Not at all. Part of the game. At least a thousand. Maybe. There was no requirement of actually operating back when I got my Extra, except to renew a license. In fact, "back then", someone could walk into an FCC office, pass all the tests for Advanced, toss the Advanced in a drawer for two years, go back to the FCC office and pass the Extra tests, and get an Extra without ever having been on the air at all. I don't know anyone who did that, but it was possible. And a few years after I got my Extra, it became possible to go from no license to Extra in one exam session. What changed things was the repeater boom of the 1970s-80s, which caused most new hams to start out on VHF/UHF rather than HF.
I'm glad that you have a great group and good participation in your FD operation and other club activities. I am far from being a fanatic insisting that everyone be out for blood in their FD operation. But some operation would be nice. After three FD's with 2 different clubs and almost no operating to speak of I did give up on the club FD's and myself and a few other like minded hams held our own. We had a great time and made lots of contacts and lots of bonus points. We still had great food and conversation. All hams were welcome and encouraged to come and set in and operate. And I'm sure the clubs didn't miss me at their operation. In fact one of the clubs just stopped having FD.
A successful Field Day is operating, sure, but also socializing, public outreach, and an emergency test. A balance of those things is the secret.
The "digital guys" did all the digital obviously. Also did the 2m contacts (one from pretty far away!) and about 25 of the phone contacts. AND we managed some sleep Sat night. Total Contacts by Band and Mode: Band CW Phone Dig Total % ---- -- ----- --- ----- --- 160 0 0 2 2 0 80 0 0 75 75 11 40 0 11 127 138 21 20 0 189 199 388 58 15 0 14 41 55 8 10 0 0 5 5 1 6 0 0 6 6 1 2 0 2 0 2 0 -- ----- --- ----- --- Total 0 216 455 671 100 edit - that formats great on my screen, just not posting well - says 216 phone, 455 digital
Absolutely. License classes have never been certificates of achievement or proof of activity. We have awards for that. The sole purpose of a license is to grant someone the power to transmit, and the test only needs to determine that one can do so responsibly. That being said, I had a much easier time upgrading because I spent time on the air, and in particular homebrewing antennas.
EVERY club that’s been around for a while has a couple of Those Guys. Heck, I remember a few of them from my original NJ club, always sitting in the back of the meeting doing their thing. That was back in 1972. Just do what the (then) W2MO club leadership did back in the day. Ignore them.
