Field Day 2021...
In three words: “What a Zoo”!!!!
This Field Day was like the three stooges all trying to go through the same door at the same time. Nobody listening out for other stations on the same frequency, nobody asking if the frequency is in use...yep, just spin the VFO, and wherever it stops start calling CQ FD right away before somebody else does.
The ARRL placed a power limit on the home based stations of 150w because of issues caused by the home based stations last year. Yet, there were home operators out there bragging they were using 1000w and 1500w again this year....and many of them. I heard a W4 and a K3 in particular, talking about their high power levels during one of their exchanges. If you’re not going to follow the rules, why take part?
There seemed to be more LIDS out there than usual causing issues this year, and the foul language on the air at times had to be heard to be believed. Perhaps it’s time the ARRL took some steps...big ones...to put an end to this bad behaviour on the bands. This isn’t the first year this has happened, it’s just that it gets worse every year. Nobody seems to care about the bad behaviour and nobody will do something about it, so after a while it becomes acceptable because there is no penalty for flaunting the rules and the accepted behaviour standards.
This is what I wrote last year about Field Day:
"The ARRLs decision to temporarily modify the rules was, in my opinion, an absolute disaster. I'm sure the ARRL will scream that this year was the "Largest Field Day Turnout in History!" within the next couple weeks as the logs begin to roll in, and of course the numbers look good for their amateur radio publicity, but Field Day should not be a numbers game. It might just well have been any other contest weekend.
The people who actually participated in the real SPIRIT of Field Day had absolutely no chance at all. They were getting completely blown away by the D and E stations running large antennas and amplifiers. That's all you heard. I'm just guessing right now without looking at my log, but I would say easily 95% of the contacts I made were Class D and E."
The ARRL did nothing about this, and this year it was even worse. Every word I wrote last year I could write again about this year. The spirit of Field Day is emergency preparedness, not a contest. If you're not prepared to operate under minimal conditions and with minimum equipment, why bother taking part?
I think that after 25 years of doing them, I’m over field day. This was the last one for me.
