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Amateur radio station W9DUA completed a highly active 24-hour marathon during the 2026 American Radio Relay League (ARRL) Field Day, logging a total of 912 successful contacts and accumulating 1,549 points.
The operating period, which began on Saturday, June 27, 2026, at 18:01 UTC and concluded the following day at 17:59 UTC, saw the station operational for nearly the entire duration, maintaining a total operating time of 23 hours, 58 minutes, and 35 seconds. Operators managed an impressive average rate of 38.0 contacts per hour over the course of the event.
CW Leads the Charge Across the Bands
Morse code (CW) proved to be the dominant mode of communication for the W9DUA team, accounting for 637 of the total contacts (roughly 70%), while voice communication (Phone) brought in the remaining 275 contacts. No digital mode contacts were recorded during this year's session.
A closer look at the frequency bands reveals that the 40-meter band was the busiest, yielding 370 contacts (41% of the total), closely followed by the 20-meter band with 333 contacts (37%). The remaining communications were distributed across the 15-meter (163 contacts), 80-meter (39 contacts), and 6-meter (7 contacts) bands.
The station leveraged two distinct operating strategies: "Running"—where the station holds a single frequency and invites others to call—and "Search and Pounce"—where operators scan the bands to find other broadcasting stations. The running strategy proved highly efficient, netting 566 QSOs (contacts) at an accelerated rate of 68.9 contacts per hour during active periods, while search and pounce maneuvers secured another 346 contacts.
Broad Geographical Footprint
W9DUA’s signals reached across North America and crossed several oceans. While the vast majority of connections were made within the United States (853 contacts or 94%), operators successfully linked up with 53 stations in Canada, two in Puerto Rico, and single stations in European Russia, Guam, Italy, and Spain.
Excluding domestic connections, the station covered a total international DX (long-distance) mileage of 67,763 miles, averaging an impressive 1,149 miles per international contact. Within the U.S. and Canada, the station connected with operators across 57 distinct states and provinces, finding the most frequent responses from Texas (72), Ohio (63), and New York (52).
Individual Operator Highlights
The event featured a collaborative effort from ten different operators utilizing four distinct setups, though a single operator and station carried the bulk of the workload. Operator W9KKN spearheaded the campaign, securing 720 contacts—accounting for 79% of the team's entire output—primarily operating from "station1".
Other contributing operators included KA9KQH with 74 contacts (8%), KD9GMP with 66 contacts (7%), and several others closing out the remaining entries.
Out of the 912 total logged exchanges, W9DUA reached 712 unique amateur radio stations. The most frequently contacted station was W3AO, which was logged 7 separate times, followed closely by K4JJ and W2LV with 6 contacts each.
The final documentation was compiled utilizing N3FJP's ARRL Field Day Contest Log (Version 6.6.10).
Total Contacts by Band and Mode:
Band CW Phone Dig Total %
---- -- ----- --- ----- ---
80 28 11 0 39 4
40 286 84 0 370 41
20 221 112 0 333 37
15 102 61 0 163 18
6 0 7 0 7 1
-- ----- --- ----- ---
Total 637 275 0 912 100
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