> I'm guessing that the purpose of the circle is to prevent clubs
> from gaining an advantage by recruiting and including scores from
> significantly disparate areas. There is no way that the contest
> sponsors can level the playing field for propagation, of course,
> but they can prevent a large club from snagging scores from
> all over to statistically improve their chances of capitalizing
> on it.
The circle, and specifically a 175 mile radius circle, came about
in the mid 1970's as a way to disallow a new "Mad River Radio Club"
in Ohio/Indiana/Michigan/Western Pennsylvania. 175 miles was small
enough to prevent contesters in Detroit/Ann Arbor, Pittsburgh,
Cincinnati, Cleveland, Erie, Columbus and Indianapolis from joining
forces but it reached from Northern New Jersey to Southern Maine
and protected the entrenched interests.
A circle, and particularly a 175 mile radius, has always been
arbitrary. It does nothing more than protect the big clubs in
the New York/Boston, Philadelphia/Baltimore/Washington,
San Diego/Los Angeles and San Francisco/Oakland/Sacramento
corridors at the expense of clubs in the Midwest, Texas,
Florida, etc. A 175 mile radius does not contain the entire
state of Virginia, of Georgia, of North Carolina, of Tennessee
of Kentucky, etc.
The 175 mile circle was a bad idea 30 years ago - particularly
for the "Unlimited" clubs - and it has done nothing but get
worse with time.
73,
... Joe, W4TV
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