I had a discussion recently with Art RX9TX about the UA9 boundary
between Europe and Asia, hence presumably between CQ Zones 16 and 17.
One can't tell the true geographic continent and CQ Zone of a UA9S or
UA9T, because those two suffixes are assigned randomly within
Orenburg oblast, which is split between the two continents by the
Ural River. Almost all operators there give their Zone as 17, which
may or may not be accurate.
Zone assignments are CQ's baby, and they can do what they want by
decree! I'd recommend that they arbitrarily assign ALL UA9s,
including suffixes S, T and W, to Zone 17.
There is precedent for this. The Malaysian part of the Spratly
Islands are about 100 miles outside the eastern boundary of Zone 26
on CQ maps. But the CQ WAZ program counts the 9M0s for Z26, i.e.
there's an implied "wart" on the Z26 boundary to accommodate them. I
have no problem with that - It's CQ's program, and the Zone is
whatever they say it is. But I'd do the same for all the UA9s and
Zone 17.
Philosophically, I believe CQ makes a mistake by defining a map as
the "master" Zone reference. I think a text description (which can
more easily be modified or clarified when necessary) should be the
master, with maps as useful guides. In fact, that is the reality now.
Another objective should be that Zone boundaries conform to
political/administrative boundaries, unless there's an awfully strong
reason not to do so. In other words, Orenburg oblast, UA9S/T should
not be split between two CQ Zones.
John, NT5C.
_______________________________________________
CQ-Contest mailing list
CQ-Contest@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/cq-contest
|