For licensed operators & speakers
Bring your callsign. We saved you a seat.
Four operating positions, twenty-four hours, and a genuine need for operators on every one of them. If you have never contested before, this is the friendliest possible place to start — and if you have, you already know why the overnight shift is the good one.
What we are running in 2027
We run Field Day class 2A: two HF transceivers operating concurrently, plus the GOTA and VHF/UHF stations, which do not count toward the class. Everything runs on battery, solar, and generator power — no mains electricity for the duration. Every station has experienced operators on hand.
New to contesting? Read this bit.
You do not need to be fast, and you do not need to know the exchange by heart — it is written on a card taped to the desk. Every seat has someone beside it who has done this for years and would much rather help you than take the chair back. A great many people make their first-ever contest contact at Field Day, and nobody anywhere is keeping score of your mistakes.
What we provide, and what is worth bringing
We provide
- Radios, logging, and power at every position — battery, solar, and generator
- Linked wire dipoles on 60 ft masts (80m–6m), a hexbeam for 10/15/20m, squalos for 6m and 2m, a 2m vertical, and an 8-element yagi for 70cm
- Headsets, footswitches, and paddles — bring your own if you are particular
- Meals Saturday evening and Sunday morning, and coffee at all hours
- A shaded, seated operating position and someone to hand over to
Worth bringing
- A copy of your licence, and your callsign for the roster
- A warm layer — the overnight shifts get genuinely cold
- A handheld for 147.520 MHz FM simplex, which we use for on-site coordination
- A camp chair, a headlamp, and a water bottle
- A radio or antenna you built, if you would like to put it on the air. Tell us in advance and we will find it a slot.
Shifts
Most shifts are two hours. Sign up for one or sign up for six — the roster fills from the sign-up form and we publish it about a fortnight before the event. Overnight slots are the hardest to fill and the most rewarding, and volunteering for one makes you extremely popular.
We are looking for people to talk in the education tent
The education tent runs from 10:00 to 17:00 on Saturday, and the talks are consistently one of the highest-rated parts of the weekend. The audience is a mix: curious members of the public who wandered in, brand-new licensees, and experienced operators who came for that specific topic.
You do not need to be an expert. Some of the best-received talks have been given by people six months into the hobby explaining what confused them, because they still remember what it is like not to know. If you have done a thing and can describe it, you can give a talk.
Talks are a maximum of 30 minutes including questions. One thing to plan around: we may not have a PA system or a screen, so your talk should not depend on slides. Bring them by all means, but assume you will be standing in a field making yourself heard. There is limited AC power and internet on site.
Outdoor demonstrations and hands-on formats are very welcome — the antenna talks that end with everyone walking outside to put the thing on the air are always the best ones. Audience questions are strongly encouraged. Submitting a talk does not guarantee you a slot.
Things we have been asked for, or would love to hear
This list is a prompt, not a menu. If your idea is not here and you are excited about it, that is usually the sign of a good talk — propose it anyway.
Also very welcome
Live demonstrations, repair clinics, show-and-tell of something you built, a panel of newly licensed operators talking about what the process was actually like, and anything aimed at children. If you would rather run a hands-on workshop than give a talk, say so on the form — we have a tent for that too.
Bring an exhibit
We set aside table space for clubs, interest groups, and makers to show what they do — repeater networks, emergency communications, mesh, satellite work, kit building, licence training, or a project you have been quietly perfecting in a garage.
Exhibits are free. We provide the table and the space; you provide the thing worth looking at and somebody to stand behind it. Tell us roughly what you need and we will place you somewhere with good foot traffic.
Before you sign up
Claim a seat
The roster opens in the spring and the good overnight slots go quickly. Get on the mailing list and you will hear the moment it does.