diff --git a/DDSegmentation/include/DDSegmentation/BitField64.h b/DDSegmentation/include/DDSegmentation/BitField64.h
index 42b91c2cb3b9326efb4d15d81731c46bad458d30..cc19a62ab036c592cf53b98f3bcb7bbb2808ab78 100644
--- a/DDSegmentation/include/DDSegmentation/BitField64.h
+++ b/DDSegmentation/include/DDSegmentation/BitField64.h
@@ -78,6 +78,9 @@ namespace DDSegmentation {
      */
     void  setValue(long64 value ) { _value = ( _joined & value ) ; }
     
+    /** Operator for setting a new value and accessing the BitField directly */
+    BitField64& operator()(long64 val) { setValue( val ) ; return *this ; }
+ 
     /** Reset - same as setValue(0) - useful if the same encoder is used for many objects.
      */
     void  reset() { _value = 0 ; }