[VHFcontesting] Defining grid circling

[kr7o at vhfdx.com]

I am not sure I should even jump into this, but here is my proposal to 
define grid circling.   While the numbers are arbitrary, the underlying 
philosophy is the point.  The wording or metric can certainly be refined if 
necessary/desired.

Grid circling is defined as any rover, who works a particular rover station 
in three ore more grid squares that converge during a 3 hour period.  Two 
or more occurrences of this between the same rover pair during the course 
of the contest will be sufficient grounds to define grid circling.

I think this is simple, unambiguous and a fair compromise that allows 
rovers who "happen" to come together at a grid intersection to take 
advantage of that occurrence, yet if they choose to repeat it at another 
corner it is obviously contrived.  This also severely minimizes the affect 
of pack rovers.

Given a solid definition of grid circling, the rules committee can chose to 
do two things based on the log results:
1.  Disqualify those that exceed the threshold.
2.  Create an unlimited rover category where anything goes that does not 
contribute to club scores nor compete with "regular" rovers.

I would be interested in seeing what would happen with the latter.

The only possible exception/variant to this rule would be to allow those 
who chose to grid circle where the grids are separated by at least 100 
miles.  I can see this as a plausible scenario for real rovers and while it 
could certainly be contrived, there is no doubt that "real" communication 
is taking place.  I think allowing this would still prevent pack rovers 
from racking up massive scores AND they would require microwave equipment 
that is capable of spanning the distance.  If they can work their rover 
team over those distances there is no question that they should be able to 
contact other microwave equipped stations, which if they are adhering to 
the spirit of maximizing contacts with as many stations as possible is good 
for everyone.





73, Robert KR7O/YB2ARO, DM07ba/OI52ee  (ex.  N7STU)
kr7o at vhfdx.com

www.vhfdx.com (KR7O/YB2ARO Weak signal, EME, microwave Site)