[CQ-Contest] Is it time to move Field Day earlier in the year?

[Jeff Clarke]

Another thing you need to remember is June is the peak for sporadic-E 
propagation on the VHF bands. You aren't going to get that in April and 
May. You would have a lot of very bored VHF operators if you moved the 
date.  I remember one FD I did years ago with the Mad River Radio Club 
at the Case Western Reserve University farm in Geauga County, which is 
out in the boonies east of Cleveland.  It got down to the 30's at night 
and I had to sleep in my car with the heat on. Fortunately we don't have 
that problem here in middle Georgia. It was in the mid-90's here with no 
rain and very pleasant at night.

The local club - The Columbus Amateur Radio Club, W4CVY,  treats K4BAI 
and I like royalty since we are usually the only CW operators every 
year. We probably make two thirds of the club's total QSO's from our 
station. They give us a nice air conditioned trailer to operate from. 
The CARC FD is more of a club social event. When it starts to get dark 
on Saturday night, after their barbecue, people take off. Some of them 
might come back on Sunday. The only station who usually stays on the air 
the full 24 hours is the CW station manned by John and I. Although, they 
did keep one of the SSB stations going until 3 AM this year. The nice 
perk for me is they moved their Field Day site a few years ago to a 
local county park just a mile from were I live. I can drive home  in 5 
minutes when I want to get some sleep.

Field Day has been the same weekend every year forever and shouldn't be 
changed. Dealing with the weather and bugs is just part of the FD 
experience. Plus they have the"D", "E" and "F" classes if you don't want 
to deal with the elements. The rules were changed after COVID-19 that 
class "D" class stations can now work other "D" class stations.

Jeff  KU8E