[nrv-hams] What's what about Field Day?

[Kay Craigie]

What's what about Field Day?

It's a public relations opportunity. It's a contest. It's an emergency
preparedness exercise. It's a picnic. Field Day is what we want it to be -
never mind what some other group may want to do - and that's probably why it
is the most popular operating event in North America.

ARRL Field Day began in June, 1933. The final sentence in the QST
announcement of the first Field Day brings a smile to my face: "If
successful we want to make it an annual affair."

A few years of Field Day were missed during World War II when ham radio was
off the air. It's not the oldest ham radio operating event in the world, but
it's on the list.

I don't know what information the early Field Day stations exchanged, but
today it's our operating class and our ARRL or Radio Amateurs of Canada
Section.

What's a Section? For administrative purposes, the ARRL divides the USA and
territories into 71 geographical Sections. Most of them are composed of a
single state or territory, like Virginia. A few states are split into
multiple Sections (California has nine!), and two Sections are composed of
more than one political entity (Pacific Section, which includes Hawaii and
the USA territories in the Pacific Ocean, and Maryland/DC Section, which
includes Maryland and the District of Columbia). 

This is why some stations will be sending us something other than a state
name - such as West Central Florida, Sacramento Valley, or Northern New
York. There are standard 2 or 3 letter abbreviations for Sections, so we
don't have to write out "Western Massachusetts" or know how to spell "San
Juaquin Valley."

The Radio Amateurs of Canada also has administrative Sections, some of which
are province names (British Columbia) and some of which are not (Maritime).
The RAC is the equivalent of the ARRL in Canada.

What does the operating class mean? In addition to sending our ARRL/RAC
Section, we send and receive a bit of gibberish indicating our operating
class. It's a number followed by a letter. The number represents the maximum
number simultaneously transmitted signals. A GOTA ("Get On The Air") signal
doesn't count. The letter represents what kind of operation we are. Most
Field Day stations are A (club or non-club portable) or B (one or two person
portable). We will also hear stations sending C, D, E, and F. So a station
that sends "3A VA" is a club or non-club portable operation with a maximum
of 3 simultaneous transmitted signals, located in the Virginia Section. 

Our club's Field Day is for everybody. Nobody should stay home because you
have never been on HF before or have never been on the air before. Come have
fun and play some radio.

73 - Kay N3KN