Class C: Benefits for ARRL Field Day

ARRL Field Day takes place the last full weekend of June and sometimes runs into challenges with other events such as graduations.

Large club run Class A operations become challenging to put together when key club members can not dedicate the right time to planning or participating in a proper field day event.

Often times, the logistics of setting up tents, renting portable toilets, figuring out how to feed people and deciding how to power all the radio and additional equipment for 24 hours becomes complicated.

All this extra equipment also takes up a lot of room and not every club has a storage unit or trailer to contain all of this stuff.  

Many clubs depend on members to bring certain things like chairs, tables, grills, and many other items to help distribute the annoyances. 

But, what happens when some members in a club get too old or lose interest in field day?  

If they were responsible for bringing certain items year over year, the club now has a tough decision to make.  Buying items with club funds sometimes is problematic if finance is an issue.  

New or younger members in a club may have items, but do not want to commit to being at a field day site for the entire time to ensure those items do not get damaged or misplaced.

What is the solution to field day if large Class A club oriented operation is a growing concern?

Lets talk about Class C Mobile operation!

Directly from the ARRL Field Day rules, the definition of Class C is as follows:

This seems pretty clear.  Most people have a car, but not everyone has a stationary camper.  Getting your gear to a field day site is easy and you can find more places to set up for some or all of the event. 

If you wish to try field day and camping, class C operation offers a good combination to try if you are able and willing.

What if you have a few friends who also like to camp and have a car,  you can all go separately to the same campground and operate independent from each other.  

Or, maybe you all like amateur radio but not the club oriented issues that arise with complicated politics.  How can you operate field day?   Class C might be with a look.

Class C operation for field day offers many benefits and it seems that there is some data to back this up.

Review:  What is this chart?

New York State (ARRL Sections NLI, ENY, NNY, WNY) - By Class with CAGR

June in New York is a great time to be outside or go for a drive! 

The above chart shows at various points in time over the last 12 years how each class of station participated in ARRL Field Day.   

Past Reading

• 2021: Analyzing ARRL Field Day Finally

• Blips that Bleep: CAGR & ARRL Field Day Analysis

Looking at Class C data using CAGR from 2010 to 2021 (12 Years),  there is a clear growth and has gotten even stronger more recently when just measuring CAGR between 2016 to 2021 (6 Years)

Even during and after COVID, the growth is still there.  While the 2019 to 2021 COVID era did decrease Class C growth slightly,  it was still very strong considering that most stations (not participants) stayed home and operated in Class D style.

Is Class C the new Class A?

Solar cycles do impact when people show interest in amateur radio if they are focused on HF spectrum communications. As we enter Cycle 25, it is hard to say if we will see Class A operations increase again or if we will see other classes decrease.

Operating as Class C offers a lot of flexibility, so lets explore some scenarios to give you some ideas.

Scenario X - Bob the quadplexer man

Our fictitious friendly amateur named Bob has a device called a quadplexer which allows one multiband antenna to be connected to up to four different radios, each using a different band such as 15m, 20m, 40m and 80m or maybe 10m, 15m, 20m, 40m. 

When a quadplexer is combined with an end fed wire antenna or trapped dipole, there is no risk of interference with your friends who also wish to be part of field day at the same time as you.

Add in the appropriate feedline, jumper cables and a portable mast kit,  it is really easy to deploy a class 4C  station or four separate 1C stations. and every one can stay in personal vehicles if needed, but all attached to the same common antenna system.

Alternatively, if you create a club, this is very easy to move from Class C to a Class 4A station

Everyone like's what Bob offers with this setup which only cost him less than $800 USD for everything.  All of Bob's friends buy the same setup for next year, just incase if Bob is not available.

Is Class C popular?

The growth is there, but there is no volume.  Have you looked at your logs to see how many Class C stations you worked during ARRL Field Day in the past?  Lets use some data to see where the Class C stations tend to be based on FCC Callsign Area analysis.

2,203:  That is it over 12 years

42,788 total stations have been part of ARRL Field Day over the last 12 years.   This means that only 5.14% of all stations were Class C.  That would make them pretty rare to log during the event.

Chances are that you more than likely made contact with a "four-land" or "nine-land" station that was operating some form of Class C operation if you look at the above data.

If you only ever thought your options were to stay home (Class D),  be part of a club (Class A) or go out on foot (Class B) or visit your county EOC (Class F),  hopefully Class C may appeal to you as an alternative to Class E (at home alternative power)