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 Previous: Shuttle Loss Fallout Affecting Amateur Radio in Space |  Next: High Schoolers Shoot TV News Clip at ARRL Headquarters |
 Colorado's W0DZ 20-meter phone station had some "cat help." Brian Wood, W0DZ, reports that 40 people turned out for the 2002 Field Day--the best showing ever. |
NEWINGTON, CT, Feb 6, 2003--Field Day will gain another entry class for the 2003 running of this highly popular operating event June 28-29. "Class F" stations will operate at emergency operations centers--or EOCs. The change renews the emphasis of Field Day's 1933 origins as an emergency preparedness exercise as opposed to a routine contest--what former ARRL Communications Manager F. E. Handy, W1BDI, called "a test of the emergency availability of portable stations and equipment." In Handy's view, Field Day would focus attention "on the subject of 'preparedness' for communications emergencies."
ARRL Contest Branch Manager Dan Henderson, N1ND, says the League last year received a record number of Field Day entries from groups and individuals. "A total of 2110 submissions were received, representing a total of almost 35,000 participants" who joined in "a great tradition," Henderson said.
Given the increased emphasis on emergency
communications since September 11, 2001, Henderson says, the ARRL Board's
Membership Services Committee asked that the Contest Branch come up with a way
to accommodate stations wanting to operate from the local EOC. The new Class F
station, operating from an EOC, is the result.
 In Nebraska, (L-R) Pat Kistler, KB0YTP, Henry Angle, N0HA, and Steve LaVoie KA0VGR, pitch in at the KB0YTO Field Day. |
"This is a major change," Henderson said. "Class F has been established to encourage groups to test and further their working relationships with established emergency operations centers." The updated rules and a list of frequently asked questions in the new 2003 Field Day Packet spell out the details.
A Class F entry station must set up at an
"established EOC" activated by a club or non-club group. An EOC is defined as a
facility established by a federal, state, county, city or other civil governmental
agency or administrative entity or by a chapter of a national or international
served agency. The latter could include the American Red Cross or The Salvation
Army, with which the Field Day group "has an established operating
arrangement." Class F EOC operation must take place in cooperation with the EOC
staff. Class F stations are eligible for the same bonus points as Class A
stations.
 Maryland's Anne Arundel Radio Club Junior KI3DS setup with 12-year-old Andrew Kelly, K3ASK, as control op for seven-year-old Joe. |
There's also been what Henderson called "some tweaking" in the rules for Field Day 2003. For one thing, the rules reduce from 400 to 100 the number of QSOs that the "Get On The Air" (GOTA) station needs to make to claim a 100-point bonus. "GOTA stations still may work up to a maximum of 400 QSOs to go towards the main station's score," Henderson said. Free transmitters that don't count toward the group's total--such as the GOTA station and free VHF station for Class A entries--do not qualify for bonus point credit under the 100 percent emergency power rule.
 Danny Ponce, WP4F, and Javier Quinones-Rodriguez, WP4DX, rack up CW points at the 2002 KP4ES Field Day site in Catano, Puerto Rico. |
In addition, the rules enhance the bonus for having an invited official visit the Field Day site. "Previously, you got a 100-point bonus if your site was visited by an elected governmental official or an invited representative of a served agency," Henderson said. "We have separated the two into separate bonus categories--100 points for the elected official and a separate 100 points for a representative of a served agency."
Henderson reminds Field Day participants that stations do not get additional bonus points for contacting stations through additional satellites. As of the 2002 event, Field Day opened up to stations throughout the Americas, not just in the US and Canada.
Henderson encourages participants to post
their Field Day experiences and photographs to the Field
Day Online soapbox.
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