[CQ-Contest] "500-meter circle" rule question

[John Owens]

I'm hoping the collective wisdom of this list can help me with a rule interpretation.

Many contests have a rule like "All transmitters and receivers must be located within a 500-meter circle." For contests that don't include a specific mobile rule or category, I've taken the 500-meter circle rule to mean that a station must be, well, stationary for the duration of the contest. So if I'm operating from my vehicle, once I make the first contact of the contest, I need to stay within 500 meters of that point (or whatever depending on if it specifies a radius or a diameter) for any subsequent contest contacts.

Am I over-interpreting the rule? Is it just meant to require that a station must fit within such a circle at any given time, but it's ok for that circle to move during the course of the contest like a rover or mobile operation? I was interpreting it as requiring the station be fixed, but maybe it just means that the station must be compact and not distributed across multiple locations?

    Cheers,
    -John N6JSO