I agree it's time the ARRL "officially" recognized FD as a contest. Every
club I have operated with considers it a contest, so let's quit pretending.
However, the idea of setting up stations in the field, or at least independent
of commercial pwoer and fixed antennas needs to stay in force to keep the
emergency skills in place.
There are two local clubs in my part of SOuthern NH. ONe of them is a smallish
club, with mostly older VHFers, and a few younger ops. THey do FD every year,
each time worse than the last. This club cannot do much right. They usually
put the tribander together wrong, and end up using a tuner so get a rig to
load into it. They do not know how to use most of the knobs on the radios.
I do not think they enjoy the competition in FD, and they treat it as a social
event. No problem...they're having fun. I just think they would have more fun
if they took the time to learn how things work.
Then there's the Nashua Radio Club. This is *the* happening FD in the Northeast.
They were N1NH this year...29A! The enthusiasm grows every year. Every club
member knows his/her role, and tries to do better every year. Yes, Ken, they
put up a lot of antennas (4/4 on 20 SSB, 2/2 on 40 SSB), but everything belongs
to the club or is quickly available. The towers are stored (disassembled) on
site, and they have a well-oiled drill to install everything. I drop by and
operate a few hours every year - there are a lot of YCCCers who are members.
Would this group perform in an emergency? You bet! DO they have fun? Yup. DOn't
eevn suggest to these guys that FD is not a contest, not an emergency exercise,
and needs major overhauling. It's a joy to participate with them, even on a
limited basis.
And you should have seen the gang of Novices/Techs they had!
If half the clubs in the U.S. had this kind of enthusiasm for FD, the contesting
sport would be growing by leaps and bounds.
73,
Doug K1DG
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