[CQ-Contest] 2010 WPX Rule Change / Circle rules

[Sandy Farley N7RQ]

Randy, SA and Oz aren't the only folks having issues with the 275 km radius limitation.  Arizona has only a handful of fairly-dense population centers.  The rest of the state is sparsely populated, but large enough so that some Arizona resident members of the Arizona Outlaws Contest Club do not fit within the club's defined circle, and their scores are excluded from events bound by this finite limit.
 
We're aware that some clubs "move" their circle's center based on participation in various contesting events, but our Board of Directors has been reluctant to adopt a similar policy because it gives the unmistakable odor of rule-bending for the purpose of winning.  That's a place we don't want to go.  If our circle boundary was the state boundary, no such conflict would exist.
 
Please do give consideration to population densities in regions where the density is very high or very low.  Surely there is a way to weight and amend certain regions of the US and other countries that have this problem, so that there's an equitable way to apply such a rule.
 
Thank you for your work on this and other issues.  It's very much appreciated.
 
73/88, Sandy Farley N7RQ
Secretary/Treasuere/Webmistress
Arizona Outlaws Contest Club
http://www.arizonaoutlaws.net

--- On Tue, 12/1/09, Randy Thompson K5ZD <k5zd at charter.net> wrote:

Club Rule

The club rule includes a distance limitation that all club members are
within a 275 km radius circle. This rule change was actually added last year
and is a copy of the CQWW club rule. We received numerous comments from
South America and Australia that the population density of contesters was
too low in their areas to enable them to meet this restriction.  Since the
main purpose of the club competition is to promote more activity in the
contest, we are sensitive to this issue.  At the same time, we are seeing
some clubs in other parts of the world claiming "virtual" members who live
far away from the local club area. We feel there needs to be some definition
of a club in order to enable meaningful competition.

One suggestion was to waive the distance limitation for clubs in South
America and Oceania.  We are uncomfortable with introducing this kind of
geographic bias in the rules, but seek comments from WPX participants in
other parts of the world. This change will NOT be made for the 2010 rules.



Randy Thompson, K5ZD

Director - CQ WPX Contest

email: k5zd at cqwpx.com
web: www.cqwpx.com

Blog: http://www.cqwpx.com/blog/?p=51