Jeffrey D Angus wrote:
Dick Grady AC7EL wrote:

However, the object of Field Day is to contact as many
stations as possible.

I thought the purpose of Field Day was to serve as a training
ground for emergency preparedness.

It certainly does that. It can be a test of how quickly a group can
gets stations up and running. It can be a test of which groups are
better organized and it can certainly be (and is) a test of how
efficient operators can be in copying a message quickly and accurately.
They keep and publish scores, do they not? That's a contest as well as
an exercise.

And a time to experiment
with new techniques and technology in an "emergency" setting
without it being a "real" emergency.

I'm going to be bold in stating that I believe Field Day is a terrible
time to be fiddling with new techniques/technology. It is a simple
matter to do that well in advance of Field Day. You certainly wouldn't
want to experiment with new techniques/technology in an actual emergency.

Considering the relative ease of setting up an NVIS antenna
system, and the number of other stations on the air, Field
Day makes a perfect time to see how it performs and to map
it's effectiveness for short range HF communications.

I could have done that last Tuesday. The bands are loaded with stations
almost all of the time. The results of installing an NVIS antenna are
well known. They work better for working stations within a few hundred
miles of your location. Install a low dipole or install a dipole at
medium height above ground with a reflector under it and voila!

Maybe I'm going blind in my old age, but I just don't see
contesting under 47CFR97.1

You're right. Neither will you see anything about discussing
non-functional body parts on 75m, participating in a large roundtable
discussion or DXing. There are numerous things not addressed. That
does not mean that they are prohibited.

Dave K8MN