[CQ-Contest] Field Day thought ...

[Zack Widup]

On Mon, 25 Jun 2001, Jim Lowman wrote:

> 
> Ron Wetjen wrote:
> > 
> > It didn't take long, before someone wrote
> > 
> > > Field Day is NOT a contest but an EXERCISE in emergency communications.
> 
> I think this distinction has been lost over the years.  To many of us,
> FD is thought of as a contest these days.  If points are awarded and
> scores are reported in QST, it's a contest in my book.  If it walks
> like a duck, etc.
> 
> As someone said, FD is what you make of it.  For some, it's an all-out
> contest effort.  For others, it's a picnic or a social occasion, with
> the operation as a secondary result.  For me, it's always been an
> all-out competition, starting with my first FD in 1966.
> 
> 73 de Jim - AD6CW
> 

Field Day is the only operating event of its type that we have.  It is the
only operating event that has a chance at broad publicity and public
visitation.  In our club, it also got the general membership active and 
interested. (A small miracle?)  Most of them aren't contesters.

I had to keep reminding myself of that fact.  We had many visitors to FD
this year, as we were set up in a city park.  When I was operating
(during the day, anyway) the contester in me wanted to go for the QSO's,
but the sociable side of me made me set the rig aside for a few minutes
each time to explain to passers-by what it was all about.  Hopefully some
of them got interested as a result.  I'm sure if I'd just sat there and
operated without speaking to them, I would have come across as rude or
obnoxious.  What kind of impression would that have made?

I say leave Field Day as it is.  We can always dream up new contests.  We
could have a new Field-Day type of "real" contest if we wanted one, on a
separate weekend from FD.

73, Zack W9SZ


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