On 5/14/2020 11:17 AM, Bob McGraw K4TAX wrote:
From ARRL - At its core, *Field Day* is a local event and an
opportunity for local amateur radio clubs to showcase the skills,
science and technologies that make radio communication such a wonderful
hobby and a valuable public service.
I see nothing about this being a contest.
Yeah, they've been saying that for years. Saying something doesn't make
it true. For the vast majority of contesters of my generation, it was
our first contest. It's a "gateway drug." And if you don't think it's a
contest, you've never been part of a club that takes FD seriously. The
club I participated with in Chicago was, and still is, one of the top
three in its class, usually #1 or #2, and our current group in W6 has
won 1AB three times.
Important parts of doing well in FD are searching for and getting
permission for a good site that is RF quiet and has good possibilities
for rigging antennas, checking out all the gear in advance, selecting
radios that play well together in a multi-transmitter environment
(Elecraft is a big winner), rejecting those that don't (el-cheapo
160-440MHz for $1K junk), learning how to separate antennas to minimize
interference between stations while maximizing performance, checking out
every part of our stations in advance. There's a lot to be learned that
prepares us for emergencies from every element of what I've outlined above.
FD SHOULD also teach "short and sweet" operating procedures that are
directly applicable for emergency operation -- that's when I first
learned it from my contesting Elmer, W8FUM.
73, Jim K9YC
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