CAARC Participation in 2020 ARRL Field Day

There is another aspect to Field Day besides counting your QSO score and applying multipliers. Many of these bonuses are for activities that will project the excitement of amateur radio into our community. Others are to demonstrate and develop the robustness of amateur radio. Some of these items require preparation before Field Day.

You can claim bonus points depending on your entry class, here we will concentrate on Class B, C, D and E stations. They also are also available to Class A and Class F stations. Bonuses available to only one class will be described in the coming up post for the bonuses for that class along with other available bonuses with short descriptions. The descriptions here include extensive quoting from the ARRL Field Day Rules.

There will be a separate post for each of Classes B. C, D, and E showing all available bonuses.

Participation in these activities is optional. The point values are equivalent to those for making several QSOs, which In part makes up for the time that you would have to take away from talking on the radio.

Bonuses to more than one of Classes B, C, D and E which need a little explanation

100% Emergency Power: 100 points per transmitter classification (as stated in your Field Day Exchange) if all contacts are made only using power source(s) completely independent from commercial mains.  This means all transceivers and any computers creating signals to be transmitted. Note Anthony K8ZT says that this does not apply to station lighting and logging computers, although in the emergency/disaster event when you really need this you will also need it for lights and any computers that you choose to use.

Message Origination to Section Manager: 100 bonus points for origination of a formal message to the ARRL RAC Section Manager or Section Emergency Coordinator by your group from its site. You should include the club name, number of participants, Field Day location, and number of ARES operators involved with your station. The message must be transmitted during the Field Day period and a copy of it must be included in your submission in standard ARRL/RAC radiogram or no credit will be given. The message must leave the Field Day operation via amateur radio RF. The receiving station may send it on by any method. This Section Manager message is not counted as a handled message (See next bonus).

Notes:

  1. Review your ARRL/RAC radiogram form and procedure
  2. This is not restricted to the Field Day bands; you can use any legal band for messaging and the use of repeaters is not banned here.
  3. You can try to contact the SM or SEM directly, find a station to relay the message, or send it via an amateur radio email system such as Winlink
  4. Remember to record the station that took it from you and the time it was completed.
  5. The RAC Section Manager for this area is

Garry Jacobs, VE6CIA
45 Selkirk Blvd.
Red Deer, AB T4N 0G4
E-mail: ve6cia@rac.ca

  1. The RAC Section Emergency Coordinator for this area is:

Brian Davies, VE6CKC

4935 46th Street

Innisfail, AB   T4G 1N3

Tel: 403-227-4409

E-mail: ve6ckc@gmail.com

Message Handling: 10 points for each formal message originated, relayed or received and delivered during the Field Day period, up to a maximum of 100 points (ten messages). Copies of each message must be included with the Field Day report. The message to the ARRL RAC SM or SEC does not count for this bonus. All messages claimed for bonus points must leave or enter the Field Day operation via amateur radio RF.  The receiving station may send it on by any method.

Notes:

  1. Review your ARRL/RAC radiogram form and procedure
  2. This is not restricted to the Field Day bands; you can use any legal band for messaging and the use of repeaters is not banned here.
  3. You can try to contact the SM or SEM directly, find a station to relay the message, or send it via an amateur radio email system such as Winlink.
  4. This may be an opportunity for 2 meter/70 centimeter hams to get points beyond those for a limited number of contacts by handling messages.

Satellite QSO: 100 bonus points for successfully completing at least one QSO via an amateur radio satellite during the Field Day period. “General Rules for All ARRL Contests” (Rule 3.7.2.), (the no-repeater QSO stipulation) is waived for satellite QSOs. Groups are allowed one dedicated satellite transmitter station without increasing their entry category. Satellite QSOs also count for regular QSO credit. Show them listed separately on the summary sheet as a separate “band.” You do not receive an additional bonus for contacting different satellites, though the additional QSOs may be counted for QSO credit except that only one may be counted for any single channel FM satellite.  The QSO must be between two Earth stations through a satellite. A packet transmission through the International Space Station would qualify.

A voice QSO with an astronaut on the International Space Station would be very exciting but it does not count as a satellite QSO. It would count as one point before your power multiplier is applied. Log it as a QSO on the 2 meter band.

W1AW Bulletin: 100 bonus points for copying the special Field Day bulletin transmitted by W1AW (or K6KPH) during its operating schedule during the Field Day weekend via amateur radio. An accurate copy of the message must be included in your Field Day submission.

The first transmission of this bulletin starts Friday evening with CW at 1800 local (00:00 UTC) with the digital versions following at 1900 and a voice version at 1945, with the CW bulletin repeated at 9:00. All transmissions on Friday evening are from W1AW in Newington Connecticut, which often can be heard in this area. These bulletins are repeated starting Saturday morning. If the transmission from Newington cannot be read, K6KPH from California also transmits these bulletins in CW and digital starting Saturday morning. All scoring activities are supposed to be done from the Field Day Site. The ARRL publishes a full schedule of these transmissions.

Some of these bulletins are sent along with other bulletins in the same transmission.

Bob VE6BLD reported that the voice transmission of the bulletin was very fast last year.

Site Visitation by an elected governmental official: One (1) 100-point bonus may be claimed if your Field Day site is visited by an elected government official as the result of an invitation issued by your group.

Note:

  1. We may have to substitute video links for personal visits this year.
  2. Documentation of the invitation and the visitor would be required.

Site Visitation by a representative of an agency: One (1) 100-point bonus may be claimed if your Field Day site is visited by a representative of an agency served by ARES in your local community (American Red Cross, Salvation Army, local Emergency Management, law enforcement, etc.) as the result of an invitation issued by your group. ARRL RAC officials (SM, SEC, DEC, EC, etc.) do not qualify for this bonus.

Note:

  1. We may have to substitute video links for personal visits this year.
  2. Documentation of the invitation and the visitor would be required.

There is also an Educational activity bonus: One (1) 100-point bonus.   This will not be described because most of our Field Day stations will be too small to be eligible.

Background, official rules, and many hints can be found at http://www.arrl.org/files/file/Field-Day/2020/2020%20Field%20Day%20Packet(1).pdf .

ARRL’s official Field Day site is http://www.arrl.org/field-day .

Comments or questions to Paul VA6MPM (find his email on QRZ.com), or John VA6SJA, va6sja@rac.ca .

John VA6SJA and Paul VA6MPM