RAC Ontario South Director Phil McBride, VA3QR/VA3KPJ, was active for the Field Day weekend and will also be active during the RAC Canada Day Contest on July 1. You can follow Phil on this webpage and on his Twitter account: “VA3QR/P will be 1B ONE on FD, and will also be VA3RAC for 3 x 2hr shifts during the Canada Day Contest”.
Field Day 2020 is now at and end and it is one for the history books! Please share your stories with us!
Field Day 2020 is now complete and it was a very rare thing indeed – an event in 2020 that wasn’t cancelled!
Field Day was held on Saturday, June 27 and on Sunday, June 28, beginning at 1800 UTC Saturday and ran through 2059 UTC Sunday.
For the last three months most Amateurs were at home and active on the bands more than usual because of the pandemic restrictions. It was great to see all of the Field Day reports on Twitter using #RACFD and #ARRLFD. Thank you!
The slogan for “Field Day 2020: A Time To Adapt” and it will also be very interesting to see how this year’s event compared to the traditional Field Day given the current conditions. We look forward to seeing how clubs and individuals adapted.
We would love to help your club or organization promote your Field Day activities so that we can see what happened across the country. Please send any information to so that we can include it in the next issue of The Canadian Amateur magazine.
For more information please read the information provided below and visit: https://www.rac.ca/field-day-2020-june-27-28/
Background information:
Field Day 2020: A Time To Adapt
It is clear that this year’s Field Day will be very different from any previous event and it remains to be seen how many clubs and organizations will choose to participate in the event.
It will also be very interesting to see how this year’s event will compare to the traditional Field Day given the current conditions and I look forward to seeing how clubs and individuals adapt.
It is of utmost importance, therefore, that all participants ensure that they stay safe and respect the specific rules and requirements in their jurisdiction – municipal, provincial, territorial or federal.
We would love to help your club or organization promote your Field Day activities both before and after the event. Please use #RACFD and #ARRLFD so that we can see what’s happening across the country and also send any information to so that we can include it in the next issue of The Canadian Amateur magazine.
For more information please read the information provided below and visit: https://www.rac.ca/field-day-2020-june-27-28/
Field Day 2020: A Time to Adapt – ARRL issues temporary rule waivers
On May 29, 2020, the ARRL Programs and Services Committee (PSC) has adopted two temporary rule waivers for the event:
1) For Field Day 2020 only, Class D stations may work all other Field Day stations, including other Class D stations, for points.
2) In addition, for 2020 only, an aggregate club score will be published, which will be the sum of all individual entries indicating a specific club (similar to the aggregate score totals used in ARRL affiliated club competitions). Please see below for more information.
Field Day 2020: An Overview
The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) / Radio Amateurs of Canada (RAC) Field Day is held annually during the fourth full weekend in June. This year’s event will be held on Saturday, June 27 and Sunday, June 28, beginning at 1800 UTC Saturday and running through 2059 UTC Sunday.
Sponsored by the ARRL and RAC, but organized primarily by the ARRL, Field Day is open to all Amateur Radio operators covered by these two International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) member organizations.
The impact and duration of the unprecedented global pandemic we now face has yet to be determined and it is difficult to plan in an uncertain future.
There are different circumstances throughout the country and the various levels of governments (local, municipal, provincial/territorial and federal) are assessing the situation and developing strategies designed to ensure our safety while reducing the impact on the economy.
These new policies will include such items as the upper limit on the number of people allowed to gather and this will affect the type of activity that will be permitted for Field Day on the weekend of June 27 and 28.
Radio Amateurs of Canada continues to monitor the COVID-19 response and will provide updates as they come available. Stay tuned to this website for additional information.
We would also love to help your club or organization promote your Field Day activities both before and after the event. Please send any information to
ARRL issues Temporary Rule Waivers
On May 29, 202o, the ARRL issued the following update:
“With one month to go before Field Day, June 27 -28, the ARRL Programs and Services Committee (PSC) has adopted two temporary rule waivers for the event:
1) For Field Day 2020 only, Class D stations may work all other Field Day stations, including other Class D stations, for points.
Field Day rule 4.6 defines Class D stations as ‘Home stations’, including stations operating from permanent or licensed station locations using commercial power. Class D stations ordinarily may only count contacts made with Class A, B, C, E and F Field Day stations, but the temporary rule waiver for 2020 allows Class D stations to count contacts with other Class D stations for QSO credit.
2) In addition, for 2020 only, an aggregate club score will be published, which will be the sum of all individual entries indicating a specific club (similar to the aggregate score totals used in ARRL affiliated club competitions).
Ordinarily, club names are only published in the results for Class A and Class F entries, but the temporary rule waiver for 2020 allows participants from any Class to optionally include a single club name with their submitted results following Field Day.
For example, if Podunk Hollow Radio Club members Becky, W1BXY, and Hiram, W1AW, both participate in 2020 Field Day — Hiram from his Class D home station, and Becky from her Class C mobile station — both can include the radio club’s name when reporting their individual results. The published results listing will include individual scores for Hiram and Becky, plus a combined score for all entries identified as Podunk Hollow Radio Club.
The temporary rule waivers were adopted by the PSC on May 27, 2020.
ARRL Field Day is one of the biggest events on the Amateur Radio calendar, with over 36,000 participants in 2019, including entries from 3,113 radio clubs and emergency operations centres. In most years, Field Day is also the largest annual demonstration of ham radio, because many radio clubs organize their participation in public places such as parks and schools.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many radio clubs have made decisions to cancel their group participation in ARRL Field Day this year due to public health recommendations and/or requirements, or to significantly modify their participation for safe social distancing practices. The temporary rule waivers allow greater flexibility in recognizing the value of individual and club participation regardless of entry class.
ARRL is contacting logging program developers about the temporary rule waivers so developers can release updated versions of their software prior to Field Day weekend. Participants are reminded that the preferred method of submitting entries after Field Day is via the web applet. The ARRL Field Day rules include instructions for submitting entries after the event. Entries must be submitted or postmarked by Tuesday, July 28, 2020.
The ARRL Field Day web page includes a series of articles with ideas and advice for adapting participation this year.”
More information:
ARRL Field Day: http://www.arrl.org/fieldday
Field Day 2020: “A Time to Adapt”
Creative Approaches to Field Day
Don’t forget to share your Field Day stories with us!
We would love to hear about your Field Day activities and would be happy to consider them for publication in The Canadian Amateur magazine. Please send them to us by using our online “Members Stories” form or by sending it directly to .
Don’t forget to follow Field Day via Twitter using #ARRLFD and #RACFD and share your stories with RAC on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/radioamateurscdn.
For full Field Day rules and details, please visit the ARRL website. Have fun!