Announcing the 70th Annual Poisson d'Avril Contest

 

 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 of each word in that description.

Once the concept of a radio contest to observe this hallowed day emerged, it was actually announced in QST magazine, back when the people working at ARRL (and those reading QST) had a sense of humor.

Some of us (K1DG, K1AR, N2AA...) actually got on the air for a little bit and made actual QSOs. Calling "CQ TEST" on an open 20M CW band will often get answers even though the contest is fictional.

Some people sent actual entries. NW1U, W4WR (then WB1HBB), and a few of their co-workers at the NH HRO store sent a big box filled with such things as logs...real logs from a pine tree, an Italian telephone directory, a cement block with various things scribbled on it, and a trout wrapped in newspaper. ZS6EZ sent in an 8-inch floppy disk with some QSO data handwritten in silver ink on the outside.

Evolution

The Pd'A has grown into part of amateur radio contesting folklore. A Web site was created on a now-defunct free Web page service that included rules (updated more or less annually, with tongue-in-cheek references to current topics in radiosport). Alas, most of the previous rules did not survive the death of Webs.com.

Occasionally when a rule is proposed in a real contest that seems ridiculous (permitting self-spotting comes to mind), people will suggest on CQ-Contest that they are reading "Poisson d'Avril" rules. 

In 2004, on the occasion of the 50th Annual Pd'A, WA7BNM added a little hack to the 3830 Score Rumors email list...each score that was posted triggered a "Happy Birthday" email to the Big Fish himself. If you look at the 3830 email list archives for that date, you'll see that dozens of scores were submitted.

In 2011, I announced that the winner of the Pd'A would be whoever bid the highest to bribe the Committee, er, I mean, make a donation to WRTC2014. Ultimately W1MD and K1QX coughed up a couple of hundred bucks and were awarded an especially grotesque trophy at Dayton, built by KA9FOX from a bowling trophy scavenged at a thrift shop and various bits and pieces from the flea market. This was the first time K1DG did not win his own contest, but it was for a good cause. 

In 2020, the 3830scores Web site included provision for posting Pd'A scores.

At least one popular logging program includes a Poisson d'Avril module. Pro tip: your score will always calculate to zero no matter how many QSOs you enter. That is not a mistake...only K1DG is allowed to have a non-zero score. 

Putting it to good use

In 2022 Russia initiated a "special military action" in Ukraine. Maybe you heard about it. This resulted in some serious hardships for hams and their families in Ukraine (as well as a lot of non-hams). Working with Carsten Dauer, DM9EE, the Pd'A became a fundraiser for hams affected by the situation. Anyone who donated $25 was awarded a "first-place certificate" - actually a sheet of Charmin toilet paper. Donors of $100 or more received an entire roll of the stuff. K3LR offered to match the first $10k, and when the dust had settled, over $30,000 was raised for Ukrainians in need.

Recently there was an exchange on the CQ-Contest email list between David Jaffe, WD6T, and the law firm representing the Pd'A. WD6T had created a set of silly categories for the California QSO Party ,an obvious infringement of the Pd'A's exclusive right to such foolery. 

After careful consideration of punishment for WD6T, including a lifetime disqualification from the Pd'A, we observed that:

a) He was first licensed in 1967, same as the Pd'A Chairman (and a few other Famous Contesters, including N6TR and N9RV).

b) He was first licensed as WN2BHJ, which means he had a one-year non-renewable Novice license that required a crystal-controlled transmitter of 75W or less. 

c) And he lived in New Jersey.

We have concluded that he has suffered enough in life. 

Additionally, it seems we worked for the same company for a few years in very different areas and never crossed paths.

So we are going to give him a break and hope that he will stay in his own lane from now on.

Stay tuned for the 2024 rules, coming soon to this blog. Maybe. Hopefully this free blog thing won't go the way of Webs.com.