FD 2007-contest or casual?

Submitted by K0XQ on Thu, 05/24/2007 - 10:33am.

Does this thing actually work?

If so, this is a nice ad-on to the site. Kudos to whoever is responsible for the website, nice design and full of useful features.

I'll start with something I have been ruminating about the last few days - in past years, the TCFMC Field day operation has been (rightfully) categorized as a casual, good time affair rather than an actual contest. it is part of the reason I disassociated myself with the Club FD effort in 2000; I was told things are different now, but it seems to me very little has changed. Or has it? I'll keep this as a running commentary to see if it really has changed or if the emphasis is still on casual operations and the Sunday afternoon BBQ, rather than obtaining a good score or challenging for the top 2A score in the state, which IMHO should be THE priority.

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I think it depends upon who you ask.

Submitted by kc0vcu on Thu, 05/24/2007 - 5:33pm.

For some people field day is all about the contest. Get on the air as close to noon on Saturday, and work the bands till noon on Sunday, making as many contacts as possible.

For others the idea is to make being an amateur operator as attractive to as many people as possible to increase the number of operators for all aspects of the hobby, from experimenting with e-m-e at 10 ghz, through contacts at 500 khz.

In my opinion, Field Day is about making sure that we can go to a location we don't usually consider our ham-shack, and communicating with others. Public awareness and sharing in the joy of working with other operators is far more interesting to me than how many QSOs I can make in a 2 hour shift. I think that while I am OK with the idea of the above, some others may be more interested in seeing how many people they can work that are in the field rather than at home, from their home. How many QRP contacts can you make from the club station? How many people sitting on a hill by the coast can you make the day of by pulling their signal out of the weeds and giving them the points and multipliers they need for success in their minds.

Amateur radio is a social experience. Contesting is one aspect of it, and I don't happen tho think that it is the most important part of Field Day. But that's my opinion, and I don't ask anyone else to maintain or defend it for me.

Personally I would love to make sure that we have information available and ready to hand out regarding all clubs in the area that are offering classes for Technician Class Licensing. Recommended reading material lists for people interested in self study. A current schedule of exams for the next three months, etc. All set to hand out to people interested in ham radio who show up at a field day site.

I happen to think that the TCFMC field day site is exceptionally well set up to provide such an experience, as we are in a fairly visible location and we do have a fairly large number of people walking by the site.

But that's me. Glad we can agree that we don't all have the same goals for the experience of Field day.

73,

-Rusty - kc0vcu

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