[CQ-Contest] Going Around in Circles: Improving Club Competition

[Hank Greeb]

Okay, where cans't one find the definition of the geographical area 
specified by CQ for its contests?  It isn't in the WPX rules. The only 
reference to geographical area is in paragraph XIII

XIII. Club Competition: A trophy will be awarded each year to the club 
that has the highest aggregate scores from logs submitted by members. 
The club must be a local group and not a national organization. 
Participation is limited to members operating within a local 
geographical area (exception: DXpeditions especially organized for 
operation in the contest and manned by members). Indicate your club 
affiliation on the summary sheet or in the CABRILLO file. To be eligible 
for an award, a minimum of three logs must be received from a club.

( from http://www.cqwpx.com/rules.htm )

This is of importance 2 me, because I'm near the 175 mile radius limit 
for inclusion in Mad River Radio Club's geographical area, as specified 
by ARRL, and may not be within the 170.88 mile radius for CQ sponsored 
contests.

73 de n8xx Hg

Pete Smith wrote:
> I was going to submit this for publication in NCJ, but local response has 
> been good enough and the topic is timely enough so that I decided not to 
> wait.  Moreover, this reflector is read around the world, which is not 
> generally the case with NCJ, and this is a case where international 
> cooperation is essential.  All comments and criticisms are welcome, of course.
>
> 73, Pete N4ZR
>
> Any readers of this message are probably aware of the Potomac Valley Radio 
> Club's unprecedented voluntarily forfeiting of the 2006 Sweepstakes club 
> competition.  PVRC decided to do this because of unwitting mistakes in the 
> club's management of its competitive "circle," the area within which club 
> members must live and often operate in order for their scores to count for 
> the club.
>
> In the course of reaching this outcome, a number of us in PVRC worked hard 
> on understanding and applying available tools for mapping locations and 
> establishing exactly where the club's circle should be drawn.  What 
> follows, however, does not represent the club's position, nor those of the 
> other individuals who worked on this.  It is simply one contester's 
> proposal for solving a number of problems in club competition that have 
> arisen over the years.
>
> First, the current situation.  Of the 22 major contests that have club 
> competitions, 4 (all sponsored by CQ) use a 275-km (170.88-mile) radius 
> circle.  10, including all ARRL contests with club competition, use a 
> 175-mile circle.  4 (the Russian DX Contest and the 3 WAE contests) use a 
> 500-km (310.7-mile) DIAMETER circle.  Two, sponsored by CQ, specify only 
> that club competitors must reside in a "local geographic area", while two 
> more CQ contests have no geographic restriction on club competition at all.
>
> This situation is a real administrative nightmare for large contest clubs 
> that are attempting strict compliance with the rules.  Simply drawing 
> different-radius circles around the same center point doesn't work terribly 
> well, because no club's members are distributed symmetrically within the 
> club area.  Further complicating things, the Russian DX Contest requires 
> that the club circle be centered on a headquarters club station, which most 
> of the major US clubs, at least, do not have. Many, many members are 
> in-area for one contest, out for the next, and so on.
>
> What I am suggesting is that the major contest sponsors agree on a common 
> definition of the club circle, to promote club participation in their 
> contests.  Simply:
>
> A 300-km (186.4-mile) radius club area (circle) would be used for all 
> contests with club competition (and for unlimited club competition, in ARRL 
> parlance);
>
> If the property where a club member resides is entirely within the club 
> circle, or if the circle passes through that property, then that member 
> would be considered to reside within the club area; and
>
> If a station is located on such a property, it would be considered to be 
> within the club area.  Each club would declare (and have the option to 
> change) its circle center no more often than once per calendar year, to 
> accommodate population trends and other factors.
>
> By establishing a uniform circle definition, we will enable clubs to tell 
> their members and prospective members definitively whether their scores can 
> count toward club competition.  Because the 300-km. radius is slightly 
> larger than any of the current standards, nobody currently in-area will be 
> penalized by the change.  The circle most dramatically affected would see 
> its radius grow by 50 Km.
>
> Comments?  Which major contest club will be first to petition the sponsors 
> for the change?
>
> 73, Pete N4ZR
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> CQ-Contest mailing list
> CQ-Contest at contesting.com
> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/cq-contest
>
>
>
>