[CQ-Contest] Field Day and contesting...

[Robert Chudek - K0RC]

I consider Field Day more of a radio activity than a contest. I do know many use it as an opportunity for contest training and try to be competitive. Overall I think Field Day and its rules shed light on a topic that has been discussed here... reading and understanding contest rules.

I did a casual low-power effort from my home station (1D), mostly on 10m SSB. Saturday evening the band was in great shape and allowed me to run 223 stations from 22:38 until 00:27.

During this run, 80 "1D" stations called me. That is more than 35% of the stations that I logged who called in for Zero points. Obviously, if a station had heard the previous QSO, they *should* have known that I was a "1D" station and would not count for anything. (Exception, someone looking to boost their WAS numbers.)

So the point is, a significant number of operators either don't read or don't understand the rules for Field Day. I expect this carries over to all other contests as well.

I am not complaining... I wasn't "contesting"... I was having a ball working the pileup that was calling me. I am posting this observation because I felt that the number of 1D stations logged was excessive and it reinforced the idea that many stations participate in contests "just for the fun of it" and could care less about the rules.

My other observation was the end of Field Day. Normally I find very high activity during the last hour. But Sunday afternoon I had to look at the rules again because the bands seem vacant during the last hour! I was thinking it might have ended at 20:00 instead of 21:00.

73 de Bob - KØRC in MN