[VHFcontesting] Grid Circling

[John Isenberg]

Can't help throwing in another 2 cents worth.

First,It might only be a few of the rovers doing it, and that is our of many dozens (last I checked there were between 50 and 100 rovers per contest).  So a few shouldn't be important should it?  BUT, it is typically half of the placque winners, thus robbing that half from a shot by all the rest of the Rovers.  (I think we all agree that a Rover that is following the objective of the contest can not come close to competing with the grid circlers.)

Second, of all the proposals for rules and/or scoring I have seen, all of them have problems that will bother some Rovers. Most would make many Rovers rethink thier strategy and travel plans.  For example, distance based scoring would motivate a rover to be further away from the center of where the contacts are likely to be, and it would remove any incentives of opening "rare" grids.  It is not an easy problem to solve with a crisp set of rules and/or detection.  Perhaps a subjective evaluation by the league would be best. 

Jack
WA2IID