[VHFcontesting] grid circling to create point value

[frank bechdoldt]

Greg
 
What is grid circling’s  point value?
 
Well let me try to explain it in our region.  Right now you sometimes work me on all my bands in DN06/07 and CN 96/97 on usually a Sunday morning of a contest over about 6 hours or so. The corner of these grids are right in the middle of the Columbia river.  Now lets say you were a rover too, Now your would activate 3 more grids for me by moving around me when I'm not moving around you. Before we worked 4 combinations of grids with you at home, now you will work 16 combination of grids if you move around the corners too while I work you.  Now imagine if we both had 10 or 12 bands and just kept circling each other around that spot in the river. Now imagine if the 2 other hams in eastern Washington joined us for a team of four all circling that spot in the middle of the river.
 
Now take that team of four get in the car and head on down to the intersection of CN 95/94, DN 05/04, about 2 ½ hours south and repeat that big group effort again.  You would now have 80 grid multipliers and almost 1000 qsos in 4 hours of contesting.
 
Now get back in the cars and drive down to CN 92/93 DN 02/03 (about 4 hours repeat again, you now are ½ way through the contest 120 multipliers and almost 1500 qsos and you never had to work anyone outside your team. 
 
Now head over to CN 82/72/83/73 and repeat… CN 85/84/74/75 repeat…..  cn 76/77/86/87 repeat…..
Now you have almost 3000 qsos 240 multipliers x and average of 4 points a qso for a 7 million point score.  However since I cheated and snuck in one home station I had 3001 qsos and beat you by 1000 points or so.
 
The other issue is that the guys doing this often only work themselves almost excusively. To quote QST, one time it was 98 percent of the qsos were repeats od the other team members..  
 
I think the record is circling through 16 squares as a team. Going to east texas and the plain states make it easy as compared to our curvy roads and mountain top grid intersections.
 
So I hope you can see how a team that only works itself can beat others who work everyone they hear and the controversy it creates.
 
It has to be tiring and time consuming. Thats why they recruit volenteer profesional drivers to help out.
It would bore me out of my mind.
 
K3uhf/r
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