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[CQ-Contest] Is it time to move Field Day earlier in the year?

To: "CQ-Contest@contesting.com" <cq-contest@contesting.com>
Subject: [CQ-Contest] Is it time to move Field Day earlier in the year?
From: Jeff Clarke <ku8e@ku8e.com>
Date: Mon, 24 Jun 2024 13:03:07 -0400
List-post: <mailto:cq-contest@contesting.com>
Another thing you need to remember is June is the peak for sporadic-E propagation on the VHF bands. You aren't going to get that in April and May. You would have a lot of very bored VHF operators if you moved the date.  I remember one FD I did years ago with the Mad River Radio Club at the Case Western Reserve University farm in Geauga County, which is out in the boonies east of Cleveland.  It got down to the 30's at night and I had to sleep in my car with the heat on. Fortunately we don't have that problem here in middle Georgia. It was in the mid-90's here with no rain and very pleasant at night.

The local club - The Columbus Amateur Radio Club, W4CVY,  treats K4BAI and I like royalty since we are usually the only CW operators every year. We probably make two thirds of the club's total QSO's from our station. They give us a nice air conditioned trailer to operate from. The CARC FD is more of a club social event. When it starts to get dark on Saturday night, after their barbecue, people take off. Some of them might come back on Sunday. The only station who usually stays on the air the full 24 hours is the CW station manned by John and I. Although, they did keep one of the SSB stations going until 3 AM this year. The nice perk for me is they moved their Field Day site a few years ago to a local county park just a mile from were I live. I can drive home  in 5 minutes when I want to get some sleep.

Field Day has been the same weekend every year forever and shouldn't be changed. Dealing with the weather and bugs is just part of the FD experience. Plus they have the"D", "E" and "F" classes if you don't want to deal with the elements. The rules were changed after COVID-19 that class "D" class stations can now work other "D" class stations.

Jeff  KU8E



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