CAARC Participation in 2020 ARRL Field Day

Counting Your QSO Score

We, as representatives of CAARC, encourage your participation in the 2020 ARRL Field Day on June 27 and 28, and your submission of your station score to the ARRL.

Which QSOs can you count?

Field Day QSOs take place on the 160, 80, 40, 20, 15 and 10 Meter HF bands, as well as all authorized amateur radio bands 50 MHz and above. Field Day QSOs made using amateur radio satellites are also counted, record these as a separate “Satellite” band. These must be between two amateur stations on the earth. Only one contact may be counted on any single channel FM satellite. There is some more information about using satellites on Field Day at https://www.amsat.org/field-day/ . AMSAT is hosting a complementary Field Day during the same Field Day period.

QSOs are separately counted in each band for each of the three modes of voice, CW and data (AMTOR, D-STAR (Digital Data) point-to-point., Hellschreiber, MT63, FSK441, JT6M, JT65, .FT8, Olivia MFSK, Packet Radio if used point-to-point , PACTOR if used point-to-point, PSK31, QPSK31, PSK63, QPSK63, RTTY are a few examples of data).

Only one contact with any other amateur station is counted for each band-mode. Find another station, change your mode, or change your band.

Other than for a satellite QSO each QSO must take place totally within a single band to be counted, no cross-band contacts may be used.

Except for the amateur radio satellite QSOs previously mentioned, QSOs over repeaters cannot be counted for any mode.

The Field Day Operating Period is from 1800Z Saturday, June 27 to 2100Z on Sunday.

If you are operating a Class B or Class B-Battery station, if you start your setup after 1800Z on Saturday you are allowed to count contacts until 2100Z on Sunday. If you start your setup before 1800Z Saturday, you may operate and count QSOs for 24 hours after your first key-down or PTT.

Your Raw Point Score:

From the ARRL Field Day 2020 Rules

 â€œQSO Points:

 7.1.1. Phone contacts count one point each.

7.1.2. CW contacts count two points each.

7.1.3. Digital contacts count two points each.”

Power multipliers:

It appears that the power multipliers are to take account of the different amount of difficulty in making contacts using various power levels. The QSO score is multiplied by the appropriate multiplier which is determined by the maximum power level used in your station during the whole Field Day Period, as well as the type of power source used if you transmit a maximum of 5 watts.

Again, from the ARRL Field Day 2020 Rules

“7.2. Power multipliers: The power multiplier that applies is determined by the highest power output of any of the transmitters used during the Field Day operation.

7.2.1. If all contacts are made using a power of 5 Watts or less and if a power source other than commercial mains or motor-driven generator is used (batteries, solar cells, water-driven generator), the power multiplier is 5 (five).

7.2.2. If all contacts are made using a power of 5 Watts or less, but the power source is from a commercial main or from a motor-driven generator, the power multiplier is 2. If batteries are charged during the Field Day period using commercial mains or a motor-driven generator the power multiplier is 2 (two).

7.2.3. If any or all contacts are made using an output power up to 150 Watts or less, the power multiplier is 2 (two).

7.2.4. If any or all contacts are made using an output power greater than 150 Watts, the power multiplier is 1 (one).

7.2.5. The power multiplier for an entry is determined by the maximum output power used by any transmitter used to complete any contact during the event. (Example: a group has one QRP station running 3 Watts and a second station running 100 Watts, the power multiplier of 2 applies to all contacts made by the entire operation).”

Some transceivers can transmit a power of over 150 watts. If you would like a power multiplier of 2, consider setting the maximum output to 150 watts.

 

Coming up Bonuses

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