[CQ-Contest] New Club Area Definition

[Barry]

Why don't we just figure the area of the 175 mile circle (let's see... pi r 
squared ==~96000 sq miles), and allow any shaped figure.

My club borders will be 10 miles wide and 9600 miles long. It includes 
CN8WW, EA8BH, ZD8Z, etc.   :.)
73,
Barry W2UP

On 4 Mar 2002 Doug Smith W9WI wrote:

> From: Pete Smith <n4zr at contesting.com>
> 
> I'be been surprised by how little (like no) comment there has been on the
> changes to the club competition rules.  Most of them are all to the good,
> but I'm perplexed by the change in the club area.  The new rule, to go into
> effect this coming November, says that, "Medium and unlimited clubs now may
> define their club service area either as a 175-mile radius circle or as an
> entire ARRL section. This change will allow clubs from larger states than
> encompass entire ARRL sections to compete with each other. Clubs may select
> one definition or the other but not both."
> 
> It seems to me that this change will have little, if any, practical effect.
>  In the densely populated areas, ARRL sections are smaller than the
> 175-mile circle, while out in the center of the country, clubs are drawing
> their circles to encompass as many population centers as possible.
> Sections typically are identical to states, and in many cases --up and down
> the Mississippi/Missouri, for example -- population clusters tend to occur
> in different states separated by rivers.

We (the Tennessee Contest Group) have also been pushing this.  It will
benefit us considerably.  The geographic center of the state is
Murfreesboro.  (which also happens to be home to a fair bit of contest
activity) Memphis is just about exactly 175 miles from Murfreesboro - as 
is
Knoxville.  Some Memphis residents were eligible to compete with us, 
while
others weren't!  Likewise in Knoxville.  And the excellent ops in the
Tri-Cities area near Kingsport were out altogether, about 70 miles too 
far
east.

We could manipulate the circle to encompass both Nashville and the
Tri-Cities, but then West Tennessee would be out in the cold.  We 
could move
the circle west to include Memphis, at the expense of tossing out 
Knoxville
and the Tri-Cities.  Neither of these two areas has enough activity to
support a decent contest club of its own.  

Switching to the new option will cost us a handful of participants in the
Huntsville, Alabama and southern Kentucky areas.  (in ARRL contests - 
they
are still welcome to participate in CQ and NCJ tests) Still, it's a change
for the better for us.
-------------------------------------------
Florida probably did shoot themselves in the foot by creating WcF.  
(how do
you "un-create" a section?!)  I can see some other sections possibly
benefitting from the change - notably artificially large sections like
Michigan and Ohio.  It might also make possible the creation of 
worthwhile
contest clubs in very sparsely-populated areas of the West.  The 
Wyoming
Contest Group may never be competitive, but at least a would-be 
contester in
Cody could submit his score for a club.  

I can see the possibility of benefit for MWA (Minnesota) as well, though
there aren't a whole lot of contesters in the vicinity of Thief River
Falls<g>.
-------------------------------------------
I might suggest that Black Hole clubs (SMC, MRRC) developed the way 
they did
*because* of the rule.  (and would have developed differently if it didn't
exist)  Might all Wisconsin ops have joined a Wisconsin-based club if
Milwaukee and Eau Claire operators (W0AIH) could have participated 
in the
same group?  
-------------------------------------------

> Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] TO4T & country file
> > How would a casual contestor  (who may use contest/logging software) know
> > that TO4T is FG not FM or something else if it's not in the latest country
> > file and not separated in the DXCC booklet listing international call sign
> > allocations?  Would TO4T really need to announce his location after every

Merri has a good point.  What about rule 6.1?  ("6.1. Your call sign must
indicate your DXCC station location (KH6XYZ/W1 in Maine, 
KG4/W1INF at
Guantanamo Bay, etc).")  What is the official arbiter of what DXCC 
entity a
callsign indicates?  Really, technically, they should have been IDing as
FG/TO4T...

I heard more than one person ask TO4T for their country on the air.  
That's
probably the right answer.  It probably also taught them to use a FG call
next time!
-- 
Doug Smith W9WI
Pleasant View (Nashville), TN EM66
http://www.w9wi.com

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Barry Kutner, W2UP              Internet: w2up at mindspring.com
Newtown, PA                     Frankford Radio Club