VHF UHF Field Days
Great opportunities to head for the hills!
Contest Manager
John Martin VK3KM
WINTER FIELD DAY
The Winter Field Day will be held over the weekend of 22/23 June. Please check the rules - there have been some minor changes.
REVIEW OF FIELD DAY DATES
In the "Files for Download" section below, there is a paper discussing possible changes to the dates for the Winter and Spring Field Days. Any comments or suggestions would be welcome.
Contest Introduction
The VHF-UHF Field Days provide VHF-UHF operators with the opportunity to "head for the hills" and see how far they can work.
The Field Days have separate sections for single and multiple operator stations. The duration of the Field Day is 24 hours, but there are also 8 hour sections for operators who may not be able to camp overnight. Most club stations prefer to operate for the full 24 hours.
The Field Days also generate plenty of activity from home stations, so there is also a separate Home Station section.
The scoring is based on grid locator squares. Each new square worked gives quite a boost to the score, and this encourages the entrants to operate from locations in grid squares that normally don't have a great amount of amateur activity.
There are no mode restrictions, except that all contacts must be simplex - contacts through repeaters or satellites are not allowed. There is plenty of FM activity, but one feature of the Field Days is a high level of SSB activity.
It is possible to do very well with only modest antennas if you pick a good hilltop. Another option, if your station is easily transportable, is to operate from more than one grid square during the contest period.
Aim Of The Contest
The overriding aim is to get away for the weekend and have fun! But next after that, the aims are:
 to encourage more activity on VHF and microwave bands;
to encourage people to work greater distances than usual by operating portable, and
to provide opportunities for people to activate or work into new grid squares.
This Years Winners
Results of all VHF-UHF Field Days are available in the "Files for Download" section.
Previous Years Winners
Results of all VHF-UHF Field Days are available in the "Files for Download" section.
Contest History
The first VHF-UHF Field Day was run as a trial in January 1989. It was quite well received so it has continued since then. In 1998, there was a trial Spring Field Day which also proved a success. Support for the Field Days has continued to increase, and a third event - the Winter VHF-UHF Field Day - was introduced in 2008.
Upcoming Contest Date & Time
Winter VHF-UHF Field Day 2013 - 22/23 June
Spring VHF-UHF Field Day 2013 - 23/24 November (date to be confirmed)
Summer VHF-UHF Field Day 2014 - 11/12 January (date to be confirmed)
Contest Rules
Full details of the contest rules are available in the "Files for Download" section below (posted approximately 8 weeks before the start of the contest).
Contest Scoring
Field Day scoring is simple - one point per contact. But entrants also score 10 points for each different locator square worked, and each locator square they have operated from, on each band. There are also band multipliers to encourage activity on the higher UHF and microwave bands.
Full details of the scoring system, and a sample scoring sheet, are available in the "Files for Download" section.
Further Information on Maidenhead Locators
Each four-digit Maidenhead locator identifies an area which covers 1 degree of latitude and two degrees of longitude. Detailed explanation of the Maidenhead locator system can be found in the Download section below. Also available is a computer program that can convert latitude and longitude into grid locators, and vice versa.
An easy way to find your latitude and longitude from a Google map is to click this Link to the iTouch Map web site.
To find the six digit Maidenhead locator for any location, click this Link to the F6FVY web site.
Submitting Your Log
Logs should be accompanied by a cover sheet including a scoring table as described in the rules. A sample scoring sheet is available for download at the bottom of this page. Logs can be submitted either on paper or as email attachments.
Paper logs may be posted to the Manager, WIA VHF-UHF Field Day, PO Box 2042, Bayswater Vic 3153. You can find the email address for electronic logs in the contest rules file - see the "Download" section below. Acceptable log formats include: ASCII text, RTF, DOC, DOCX, XLS, MDB, PDF, or any Open Document format.
Contest Results
The results are finalised approximately four weeks after the Field Day, and all entrants are notified by mail, or by email if they prefer.
Contest Award
As well as a copy of the results, all entrants receive a colour certificate.
Logging Software
http://www.mnds.com.au/vkcl/Any logging software can be used so long as the necessary information is included in the log. Please refer to the rules for details about this.
A suitable logging program is VK Contest Log, developed by Mike VK3AVV. It is available for download on the author's web site by clicking on this Link.
Contest Sponsors
The VHF-UHF Field Days are sponsored by the WIA.
Files For Download
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Software to find Maidenhead locators, distances and bearings
DXLOC30.zip
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Page Last Updated: Saturday 23 March 2013 at 15:40 hours
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