Tonight I submitted my Field Day 2020 dupe sheet and multiplier qualifications. My score is 212. It’s meager. I could’ve done better, but I learned things (see the link above for a recount of the difficulties I met during the event).
Contacts (31 points)
- 5 digital, 2x multiplier = 10
- 21 phone, 1x multiplier = 21
Contact Multipliers (2x):
- Below 150 Watt output power = 2x
Bonus points (+150):
- 100% Emergency Power = 100
- Web submission of forms = 50 (a freebie, instead of mailing)
((5 dig * 2) + (21 ph)) * 2 power + 150 bonus = 212 total
I mean, if I hadn’t made the investment in batteries and instead ran on commercial power, my score would’ve only been 112, so there’s that (eesh, perspective).
And, sadly, my score can go down. The ARRL contest team has to computationally verify that all the stations I logged on my dupe sheet also themselves logged that they contacted me. There’s no timestamp in the dupe sheet log, but the callsigns, classes, sections, and mode must match. If something doesn’t jive, they scratch it and I lose that contact. So, even though contesting can be an individual sport, we’re all still in it together. Don’t be that guy who doesn’t submit good logs in a contest. Verify correct info before moving along, and help a brother out.
There are a some things about Field Day that I had assumed wrong, and after making my own submission, I know better. I misread the rules that 100% battery power would multiply my contacts score by 2; nope, that’s only a bonus point. Running my rig barefoot below 150W with no amplifier is the 2x contact multiplier. Also, no matter what the N3FJP software shows on that cool map of contacted zones, it doesn’t matter if you get all the zones; there are no bonus points for getting more zones. It’s just pretty set dressing to show to visitors and to goad participants into keeping at it.
The only thing that matters is that you log as many contacts as you can with as many multipliers as you can. But I guess that’s the spirit of contesting; learning the rules, gaming their flaws, finding the honey on the sly and going for it.
I should’ve spent more time on digital modes; it seems FT8 — and FT4 especially — were all the rage during Field Day this year, because this is the first year this mode was permitted for points. Since it’s so rapid-fire and digital modes are worth 2x points, it’s a favorable mode for logging contacts quickly. I rallied in the last 2 hours on Sunday to log points with FT8 and only got 5 contacts among the noise. Hmph.
Man, it’s weird learning all this on my own. I’ve gotten so used to having the club elders do the organizational heavy lifting every year. But it’s like skating: when your parents let go of your hand, that’s when you really learn to skate.
Perhaps next year I’ll be a more valuable contributing member to the club event.