[HIham] From the ARRL Letter (fwd)

[Jeffrey Herman]

Note the message below from Wayne. Ray, please see if OCDA
would make their facilities available to us for this new
Class F catagory. I'd be glad to participate from there.

73, Jeff KH6O

Operations Specialist           Mathematics Lecturer
U.S. Coast Guard                Kapiolani College
Dept. of Homeland Security      University of Hawaii System

"Give me a fast ship for I intend to go in harm's way." John Paul Jones

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Sat, 08 Feb 2003 08:03:56 -1000
From: Wayne Jones <jonesr007@hawaii.rr.com>
To: jonesr007@hawaii.rr.com
Subject: From the ARRL Letter

==>FIELD DAY GETS A NEW ENTRY CLASS FOR 2003

Field Day will gain another entry class for the 2003 running of this
highly popular operating event June 28-29. "Class F" stations will operate
at emergency operations centers--or EOCs. The change renews the emphasis
of Field Day's 1933 origins as an emergency preparedness exercise as
opposed to a routine contest--what former ARRL Communications Manager F.
E. Handy, W1BDI, called "a test of the emergency availability of portable
stations and equipment." In Handy's view, Field Day would focus attention
"on the subject of 'preparedness' for communications emergencies."

ARRL Contest Branch Manager Dan Henderson, N1ND, says the League last year
received a record 2110 Field Day entries from groups and individuals. That
represented a total of almost 35,000 participants who joined in what
Henderson called "a great tradition."

Given the increased emphasis on emergency communications since September
11, 2001, Henderson says, the ARRL Board's Membership Services Committee
asked that the Contest Branch come up with a way to accommodate stations
wanting to operate from the local EOC. The new Class F station, operating
from an EOC, is the result.

"This is a major change," Henderson said. "Class F has been established to
encourage groups to test and further their working relationships with
established emergency operations centers." The updated rules and a list of
frequently asked questions in the new 2003 Field Day Packet
<http://www.arrl.org/contests/forms> spell out the details.

A Class F entry station must set up at an "established EOC" activated by a
club or non-club group. An EOC is defined as a facility established by a
federal, state, county, city or other civil governmental agency or
administrative entity or by a chapter of a national or international
served agency. The latter could include the American Red Cross or The
Salvation Army, with which the Field Day group "has an established
operating arrangement." Class F EOC operation must take place in
cooperation with the EOC staff. Class F stations are eligible for the same
bonus points as Class A stations.

There's also been what Henderson called "some tweaking" in the rules for
Field Day 2003. Among the highlights, the rules reduce from 400 to 100 the
number of QSOs that the "Get On The Air" (GOTA) station needs to make to
claim a 100-point bonus. "GOTA stations still may work up to a maximum of
400 QSOs to go towards the main station's score," Henderson said.

In addition, the 2003 rules enhance the bonus for having an invited
official visit the Field Day site. There are now two separate bonus
categories--100 points for the elected official and another 100 points for
a visit by a representative of a served agency.

Henderson reminds Field Day participants that stations do not get
additional bonus points for contacting stations through additional
satellites. As of the 2002 event, Field Day opened up to stations
throughout the Americas, not just in the US and Canada.

Henderson encourages participants to post their Field Day experiences and
photographs to the Field Day Online soapbox
<http://www.arrl.org/contests/soapbox/>.

Aloha
Wayne, NH6K