It’s that time of year as a society to start coming together to quickly prepare for a fabulous weekend of fun with competitive contesters working with newer members to have a great fun weekend, teaching contesting, learning how to log and getting to grips with the real excitement of radio sport contesters with members old and new, side by side, shoulder to shoulder!
Whilst we are in it to win and get some good scores, it is a great opportunity to learn from the masters and to come up in the ranks. Hopefully going away at the end of the weekend with a new passion and set of goals in contesting for Sheffield Wireless.
The RSGB’s SSB Field Day is an annual fun contesting event, and takes place over a 24 hour period between the 7th & 8th September between 1300 hours UTC.
To make this work, we need a commitment of equipment, tents/shelter and operators to work on a 1 or 2 hour rota. Some contesters may choose to stop the whole 24 hours, setting up, stopping over, and closing down, whilst others might come for a few hours. We need all hands on decks where everyone gets to have a bash and have a great weekend of fun.
To make this work, we need the following commitments so please reply to us on our member’s hub and let’s get this great event moving forward;
- Tents, Caravan and/or campervan
- Antennas for 80, 40, 15 and 10 metres
- Radio Equipment, mics, headsets etc.
- Laptops for logging
- Generators
- Volunteers for setup and closedown
- Operators on a Rota basis.
To start make preparations, a meeting will be held in the Rutland Hotel’s bar from 8pm on Wednesday the 21st August!
Please come along and give us your commitments!
Meanwhile, here are the rules;
| 1. Objective | To work as many stations and multipliers as quickly and accurately as possible, operating under portable conditions. |
| 2. Date & Time | CW FD (NFD) – 1st/2nd June 2019 1500-1500 UTC SSB FD – 7th/8th September 2019 1300-1300 UTC |
| 3. Frequencies and Power | CW FD – 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10m – max 100W SSB FD – 80, 40, 20, 15, 10m – max 100W Only one signal may be transmitted at any one time. |
| 4. Entrants and Sections | To be eligible for a certificate or award, portable stations must register on-line at least 7 days prior to each contest – click here to register for CW NFD and here to register for SSB NFD. (non-UK&CD entrants, ‘QRP Get on the Air’ stations and Fixed stations do not need to register) Entries may be from RSGB Affiliated Societies, groups of RSGB members, individual RSGB members or any non-UK groups or individuals. Operators of Affiliated Society stations need not be members of the RSGB. Click here to see the latest list of stations who have registered for CW NFD 2019 and click here to see the latest list of station who have registered for SSB NFD 2019 (these links only become active after registration has started)QRP Unassisted Portable: Single transceiver, 5W max. One single antenna (vertical, dipole or loop) comprising a single element with traps and/or removable links – maximum of two elevated supports not exceeding 15m above ground. Receiving with more than two receivers or receiving while transmitting is not allowed.QRP Get on the Air, Renewable Energy, Unassisted Portable: Single Operator, Single transceiver, 5W max. Total operating time is a maximum of 6 hours; off-periods, if taken, must be at least 60 minutes. One single antenna (vertical, dipole or loop) comprising a single element with traps and/or removable links – maximum of two elevated supports not exceeding 15m above ground. Power must be from batteries or a renewable energy source.Low Power Unassisted Portable: Single transceiver, 100W max. One single antenna (vertical, dipole or loop) comprising a single element with traps and/or removable links – maximum of two elevated supports not exceeding 15m above ground. Receiving with more than two receivers or receiving while transmitting is not allowed.Low Power Assisted Portable: 100W max. No restriction on equipment, aerials or assistance.Fixed: No restriction on equipment, power, aerials or assistance. Fixed stations may only work Portable stations for QSO points, but can work any stations for DXCC multipliers.Operation must be from a single Station location where all transmitters, receivers, and antennas are located within a circle of a radius no greater than 500m. Remote receivers outside the Station location are not permitted.Remote operation of a Fixed station is allowed where the operator is situated within the same country on the DXCC list. Additionally an operator’s home station, as shown in the licensee’s licence documents, may be remotely operated from a location in another country.A remotely operated station must obey all station licence, operator licence, and category conditions. The callsign used must be one issued or permitted by the Regulatory Authority of the remote station location. The address of the operator must be included in the ‘Address of Operator when operating Remote from Station Address’ box on the Station Information Page and the address of the remote station must be included in the Cabrillo header ‘ADDRESS:’ box. The RSGB HF Contest Committee may place remotely operated stations in a separate results table.In the Unassisted sections, the following are not permitted: public internet based assistance such as RBN, DX Cluster or private off-site assistance, and also local/on-site Skimmers.Special Contest Callsigns or Club Callsigns may be used. All Portables must sign /P.For portable stations, the installation of the station and antennas must not start earlier than 24 hours before the beginning of the contest. In addition portable stations must be powered by generators or batteries and must not be set up in a permanent building or structure, and the use of existing or previously installed equipment is not allowed. |
