Contest rules reference

The scoring-relevant rules for both contests this app scores, transcribed from the official documents so a future change can be checked against something other than the code it is changing.

This file exists because the app's scoring was wrong for a long time in ways nobody could see: the Field Day bonus table had been written from memory and diverged from the rules at nearly every line, and Winter Field Day was scored with Field Day's formula entirely. Both were only caught when the actual rules documents were read side by side with lib/scoring.ts. Keep this current, and check it — not the code — when a value is in question.

These are summaries, not the rules. Where this file and an official document disagree, the official document wins and this file is a bug. Get the current rules from the sources below before a contest; both organisations revise them.

ARRL Field Day

Transcribed from the official rules, Revised 4/2026.

Scoring

score = (QSO points × power multiplier) + bonus points

Sections are neither a multiplier nor a bonus. They are worth nothing. The app counts and displays them because operators chase them, and for no other reason.

QSO points (7.1) — Phone 1, CW 2, Digital 2.

Power multiplier (7.2) — determined by the highest power used by any transmitter during the event (7.2.5):

Classes A, B and C are capped at 500 W PEP; D, E and F at 100 W.

Bonus points (7.3)

Added after the multiplier. None of them is multiplied — 7.3.13.1 says so explicitly for GOTA contacts, and it holds for all of them.

The app does not enforce the class-eligibility column. It will let you tick any box; read the rule before claiming one.

Bonuses that do not exist, and which this app awarded for several releases: a Worked All Sections bonus, and an "all attendees licensed" bonus.

Exchange and classes (4, 5)

Class is <transmitters><letter>, e.g. 3A. The number is the maximum count of simultaneously transmitted signals (rule 4); minimum claimable is 1.

A club portable · B 1–2 person portable · C mobile · D home · E home on emergency power · F EOC. A and B also have battery variants.

Stations in ARRL/RAC sections send class + section (3A CT). Stations outside send class + DX (2A DX).

On-air constraints (6)

• Once per band per mode (6.3).
• One transmitted signal per band-mode at a time (6.5, 6.9). This is what the app's band/mode checkout enforces, and why the exclusion constraint is keyed on (band, mode) and not on the station.
• No cross-band contacts except satellite (6.8); no repeaters (6.10).

Submission (8)

Complete logs are not required and ARRL does not use them (8.6). What is required is the summary sheet plus a dupe sheet — stations worked sorted by band and mode. Cabrillo is not required (8.7); it is accepted in place of the dupe sheet.

There is therefore no per-QSO transmitter attribution requirement. The app's station number feeds the Cabrillo transmitter field, which is optional, and serves the 6.9 band-mode coordination — not an ARRL reporting obligation.

Winter Field Day

Transcribed from the WFDA rules for 2026 (v3). WFD 2026 runs January 24–25, 1600 UTC Saturday to 2159 UTC Sunday.

Scoring — a different model entirely

score = total QSO points × (OM + 1)

There are no bonus points and no power multiplier. Every station is capped at 100 W PEP, and operating QRP is an objective worth OM 4 rather than a multiplier. Applying Field Day's points × power + bonuses here produces a number the WFD rules cannot arrive at by any route — which is exactly what this app did until the rules were read.

QSO points — Phone 1, CW 2, Digital 2. Same table as Field Day.

Each station may be worked once per band-mode, so up to three times per band.

Objectives

Each completed objective contributes its Objective Multiplier. The OM values sum, then 1 is added — that "+1" is why a station completing nothing still scores its contacts.

All twelve total OM 32, so the maximum multiplier is ×33. Six and twelve bands are separate objectives and both count — the twelve-band objective does not replace the six-band one.

Satellite QSOs count for the objective only; they do not add QSO points.

Exchange and classes

Exchange is <transmitters><class> <location>, e.g. 2M EPA, 1H GA, 4O WTX, 6I MN.

Note M, which Field Day has no equivalent of. The app's entry form omitted it and false-flagged every mobile station's exchange as invalid.

Location identifiers are ARRL/RAC sections for US and Canadian stations, MX for Mexico, and DX for everywhere else. MX is WFD-only — a Mexican station in Field Day sends DX like any other.

Bands and modes

All amateur bands except 12, 17, 30 and 60 m. Unlike Field Day, VHF/UHF and above are ordinary scoring bands. WSJT modes are not permitted.

On-air constraints

• Multiple transmitters may not operate on the same band-mode simultaneously — the same constraint Field Day's 6.9 imposes.
• No cross-band contacts (satellite exempted for the objectives).
• No repeater contacts, including DMR/YSF through a repeater or hotspot.
• Maximum 100 W PEP for every station.

Submission

A Cabrillo or ADIF log uploaded at https://www.winterfieldday.org/, by 23:59 UTC on March 1st. Unlike Field Day, the log itself is the entry.