Oh well, we can kiss the Ham Bands off this weekend.... The idiots have descended, and it is wall to wall "contesters"... If there is ONE thing I hate about Ham Radio is "Contesters" They would cut their mothers throat, for just one more contact.... Rude, self-centered and borish.... just like a bunch of spoiled Brats, measuring their "Manhood"..... to see who is the "Biggest Mouth" on the air...... Oh well.....
Was just up in 18.13 Mhz and seeing what I could hear.... Nice interesting Band... but Not interested in talking to those Yahoos....
Nope... Se how many contacts you can make in the allotted time... Makes for massive Noise, and little else... for that weekend.... When I was a kid, the FCC used to drive around in their trucks, on Contest Weekends, and bust guys for using more than Legal Power. It was good practice for them, in DF and Ident work. Back in that day, the FCC was ALL Engineers, not the Pansies they employ today. Well some are still Engineers, but many are non-Tech Employees. (Public Relations Specialists = Pansies) YMMV....
On contest weekends...there's always the Hancock option The Radio Ham Hancock / The Radio Ham 1/3 - YouTube Hancock / The Radio Ham 2/3 - YouTube Hancock / The Radio Ham 3/3 - YouTube
Hate to break your Nostalgic Bubble, Chell, but Nobody has used cluncky old gear like that, in 4 decades.....
Ah...the good old days..... Ah...but them's was the good ol' days, when it took half an hour to warm up the valves before the radio was in a fit state to receive or transmit...the days when morse code was a necessary part of a signaller's training, ah...yes, the correspondence lessons from the Marconi School of Radio Telegraphy, yes, I remember them...and don't miss them a bit! lol
Must be Dinner Time.... My suggestion would be to "Eat It" with a Smile, and you just might got lucky....
That is a heck of a question with more than a few answers. DX contests where you work a lot of foreign contacts. County contests where confirming US counties for as points. Even EME or earth moon earth contests. There are lots of contests; IMO (and obviously Bruce's also ) too many contests.. Field Day is a contest where Hams link up with other Hams to practice establishing communications in an emergency. Points are awarded for each contact. It is an incentive points system where the "tougher" you make it; the more points you get. http://www.arrl.org/files/file/Field-Day/2012/2012-FD-Rules.pdf So same as any any general rule there are some exceptions to the rule all contests clog the bands.
Field Day is one time where I do spend some time making "Contacts" for folks looking for Emergency Powered Stations. I feel that this is one "Exception" to my "I hate contest weekends" Rule.... that I can make, simply to encourage Hams to be Prep'ed, for Emergency, and Bush Comms..... ..... YMMV....
Figured you'd agree.. FD on 40 or 80 is a reminder how many Hams there are in the US and how easily we can communicate cross country.