CONTESTING

The usual patterns of participation in ARRL Field Day were greatly upset in 2020 and 2021 by the Covid-19 pandemic and associated ARRL temporary rule waivers. As the pandemic fades away, the most impactful of the rule waivers — allowing home non-emergency class D stations to work other class D stations for points — is continuing, at least for 2022. This month we will look at the recent gyrations in Field Day participation and share some thoughts about maximizing your Field Day score.

Why write about ARRL Field Day in a contesting column? The deepest traditions of ARRL Field Day emphasize teamwork, community outreach, outdoor food and fun, and technical skills above any point total. At the same time, like any contest, Field Day also has a well-defined exchange, points, categories, a multiplier, extremely detailed rules, and a total score. All the usual contest strategies and communications skills can be pushed to their limits as hams make QSOs under low-power, portable, and emergency conditions.

ARRL Field Day has six classes of entry. Yearly Field Day entry statistics by class are presented as the bar chart of . For a typical club class-A entry, the participation of multiple members at the station, as well as potentially a separate GOTA (Get-On-The-Air) callsign and station, are collected under a single entry. As your eye moves from left to right across , note that entry statistics changed slowly from 2002-2019, but in 2020 the Covid-19 pandemic upset many clubs’ planning and entries