[HCARC] Winter Field Day Reminder

[Gary J - N5BAA]

A reminder that we will be operating Winter Field Day at the Red Cross tomorrow and Sunday till noon assuming we get enough interest.  I will be opening the RC before 6 am as I would like to try and catch a Ham in Panama (HP3AK – Jay Mills) who transmits on 80m each day at just before 1200z (6am here).  We can begin setting up what little we have to set up at 0800 and actual operating in the contest can commence at noon local.

Here are the rules again from their website:



Society for the Preservation of Amateur Radio
The SPAR Winter Field Day
NOTE CHANGE IN EXCHANGE THIS YEAR
Purpose: To encourage emergency operating preparedness in the winter. 

When: The contest runs for 24 hours during the last full weekend in January each year from 1700 UTC (12:00 noon EST) Saturday to 1700 UTC (12:00 noon EST) Sunday. For 2015, the dates are January 24 and 25, 2015. Station set up may begin no earlier than 1300 UTC (8:00 AM EST) on January 24, 2015. 

Bands: All bands, except 12, 17, 30 and 60 meters. 

Modes: Any mode. 

Categories:


  a.. a) Number of operators: 1, 2, Multi 
  b.. b) Site: Indoor, Outdoor, Home
For example, 2 operators at a remote campground would be 2O, 1 person at home would be 1H, 5 club members operating from a community center would be MI. 

Exchange: Callsign, Category, ARRL Section (or DX outside of US and Canada), and local outside temperature (with F or C). For example 1 person from an North Texas campground where the temperature is 28 F might send "KX5XYZ 1O NTX 28F" or "KX5XYZ 1O NTX -2C" 

QSO Points: 1 point per QSO, regardless of band and mode. The object is to be able to communicate and in an emergency it doesn't matter what band and mode is used. Busted exchanges will be penalized by 1 additional point for each missed exchange or callsign. Duplicate contacts (same station, band and mode) will not be counted, but will not be penalized. 

Multiplier: Count 1 multiplier for each mode operated per band. For example, operating CW and Phone on 80, 40, 15 and 10 meters, CW and PSK31 on 20m, FM on 2meters and satellite on 1.2 GHz would be a total multiplier of 12. 

Bonus: Count 1000 points if commercial power is not used, 1000 points if outdoors and 1000 points if not at home. For example, operating outdoors in your backyard without commercial power would be 1000 + 1000 = 2000 points (outdoors, no commercial power), while operating from a campground tent using commercial power would be 1000 + 1000 = 2000 points (outdoors and not home). Note: There must have been at least 1 valid QSO in order to count bonus points. This is to ensure that someone claiming bonus points without actually making any contacts cannot win a category! 

Final Score: QSO Points x Multiplier + Bonus Points. 

Logs: Logs should be submitted to "winterfd at spar-hams.org" before 0000 UTC March 1st to be considered. All logs must be in Cabrillo format and should contain the following information:


  a.. Frequency (kHz) 
  b.. Mode (CW = CW, AM SSB FM = PH, Digital = RY, SSTV = TV, Satelite = SA) 
  c.. Date and time (UTC) 
  d.. Callsign, ARRL/RAC Section and Exchange sent 
  e.. Callsign, ARRL/RAC Section and Exchange received
The Cabrillo QSO template is as follows. Please enter BONUS points in the Cabrillo Soapbox comments as shown.

SOAPBOX: BONUS 2000 

                              --------info sent-------- -------info rcvd---------
QSO: freq  mo date       time call          ct sec temp  call         ct sec temp  
QSO: ***** ** yyyy-mm-dd nnnn ************* ** *** **** ************* ** *** ****
QSO:  3799 PH 1999-03-06 0711 W5ALT         1H STX 37F  WB5XAC        MO LA  13C 
Results will be posted on the SPAR website. Pictures, description of operations and logistics are encouraged and welcome. 

Definitions: 

Location - the place where an amateur station is setup for the contest. 

Home - operating from the place where an amateur station is normally established. If the station used in the contest is setup before 8AM local time, it should be considered a home operation. 

Indoor - operating from inside a building at a temporary location where amateur radio is not normally available, including community centers, etc. If it has a both a permanent roof and walls, it's indoors. 

Outdoor - operating from remote locations with no permanent building, including campgrounds, tents, RV's, etc. An open-air pavillion with no walls would be considered Outdoor. 

Band - the normal amateur band allocations recognized by the ITU, i.e. 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10, 6, and 2 meters, plus the UHF bands. To be counted as a band, at least 1 valid QSO must have taken place on the band during the contest. 75 meters counts as part of 80 meters. 

Mode - CW, Phone (including SSB, AM, FM), Digital (including PSK, RTTY, and other soundcard modes), SSTV, satellite. 

Operator - Any person that operates the radio, keyboard, microphone or CW key, including logging assistance. This does not include non-operators, such as someone who brings food, but does not participate in operating. 

Miscellaneous:


  a.. - All rules governing amateur radio must be observed throughout. 
  b.. - The decisions of the SPAR BoD is final.