On 6/25/2012 2:34 PM, Jerry Haigwood wrote:
A good operator will slow down and work those
type of people because the good operator realizes that FD always brings out the
non-contesters.
As a good operator, and one for whom Field Day has long been my favorite
contest, I DO slow down for those with lower code speed, and DURING the
contest, I grit my teeth and smile. Probably 5% of the 800 contacts I
made were in that category. But AFTER the contest, I will do my best
educate those who don't know any better. Which is what I'm doing now.
Almost any phone contest brings out non-contesters, and we want to
encourage them.We WANT more contesters. What we don't want to encourage
is BAD HABITS. And anything that wastes time is a bad habit.
This is not just about contesting -- an important part of ham radio is
emergency preparedness, and an important part of both contesting and
Field Day is training for emergency preparedness. In an emergency,
wasting time is also a very bad thing, knowing good operating techniques
is and communicating effectively a very good thing.
I live just down the road from a top contester who also is a key player
in our emergency communications activities, including running the nets
when things are happening. Our nets are activated for real emergencies
fairly often -- we have big forest fires, there are floods, heavy
storms, and this is earthquake territory. Back in the midwest where I
used to live we had floods and tornadoes. Along the east and gulf coasts
there are floods and hurricanes. And nowadays almost everyone is having
wildfires.
73, Jim K9YC
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