In
North America,
Field Day (FD) is a
amateur radio event designed to
inform operators of
emergency
operating
techniques. Most
hams do not consider Field Day an
emergency scenario
preparation, but regard it as little more than a
competition to make the most amount of
radio contacts within a
24 hour period within the context of self-generated
electrical
power and hastily erected
antennas. Always the 4th full weekend of
June, Field Day is
for many operators the height of the ham radio year. For a few, Field Day is the only day
during the year in which to operate.
Since it is a
contest, or radio competition, Field Day is
chockablock with
rules.
No participants may erect stations before
Friday at 2 p.m. Since many outfits have five
or more individual
stations (
transciever,
computer, antenna and controls) most
clubs preassemble
gear at a remote location before the official assembly period.
The contest proper stretches
from 3 p.m.
Saturday to the same time
Sunday. Stations running
CW (
morse code)
gain four points per contact,
single sideband (
SSB, voice communications) earning only
two points.
Binary digital communications are considered
CW. In special cases
multipliers are
awarded for contacts with certain stations.
Our club ran a
2A event. 2 signifies two stations, while A denotes a club running on
emergency power. Most FD participants are A's. One of our stations ran CW on all
HF
(
shortwave) bands; another ran
SSB for the same. Our CW station was fully
automated.
The morse code was computer generated, leaving the operator free to
log the contacts
into the computer in
real time. Many new hams, hams without code experience, and others
were shocked to see us
typing code rather than sending it by
hand with our
backup
key. In some cases keys were required to send
messages not stored on the computer,
or as an aid for hams
wary of the contest
software.
Many people including myself
came to run CW exclusively, though most new hams and
bystanders flocked to the voice station.
Many in our club came to FD not to operate but to help handle
food, set up and
tear down,
or just
hang out. While FD is designed to attract the curious to
amateur radio, we did not
recieve any people
fresh off the street. I always encourage people curious about Field Day
to contact the
American Radio Relay League (
ARRL)
or the
Radio Amateurs of Canada to find out
about a local club and their site. Come on down and support us; get
on the air with the voice station
and watch the CW ops bang
keyboards in
frustration.
Wait until
tear down, and get
free soda(
pop) as well.