Poisson d'Avril Contest

  OFFICIAL RULES – 70 th ANNUAL POISSON d’AVRIL CONTEST   Please note that these “Rules” are   less rules and more "guidelines" or "suggestions" - kind of like Boston traffic laws. I. OBJECTIVE: For radio amateurs worldwide to have a few laughs about contesting. II. CONTEST PERIOD. Contest comma: Oxford. Huh? You can look it up here , here , and here . Contest colon: Ours is fine. Make sure yours is . Oh, you wanna know when the contest is? OK…April 1. III. BANDS: We really like most of the British Invasion bands, especially the Beatles and Dave Clark Five. Not really into the Stones so much. The Blues Breakers and early Fleetwood Mac were also good. Kind of went downhill and lost the blues vibe when they let the girls in, but Stevie Nicks…right? Any band with Clapton makes the list. A lot of the California bands were great too, the Byrds, CSN+/-Y, Jefferson Airplane. And of course let’s not forget The Band – with or without Dylan. But in keeping wi

   It's baaa-aaack! Just when you thought it was safe to get back on the air...the Pd'A rides again.  The Origin Story Inspired by the many small regional amateur radio contests and the birthday of a moderately well-known contester with an off-beat sense of humor, the Poisson d'Avril Contest was created in 1991. The term "poisson d'avril" literally translates as "April fish", and derives from a French tradition of playing pranks on people on April 1. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_Fools%27_Day I have always been a connoisseur of fine April 1 pranks. One of my all-time favorites appeared in Sports Illustrated magazine in 1985: https://www.si.com/mlb/2014/10/15/curious-case-sidd-finch The article described a NY Mets rookie pitcher who could throw a 168-mph fastball. He was described as "... a pitcher, part yogi and part recluse. Impressively liberated from our opulent life-style...". Pay close attention to the first letter o