[CQ-Contest] club radius

[Dale Jones K5MM]

 Jim. & Trey:
 I just read the posts that you two fellows put forth on trying to 
 define a "club boundary".  Trey's solution seems to work well in 
 Calif, Texas, and a few other locations out here in the west.

 In the Northwest, we'd probably like to include Greater Portland
 (Willammette Valley DX Club with the Seattle contingent).

 Trey's solution probably doesn't work too well in say-- Nashua NH.
 Small states, lots of ham density, your local buddies are two states
 away, but only 40 miles away, etc.

 Why not consider an  "either/or" solution.  Either the state of
 New Hampshire OR the 175 Mile radius.  The state of ARIZONA OR the
 175 mile radius. This isn't 'perfect' either, but it provides a bit
 more equity as you try to "balance" the competitive aspects of 
 east and west, or Big States and Little States. 

 My sense is that what works in lower density areas and larger states
 probably doesn't fit the small state -- high density areas too well.
 
 Maybe you should/must pre-announce your members, make it public on the 
 ARRL Web page.  Then let the group argue over JOE BLOW'S eligibility 
 for inclusion in your group.

 In your case Jim, if you were to use the "either/or" scenario, it would 
 cover your troops with the state boundary condition, and if a couple
 of guys were in south Georgia or south Alabama -- but their loyalties
 were with your group, and Not Atlanta and Not Huntsville, you could
 include them with your group by establishing your center point in
 Orlando, or even Jacksonville or Talahassee.  Of course it's 
 obvious how you could bend the "center point" of the club location
 around and abuse the intent of the rules.

 Moreover, if California is one state, combining all of No. Cal and
 So. Cal makes them a VERY BIG group too.

 As one thinks through all this stuff.....their ain't NO WAY you're
 gonna create a set of words that are reasonably accuracte that will
 cover every distribution of hams.  Because of that inequity, it seems
 like pre-stating who is in your club must be included somehow.  This
 would be particularly true for someout OUTSIDE of your own home-state.

 A problem exists if some new guy who could be in either of say 2 or 3
 different clubs -- shows up in the contest and makes 2 million points.
 All 3 clubs want to claim the guy.  How do you sort that out after
 the contest is finished???  That's tough to do.  That new guy should
 be open to join up with the guys he's more comfortable with over time
 though.

 Good grief, there must be dozens of guys that are "swing" ops between
 Philadelphia and DC.  They could go either FRC or PVRC...but over time
 they must make up their minds and commit to ONE club before the
 beginning of a contest.  They might change for the next contest, too
 and that should be ok.

 Over the years, the inclusion of "The intent and purpose is to not
 abuse the general intent of this set of contest rules" kinds of words
 helps that.  Otdherwise, it takes a 10 foot wide, Atlas sized book 
 to write all the contengencies.  Then it's still full of holes.  

 The intent is to have your generally-local, nearby group of hams
 who get together occasionally, be a team.  Sprint sort of stuff,
 without the large spread of distances.  Have balanced groups of guys
 as much as possible

 Have fun at Dayton, & GL
 73
 Dale  K5MM 

--
CQ-Contest on WWW:        http://www.contesting.com/_cq-contest/
Administrative requests:  cq-contest-REQUEST at contesting.com