[CQ-Contest] Re: Club Areas (a little long)

[Ronald D Rossi]

Folks,

I have been holding off commenting on the reflector. I have offered this idea 
to my CAC rep. There are other things they could be spending time on, but here 
is my opinion FWIW. (Traffic is low enough with Dayton in full swing)

Why not make it a function of urban population density per the most recent 
census with a maximum radius of 50 miles (or so). The smallest urban 
population densities would have the maximum allowed radius. The largest 
densities would need the smallest radius to maintain equity.

The point is to help the rural populace form legitimate clubs, while not 
affecting current allocations. Maybe the right answer is to keep the lower 
limit at 20 miles while increasing the radius for the less densely populated 
states. Increasing the opportunity to form clubs willing or capable of 
competing surely would be a good thing in the overall. The propagational 
situation of each locale will not be affected by this change, just the 
opportunity for some clubs to actually field 10 members!

With the values I chose the mean radius is 27 miles. There are 9 states that 
would potentially see a reduction in radius. Their average is 15.2 miles...not 
that bad really. Given the number of amateurs per sq mile I would be willing 
to bet the effect would be negligible. There is no reason to change the 
minimum from 20 miles.

On a related topic I think it would be a good thing to allow a station to 
count their score in more than on club category as well.

=====================

Table 1. Land Area, Population, and Density for Stat  1990

Source:              US Census Bureau
Released:  March 12,   1996
                                                  Rural    Urban
                                        Pop per   pop per  pop per   Proposed
                      % urban  % rural  sq mile   sq mile  sq mile   radius
Alaska                  67.5%    32.5%    1.0      0.3      0.7       50
Montana                 52.5%    47.5%    5.5      2.6      2.9       42
Wyoming                 65.0%    35.0%    4.7      1.6      3.1       42
South Dakota            50.0%    50.0%    9.2      4.6      4.6       40
North Dakota            53.3%    46.7%    9.3      4.3      5.0       39
Idaho                   57.4%    42.6%   12.2      5.2      7.0       37
New Mexico              73.0%    27.0%   12.5      3.4      9.1       36
Nevada                  88.3%    11.7%   10.9      1.3      9.6       36
Nebraska                66.1%    33.9%   20.5      6.9     13.6       34
Maine                   44.6%    55.4%   39.8     22.0     17.8       32
Utah                    87.0%    13.0%   21.0      2.7     18.3       32
Vermont                 32.2%    67.8%   60.8     41.2     19.6       32
Oregon                  70.5%    29.5%   29.6      8.7     20.9       31
Kansas                  69.1%    30.9%   30.3      9.4     20.9       31
Arkansas                53.5%    46.5%   45.1     21.0     24.1       31
Mississippi             47.1%    52.9%   54.9     29.0     25.9       30
Colorado                82.4%    17.6%   31.8      5.6     26.2       30
West Virginia           36.1%    63.9%   74.5     47.6     26.9       30
Arizona                 87.5%    12.5%   32.3      4.0     28.3       30
Iowa                    60.6%    39.4%   49.7     19.6     30.1       29
Oklahoma                67.7%    32.3%   45.8     14.8     31.0       29
Minnesota               69.9%    30.1%   55.0     16.6     38.4       28
Kentucky                51.8%    48.2%   92.8     44.7     48.1       27
Alabama                 60.4%    39.6%   79.6     31.5     48.1       27
Missouri                68.7%    31.3%   74.3     23.3     51.0       27
Texas                   80.3%    19.7%   64.9     12.8     52.1       26
Washington              76.4%    23.6%   73.1     17.3     55.8       26
Wisconsin               65.7%    34.3%   90.1     30.9     59.2       26
New Hampshire           51.0%    49.0%  123.7     60.6     63.1       25
South Carolina          54.6%    45.4%  115.8     52.6     63.2       25
Louisiana               68.1%    31.9%   96.9     30.9     66.0       25
North Carolina          50.4%    49.6%  136.1     67.5     68.6       25
Georgia                 63.2%    36.8%  111.9     41.2     70.7       25
Tennessee               60.9%    39.1%  118.3     46.3     72.0       25
Indiana                 64.9%    35.1%  154.6     54.3    100.3       23
Virginia                69.4%    30.6%  156.3     47.8    108.5       22
Michigan                70.5%    29.5%  163.6     48.3    115.3       22
Hawaii                  89.0%    11.0%  172.5     19.0    153.5       21
Illinois                84.6%    15.4%  205.6     31.7    173.9       20
California              92.6%     7.4%  190.8     14.1    176.7       20
Pennsylvania            68.9%    31.1%  265.1     82.4    182.7       20
Ohio                    74.1%    25.9%  264.9     68.6    196.3       19 (20)
Florida                 84.8%    15.2%  239.6     36.4    203.2       19 (20)
Delaware                73.0%    27.0%  340.8     92.0    248.8       18 (20)
New York                84.3%    15.7%  381.0     59.8    321.2       17 (20)
Maryland                81.3%    18.7%  489.2     91.5    397.7       15 (20)
Connecticut             79.1%    20.9%  678.4    141.8    536.6       14 (20)
Massachusetts           84.3%    15.7%  767.6    120.5    647.1       13 (20)
Rhode Island            86.0%    14.0%  960.3    134.4    825.9       11 (20)
New Jersey              89.4%    10.6% 1042.0    110.5    931.5       11 (20)

                        68.2%    31.8%  166.1     37.7    128.4      26.9 Avg
                        14.5%    14.5%  232.8     35.7    202.1       8.3 SDev

-- 
73 de KK1L...ron (rrossi at btv.ibm.com) <><
QTH: Swanton, Vermont
My page: http://www.together.net/~larossi/kk1l.html
My wife's page: http://www.together.net/~larossi




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