| 5. Exchange | RS(T) plus serial number – starting at 1 and incrementing by 1, irrespective of band. If you are not sent a serial number, log a zero. |
| 6. Scoring | Portable station Sections : Portable and Mobile stations in Europe (including UK&CD): 4 points per valid QSO. Portable and Mobile stations outside Europe: 6 points per valid QSO. Fixed stations in Europe (including UK&CD): 2 points per valid QSO. Fixed stations outside Europe: 3 points per valid QSO. Fixed station Section : Portable and Mobile stations in Europe (including UK&CD) : 4 points per valid QSO. Portable and Mobile stations outside Europe : 6 points per valid QSO.For all Sections in CW Field Day, contacts on 160m score double points.Fixed stations may only work Portable stations for QSO points, but can work any stations for DXCC multipliers.Multipliers: DXCC entities per band. The final score is the total of QSO points multiplied by the total DXCC entities. |
| 7. Log Submission and Adjudication | Submit in Cabrillo format here within 5 days of the end of the contest. View the correctCabrillo format for this contest. Single Operator Portable entrants should indicate that they were Single-op when uploading their log. If the robot finds format errors, it will reject the log and ask for resubmission of a corrected logfile. Second and subsequent log uploads may be subject to analysis of any changes that have been made. If you have difficulties preparing or uploading your Cabrillo logfile, please contact the contest adjudicator to ask for assistance, before the submission deadline. Adjudicated results will be online and will include online logfiles for all entrants. Errors will incur penalties as outlined in the RSGB HF Adjudication Principles. This penalty will be the loss of an additional 2 QSO points. The use of CAT Control to log the correct frequency and mode is highly recommended – you will lose QSO points for frequency and mode errors. At the present time, it is not possible to automatically enter logs into the Region 1 (DARC) Field Day Contests. If you wish to also enter the Region 1 Field Day Contests, please submit your log for the Region 1 CW Field Day Contest here and for the Region 1 SSB Field Day Contest here. The rules for the Region 1 Field Days are available here. |
| 8. Results and Awards | There will be separate tables of results for UK&CD entrants and a combined table for non-UK&CD entrants.Awards for RSGB HF Contests are shown here. The trophies for these contests are for UK&CD entrants.Winners of awards, section winners and the highest scores on each band will be indicated in the results tables complete with downloadable certificates. A certificate may also be downloaded by all entrants showing their position in their entry section. |
| 9. Supplementary Rules | (a) All portable stations may be inspected at their registered location by a representative of the HFCC or CSC, both before and/or during the contest. (b) Any infringement considered to be outside the spirit of the contest may result in QSOs being disallowed, the entry being reclassified as a Checklog, or the entry being disqualified. (c) Self-spotting or asking to be spotted is not permitted. (d) Call signs logged must be the same as those exchanged over the air by the entrants during the QSO. Correction of logged call signs and exchanges after the contest, by use of any database, recordings, email or other methods, is not allowed. (e) All requests for contacts, responses to calls, and copying of call signs and contest exchanges must be accomplished during the contest period using the mode and frequencies of the contest. (f) You must send your callsign at least every 3rd QSO and no less often than once a minute . (g) Proof of contact e.g. an MP3 audio recording, may be required as part of the adjudication process. |
| 10. Declaration | By entering any RSGB HF Contest you declare that:(a) Your station was operated strictly in accordance with the rules and spirit of the contest, within the conditions of your licence, and that the power output from your transmitter was no greater than that permitted in the section of the contest that you are entering.(b) You agree that decisions of the RSGB HF Contest Committee will be final in cases of dispute.(c) By submitting a log entry, entrants give the RSGB permission to score, amend, publish, republish, print, and otherwise distribute that entry by any means. |
| 11. Adjudicator | CW: Mike G3VYI SSB: John G4CZB |
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