Golly... Stu... I wonder if there is room for more than one type of
emergency practice exercise each year? FD would not really crowd or
obsolete your ARES SET exercises, but I sorta like the notion that FD
could be MORE LIKE an emergency exercise than a contest, and still
accomplish its purpose - perhaps it would work better under an emergency
practice model, than a contest model.
This may be an example of the proverbial "walks like a duck, quacks
like a duck... must be a duck" syndrome. If we set it up to walk and
quack like a contest, we should not be surprised so many treat it like a
contest.
I suppose we use a contest-style exchange because it provides a simple,
quick, exchange and the purpose of Field Day is to practice making
quick and efficient exchanges, as would be required in an actual
emergency. But I don't believe there is a rule for how to do it...
there is no rule that specifies the exact exchange we should use, but we
use the contest exchange because it IS quick and efficient.
I also suppose we could just as easily adopt a more emergency-style
exchange, but it has not developed in that direction. I believe the
exchange is irrelevant, as long as it is short, clear, and businesslike,
as one is expected to act in an actual emergency. So, I suspect we
could easily eschew the contest motif in favor of an emergency motif, if
we wanted to. That would not alter the character of Field Day much.
I am intrigued by the suggestion Field Day be more spontaneous, although
I also believe delaying the announcement of of what day it shall be
would be disastrous for some very practical reasons unrelated to the
purpose of Field Day. Some guys need to get the day off work. Others
need to plan around family and other event. I can just imagine the
number of family feuds that could arise as Father-Ham announces the
family is NOT going camping this weekend, as he needs the trailer for
Field Day... while Mother-non-Ham announces he will find his stuff in
the Garage or on the street when gets home.
So, I am not sure THAT would work out as Lou suggests... but I doubt
Lou has really given it that much thought, so I spot him some slack, and
figure he is merely suggesting we shift the format from what walks and
talks like a contest, to something that walks and talks more like an
emergency practice event. I sorta like the notion we adopt a different
model, as it may result in a different result.
The ARRL could modify its points scheme, accordingly. Point schemes are
often used to measure club performance, and the extent of involvement in
desired activities. They often use point schemes to measure local
chapter performance on key criteria, such as new member recruitment, old
member retention, promotion and public relations (such as awarding
points for obtaining city proclamations or placing informative printed
matter in public places, and measure chapter performance on good
business practices, such as having regular board meetings, having
regular member meetings, having regular planning sessions, having
regular fund raising events, using recognized good organizational tools
like Roberts Rules of Order, publishing a regular newsletter, and the
like. The ARRL could revamp the point system to identify, list, and
measure good Field Practices - rather than count the number of
meaningless contest-like contacts are made.
These small changes could spur a paradigm shift, and convert Field Day
into what it purports to be - an opportunity to practice setting up and
operating multi-radio emergency field stations on short notice.
Thus, the ARRL could retain the point system for this other purpose - to
provide a better, more objective, quantitative measurement of local
chapter health and levels of participation. It would still award points
such things as for having a GOTA station, and it could award additional
points for each band activated, additional points for obtaining
publicity in the newspaper, award points for getting certain public
officials, such as a mayor or city manager, to attend, and award points
for certain types of publicity such as having signs on the street, or a
banner hanging over the street near the FD site, and maybe award points
for each ham and two points for each non-ham who gets on the air and
completes x contacts.
In this way, we could accomplish Lou's objective... to move toward an
emergency practice model, and away from a contest model. Points for
these things would indicate the depth and complexity of FD involvement,
and the ARRL could issue certificates for different levels of
participation - with the idea that everybody COULD (at least possibly)
manage to accumulate all available points, but probably not.
This would go a long way toward shifting from a contest model to an
emergency event model. The ARRL could further the shift by promoting a
different type of message exchange, one that is more like an emergency
message and less like a contest exchange. These little changes would
alter the character and feel of Field Day, and nudge it closer to an
emergency practice event than a contest.
And I think this is what LOU is driving at.
Anyway, that is just MY take on it
========================= JHR =======================
On 7/11/2012 4:40 PM, Stuart Rohre wrote:
I have to differ with the sentiment to make FD into a full blown
"unknown when it happens" Em Comm event. There is already one or more
of those under national ARES training, and it is called the National
Simulated Emergency Test (ARES SET).
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