Part of our Getting On The Air: Modes, Operations, and Making Contacts guide.
If you spend any time around ham radio, you will hear people talk about Field Day. There are actually two big ones in the amateur radio calendar: the ARRL Field Day in June and Winter Field Day in January. They share a spirit but they are run by different organizations and they feel very different once you are out there. Here is what each one is, when it happens, and what you do.
What Field Day is really about
At its core, Field Day is a chance to practice operating away from the comfort of your home station. The idea is simple. If a real emergency knocked out commercial power and the internet, could you still set up a station and make contacts? Field Day is the drill for that. It is part contest, part public demonstration, and part excuse to spend a weekend outside playing radio with friends.
You will hear the same themes come up again and again: emergency preparedness, operating under less than ideal conditions, and showing the public what amateur radio can do. That last part matters. Clubs often set up in parks, fairgrounds, and other public spots specifically so people can walk up and ask questions.
ARRL Field Day (the summer one)
ARRL Field Day is the big one. It is run by the ARRL, the national association for amateur radio in the United States, and it draws tens of thousands of operators across the US and Canada every year. It has been around since the 1930s.
When it happens: ARRL Field Day is always the fourth full weekend of June. In 2026 that falls on June 27 and 28. The operating period begins at 1800 UTC Saturday and ends at 2059 UTC Sunday, which works out to a 24 hour window (stations that wait until 1800 UTC Saturday to start setting up can run the full 27 hour period).
What you do: You try to work as many stations as possible across the HF bands (160, 80, 40, 20, 15, and 10 meters) plus 50 MHz and up. You can operate solo or as part of a club, and there are different classes depending on where you set up and how many transmitters you run. Bonus points reward things like running on emergency power, setting up in a public location, having an info table, getting media coverage, and getting youth on the air. Logs are submitted through the ARRL web app after the event.
Winter Field Day
Winter Field Day exists because emergencies do not wait for nice weather. It was first organized in 2007, and the Winter Field Day Association (formed in 2015) has run it ever since. The whole point is to practice the same field skills when it is cold, wet, snowy, or icy, which introduces a completely different set of problems: frozen fingers, batteries that drain faster, and antennas that are no fun to put up in the wind.
When it happens: Winter Field Day is held the last full weekend in January. In 2026 that is January 24 and 25. The operating period runs 30 hours, starting at 1600 UTC Saturday and ending at 2159 UTC Sunday.
What you do: The basic mission is the same as summer Field Day. Set up a field station and make as many contacts as you can. There are a few structural differences worth knowing. All of your gear, antennas, feed lines, and accessories need to fit within a circle no more than 1,000 feet across, though you are allowed to relocate during the event. Setup cannot start earlier than 1600 UTC on the Friday before, and total setup time is capped at 12 hours. Instead of the old bonus point system, Winter Field Day now uses objectives that act as score multipliers, and the rules get refreshed each year, so it is worth downloading the current version before you operate.
Which one should you try?
Honestly, both. Summer Field Day is the easier place to start because the weather cooperates and clubs go all out, so there is usually someone around to show you the ropes. Winter Field Day is the one that really tests whether your gear and your patience hold up when conditions are miserable. If you are working toward being genuinely prepared, the winter event teaches lessons the summer one never will.
You do not need a fancy station for either. A modest radio, a battery, and a wire antenna in a tree will get you on the air and making contacts. The point is to get out there and do it.