UPDATED – 6/19/2020
Field Day this year is the weekend of June 27 – 28. The majority of the setup and operational group for Field Day 2020 has agreed that for this unusual year we will operate as individuals from our home stations. We encourage all members to operate from home as 1D (power from mains) or 1E (emergency power from generator / solar or wind charged battery). You can have more than one station and be 2s or 3s. etc.
When you submit your score to ARRL, please ask that your score be added to the club score. We must all have the same club name, spelled exactly the same – Midland ARC – for it to be included. They will add them together at ARRL Headquarters.
This is a different and difficult year; however, this will give all of us the opportunity to operate as much as well like, using the mode(s) of our choice and the radios/antennas we are most familiar with. There will be plenty of activity on the bands to have fun with.
This year the rules allow individuals to submit their scores and include their club name so their score can be added to the aggregate score for the club. Also this year class D stations will be able to contact other D stations for QSO points. In the past this has not been allowed.
So, start making your plans to operate Field Day 2020!
A few Field Day tips:
- Go the http://www.arrl.org/field-day and download and read the rules.
- Operating from home most people will be 1D (commercial power) or 1E (emergency power).
- Download and install N1MM+ to log your FD QSOs and create your Cabrillo log to submit to the ARRL. To get started go to https://n1mmwp.hamdocs.com/downloads/n1mm-full-install/. When you come to the part about filling in your station information enter “Midland ARC” as your club. NOTE: If you get an error about remote storage please see this. Other errors see the N1MM+ documentation or visit N1MM+ on groups.io.
- Once you have N1MM+ installed select FD as the contest. Do this by going to File>New Log in Database. Then select FD from the Log Type drop down list. Complete the rest of the information on that screen and click OK.
- Practice logging a few QSOs to become familiar with the program.
- If you’re running emergency power and your computer is keying the radio then the computer must also be running off of emergency power.
- Thinking of operating FT8? Download this PDF for instructions on how to interface N1MM+ with WSJT-X.
- DON’T WAIT UNTIL THE MORNING OF FIELD DAY WEEKEND TO FIGURE OUT WHAT TO DO!
- After Field Day export your log as a Cabrillo file by going to File>Generate Cabrillo File.
- Go to http://field-day.arrl.org/fdentry.php to submit your entry. Be sure to enter “Midland ARC” on the submittal form where it asks for Club or Group Name.
