[CQ-Contest] Emergency Contest

[Ford Peterson]

David Robbins wrote:

>
> It's called 'Field Day'.  It happens every year in June.  What it needs
> in many areas is more emphasis on PR and less on just getting a bunch of
> OT's together for a weekend of playing a bit of radio and drinking beer.
> Add more of an incentive to pass meaningful traffic and better
> recognition to clubs that get real public exposure and you are almost
> there.
>

Having participated in Field Day for years, this a completely different
animal.

Field day allows us to hone our skills related to the "emergency" part of
the equation.  What I am talking about is an opportunity to concentrate on
the "systems."

You are right about the "playing a bit of radio and drinking beer" when it
comes to field day.  And that is part of the magic of Field Day -- getting
reacquainted with fellow hams in the neighborhood.  Drag out that old rig
you only use on FD and play.

In a true emergency, people at ground zero will be doing the field day thing
for sure.  The rest of the masses will be using their own equipment in their
own shacks with access to their own equipment (computers, printers,
networks, etc.).  Frankly, if something happened that put everyone in the
field day environment during and emergency, we'd all be nothing but
toast--true Armagedon.

What is needed is to get your personal shack in tune to pass real traffic.
Field Day is somebody else's radio on a borrowed 386 laptop using a rented
generator.  I won't bring my radios to Field Day--at least not the good
stuff.  Equipment can really get trashed.  I'd rather burn up somebody
else's radio/computer with the spikes from a 15 year old generator that gets
used once per year.

Field Day has enough problems--a time to elmer the newbies.  The Emergency
Contest has a completely different set of complicated problems--not for the
faint of heart or the inexperienced.  Veterans need to pave the way on this
one--a skill set the amateur community has not yet developed.

Speaking of Field Day.  My personal experience is that FD was the #1 reason
I never got involved with contesting until recently.  I'll save that one for
another thread.

Ford-N0FP
ford at cmgate.com


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