3

What are the qualities of a good field day site? Specifically what do you or your clubs look for or use as criteria for site selection?

Mark S.
  • 133
  • 5
  • 2
    I'd vote to keep open as this is a common question for those new to organizing a field day, and though not directly answerable, understanding that there is a list of concerns that can go into a successful FD site/experience IS responsive and helpful to the community. – webmarc Jun 24 '22 at 15:51

1 Answers1

2

(Posted as an answer instead of a comment due to size)

In short, the current question ("What are the qualities of a good field day site? ") is unanswerable because:

Objectively, it depends on what the PEOPLE NEED who will be using the site. So really start with some questions:

  • How many people does the site need to accommodate?
  • What is the climate, and likely weather in the area?
  • Do the people intend to operate 24x7?
  • Will people need a place to sleep if rotating on/off?
  • How many concurrent stations will satisfy the volume of people available to operate?
  • Will the people generally be more interested in prioritizing points, the camping experience, the in-person social aspects, the operating aspects, the site setup/tear-down aspects, the publicity and recruitment aspects, the educational and equipment testing aspects, etc?
  • What bands do the people intend to operate on?

Based on the answers to these and other questions, a "good" site will have markedly different definitions.

So while not necessarily a purely opinion based question, your team/club/personal definition of "good" needs to be explored and stated because currently there is no shared understanding of it.

I may delete this if OP updates question

user10489
  • 5,496
  • 1
  • 9
  • 22
webmarc
  • 3,605
  • 1
  • 17
  • 40
  • 2
    This is a form of frame challenge; as such it's a legitimate answer of the form "you're not asking the right question." – Zeiss Ikon Jun 24 '22 at 14:43
  • 1
    Good answer, worth keeping anyway. – user10489 Jun 25 '22 at 06:08
  • 1
    I'd say, we could improve the question by changing it from "what's a good field day like" to "which criteria should I consider when designing a field day"; it wouldn't break the spirit of the original question too badly, give OP a useful answer, and remove the "this is really subjective" as an immediate concern. – Marcus Müller Jun 29 '22 at 11:22