Field Day Runner

Field Day Runner is a CW (Continuous Wave -- Morse Code) contest simulator. You call CQ, stations come back to you, and you work them for a full exchange — call, class and section — the way you would on a real Field Day weekend. Field Day is the most low pressure contest type event ever in that nobody really cares if you make mistakes. Most of us are just happy to see a new participant. In a real Field Day, you may start out rough, but things get better if you stick with it for a few hours. This simulator is intended to make that transition a piece of cake. Your first field day will seem familiar and comfortable.

Why contest practice is its own skill

Copying a clean character at your own pace and copying a callsign through a pileup are barely the same activity. Contest participation requires that you catch a call, and if you miss it ask for a repeat until you get it right then progress to the exchange. As you go through the process, the logging software will automatically log the callsign and exchange, and get you ready for the next call. While drills help you learn the characters, words, and such, they don't train the contest flow.

What it simulates

Stations answer with realistic timing rather than on cue. More than one may call at once, at different speeds, pitches and signal strengths, and you choose who to work. Some will ask for your call again if they did not catch it. Conditions vary — signals fade, noise comes and goes — so copying is not always comfortable, which is the point.

There is a call-history feature, as in real contest software. It prefills what a station sent you before. And as in real life, history goes stale: stations change class between years and sometimes move section, so what the history offers you is not always what the station is sending. Trusting it blindly will cost you, exactly as it does on the air. Listen and correct the errors in the call history.

At the moment, 09/05/26, The contest simulator only accepts typed input from a keyboard or clicks from the mouse. I'm working on integrating the ability to use an external key.

Working a station

Call CQ and wait. When someone answers, send their call and your exchange. Copy theirs, log it, and move on. If you missed part of it, ask — sending a question mark gets a repeat, and asking is faster than guessing wrong.

Who it is for

Anyone who can copy a callsign reasonably and wants a low pressure contest experience without waiting for the fourth weekend in June. It is also a useful way to prepare for your first Field Day, so that the operating is familiar and easy.

The other training modes will get you to the point of being able to use it.