[CQ-Contest] FD observations and suggestion

[W4ZW]

For Pete's sake, Field Day is about getting activity going, not score or run
rate!

Just getting everybody we can on for a bit is a worthwhile goal in itself.
Class "D", "A", whatever.  I have my fondest memories of Field Day as a kid
and like many of us, it was my first exposure to real radios, (mine was a
6AG7/6L6 HB), more than one contact every 30 minutes, and the fun of
climbing trees and putting up all that wire!  Fighting the mosquitoes,
sleep, and getting "bit" when you touched the wrong two things were
insignificant after working a real "VK" on Field Day with a real radio with
a real "bug" (Vibroplex keyer for you young guys)  remain as highlights from
my teen age years.

Funny, isn't it, that today Field Day  is easier than ever with
self-contained rigs, good RF suppression, small, compact, reliable
generators and a plethora of ready made antennas, and yet it's becoming
increasingly difficult to get a team together for Field Day?  Maybe it has
something to do with the graying of our hobby. 

I missed Field day two of the last four years when the XYL scheduled cruises
with the kids and for the last two years I've been traveling taking the kids
to camp in NC where they start camp on FD weekend.  Last year, I took along
my Kenwood TS-50, a battery, and a coil of wire and operated FD style from
the mountains of NC in between getting the kids settled.  This year, I
operated a new FT-857D SSB when I drove, and CW when the XYL was driving.
For me, Field Day is an annual trip back into my youth when I again feel
that thrill of the magic of Ham radio.

I know the magic is still there.  I saw it in the faces of the kids I had
over for  Kid's day a few weeks ago.  Tks to the V73 who called in and spent
some time telling the kids about where he was and bit about Kwajalein, and
to the African who spent time talking with the kids about his country, and
the DL and the F and the many other hams around the world who took time to
plant the seed of magic in these kids who are now studying for their
licenses.  I'm only sorry I wasn't here to put together a  Field Day for
them as the Elmers did for me when I was 14.

My 2 cents.


Jon Hamlet,  W4ZW
 
Casey Key Island, Florida
"A little piece of paradise in the Gulf of Mexico"