ARRL Field Day: Is it a Contest or Not? The Contest Crew Opines 

Love the song at the end. Field day or not, we've all been there!

Second comment... I really noticed the nice editing and cuts by W1DED. Don't underestimate how much time Kevin spends on the video production with his videos. He really does nice work cutting to the case on the way he edits. Well done Kevin and well done contest crew. Field day is the greatest non contest operating event where every station ranks themselves by a score! :) Max NG7M

Unbeatable content as usual. I’m glad I stayed until the end. A superb surprise musical finish 👍 Thank you for another great production. 73 M0DSK

Great discussion. I hope someday to see local hams setup for Field Day in public view instead of at private / secure locations. The general media is mum about anything ham related, and so the public is left in the dark. A potential ham or person with an interest in electronics, radio or communications learns of the event when they just happen to drive by and see a sign or a large set of antennas in a field. If the event is placed in a field that is secluded from view or signs are placed on a road that has very little traffic on it, the word doesn't get out. Advertise WEEKS prior to the event, not on the weekend of the event. PR is important and any broadcast radio station will read a PSA if your club simply submits one in time. I also think it's important to have someone positioned to greet new visitors. Don't let that person who takes the effort to stop and explore feel shunned or unwelcome to your private group. Include them, guide them, encourage them! Don't drop the ball on this annual opportunity to get people interested in this "hobby of 1,000 hobbies." 73

Everyone send pse cpi to Chris’s team 😂

The Orange County Amateur Radio Club in Indiana (KB9OHY) will be listening for you!

I have a lot of memories of field day growing up as a kid . My father the president of ICARS at the time . Which was a blast looked for it every year . Family would go camping , horseback riding and I would go fishing at Allison woods in NC . The Saturday night dinners was the best . And I would stay up all night long keying contacts .. that was 1990-94 .. my dad's been a h since the 60s . Wa1ehl / N1GC is his old call an new call . Had a tower set up on his 16;ft trailer and would go to 40 ft when done .

In the UK we have separate VHF / HF field days. I like the idea of combining them into one though.

There is a Fieldday in New Zealand as well. Ours is in late February (our summer) and on 80/40 m in CW/SSB only. It is meant as an emergency preparation/testing event. Part of the time limit is the erection of the station/antennas starting at noon while "operating" starts from 3 pm. Since we are so few "active" operators here, we can work each other again in each hour. This way "top" stations achieve up to 500 QSO's in total. From midnight to 6 am we have a break and go to sleep. Logs have to be send in as paper logs.

Can't call it a contest since there are no awards, but it definitely can be called a competition between stations and clubs!

It's not a war, it's a "conflict".

I find it interesting that for all ARRLs insistence that Field Day is not a contest, they still honor the 'no contesting on WARC bands' agreement. Add in the classes, categories, points, and rankings, and it sure seems like it's a contest to me.

I don't think W9KKN is actually talking into his SM7B. I know precisely what that mic sounds like.

Yes! Please don't say 'please copy'! But please do be nice and help new operators out and encourage them, even if they say 'please copy'. Take time and tell a new or nervous operator that they are doing great. If you know there is a youth operator on the other end, bend over backwards to make it a fun QSO exchange. And yes! Just work the dupes. Even if it's the 20th dupe, just work them again. Max NG7M