National Field Day 2017 (3rd-4th June)

The rules for this contest were extensively altered this year with the addition of a Fixed Station section and the division of the Low Power section into unassisted and assisted categories. The scoring scheme was also altered to add multipliers in the form of DXCC entities. Positive comments about the new rules were received from several groups. There were 36 entries from portable stations with 6 groups entering the QRP section, 11 groups entering the Low Power Unassisted section and 19 groups entering the Low Power Assisted section. The new Fixed Station section attracted 16 entries.

The total number of QSOs made by entrants was 28753. This is approximately 12% down on last year's total (32138) and reflects the continued decline in HF conditions.  Unusually, 40m carried the bulk of the traffic with 32.7% of the total.  This was followed by 20m with 24.4% of the QSOs, 80m with 14.6% of the QSOs, 15m with 11.7% of the QSOs, 160m with 9.6% of the QSOs and finally 10m with 7.2% of the QSOs. It is interesting to note that the percentage of NFD contacts made on 10m greatly increased this year to 7.2% from only 1.1% in 2016 (3.8% in 2015, 11.4% in 2014).

Once again, in equipment terms the Elecraft K3/K3S/K2 series was dominant with 25 in use. The only other rigs listed more than once were IC7300 (five), FT5000 (four), IC756 series (three) and FTDX3000 (three).

The perferred antennas in the QRP and Low Power Unassisted sections were off-centre fed doublets and dipoles. The Low Power Assisted section generally favoured beams for the HF bands and dipoles for the LF bands although some entrants preferred vertical antennas.

The winner in the QRP section was Horsham ARC (G3LET/P) who receive the Reading QRP Shield. The runner-up was Loxlot (M0P/P).

The winner in Low Power Unassisted Portable section was the North of Scotland CG (GM2MP/P) who receive the NFD Shield. The runner-up was the Sussex Downs CG (G4FNL/P). The winner of the new Leading Single Operator award, the G3MVZ Memorial Cup, was M3W/P operated by G4FAL.

The winner in the Low Power Assisted Portable section was the De Montford University ARS (M2A/P) who receive the Bristol Trophy. The runner-up was the Stockport RS (G3LX/P).

In the new Fixed Station section, the winner was G9F operated by G4BVY with G3RLE in the runner-up slot. The Leading non-UK Station was LZ3M operated by LZ1QN.

Congratulations to all the winners and congratulations (and many thanks) to all those groups who were able to get a station on the air.

Finally, we received a number of entries from non-UK Fixed stations who are not RSGB members and these have been very useful in adjudication. We are not able to publish a results table for these entries this year but will amend the contest rules to accommodate them in 2018.

Ian G0FCT