[CQ-Contest] Field Day thought ...

[Jeff Stai WK6I]

At 07:32 AM 6/25/01, Ron Wetjen wrote:

>Can anyone confirm, that this weekend's Field Day was the end of the 
>"free" Novice/Tech station?  I thought I read that somewhere, but can't 
>remember where.

hi Ron - I read the same thing, either in the FD packet or in QST. I hope
that it comes to pass: we could not operate the Novice-Tech Plus station
at K6SOA because we do not have any Novice or Tech Plus members in the
club! Our efforts to get members to upgrade at least to General have been
too effective I guess - in fact, we may have made a tactical error by having
a testing session BEFORE FD in which our last remaining Tech Plus members
upgraded! (We looked into downgrading an Extra who never uses his hard-
earned privileges, but we couldn't find any rule in Part 97 to cover that ;-).

Anyway, the net result was that we ended up using one of our regular
stations as a sort of training station. Sometimes our "free" VHF
station played the same role. In one case, we had a 13-year Tech who
could barely blurt out the exchange on his first QSO - two hours later
he was sorting calls out of -his- pileup on 6m! This was very cool to see,
and was well worth any points we may have "lost" on an "underutilized"
station!

It also points out a great thing about FD: it allows folks to experience
contesting without having the pressure of being in a "real" contest. I
think this is very worthwhile and agree with this proposal. To establish
that a training station had been operated, require that the station be
manned by a "new" operator and a "mentor", and simply keep a log of both
calls to submit with the entry. Allow the station to operate on any band;
i.e., do not restrict it to Novice etc. band segments.

73 - jeff wk6i




>If this indeed is the case, I think I've come up with a possible 
>replacement.
>
>We all talk about the lack of new blood to contesting, and of a need to 
>somehow "train" those who are interested.  A possible solution would be 
>a "free" station that is operated by "newbies" to contesting, and those 
>who are not quite quite ready to take on the veterans.  
>
>Over the weekend, some of us discussed the merits of setting up an 
>additional station next year as a type of "training" station.  
>However, if there are no bodies to operate this additional station, 
>it's basically going to waste, and puts us in 3A, for example, even if 
>the 3rd station has no one operating.
>
>This new "free" station would primarily be used for seasoned contest 
>veterans to take "newbies" under their wing, sit down with them, and 
>teach them how to operate.  This way, while your main stations are 
>going full bore with more experienced operators, this additional "free" 
>transmitter can be used for training.  Making this a "free" transmitter, 
>does not penalize a groups effort if there is no one operating this 
>additional station at some points during Field Day.  
>
>We try to make sure that anyone who wants to operate, gets the chance 
>to do so.  Perhaps a "newbie" feels intimidated watching and listening 
>to the veterans racking up the big numbers, and doesn't feel good about 
>asking the veteran to give the "new guy" a shot at operating.  This 
>"training" station can give these folks an opportunity to get on, in 
>a more relaxed style, going at a pace that's comfortable for them, and 
>with the help of a veteran contester teaching them the proper way to 
>operate and practice logging. (This is actually how we used our 
>Novice/Tech station in the past - when there were operators we could 
>put on there!)
>
>In much the same way that the Novice/Technician station could only be
>operated by those licence classes, the "training" station can only be
>operated by "newbies" or those wishing to learn.  No "veterans" would be
>allowed to operate this station - but would be able to log for the
>stations operating (and yes, we all know exactly what is considered a 
>"veteran" contester.)
>
>Just some random thoughts after a very enjoyable (and wet) weekend!
>
>73, Ron  WD4AHZ (@ NJ4M)
>
>
>--
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jeff stai
radio stuff:   WK6I in DM13
rocket stuff:  NAR #21059 TRA #3356 Level 2 Cert.
email:         jstai at home.com or wk6i at arrl.net
ROC web page:  http://www.rocstock.org/
LDRS web page: http://www.ldrs20.org/


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