimited clubs now may define their club service area either as a 175-mile radius circle or as an entire ARRL section. This change will allow clubs from larger states that encompass entire ARRL sections to compete with each other. Clubs may select one definition or the other but not both.
· The percentage of operators who must be members of a club in order for the club to claim a score from a multioperator station has been reduced from 66% to 50%.
· A station owner no longer must be a member of a club in order for a guest operator at the station to claim the score for that club.
· Canadian clubs that are full Radio Amateurs of Canada affiliates now may participate in the ARRL Affiliated Clubs Competition.
Complete rules for all ARRL-sponsored
operating events are available on the ARRL
Web site. For more information, contact ARRL Contest Branch Manager Dan
Henderson, N1ND, n1nd@arrl.org.
| Previous: A QRP Vacation in the Caribbean: St. Maarten | Next: ARRL Members' Donation Will Help to Preserve Amateur Radio History |
