I'll leave it to contest sponsors for the final word, but I'd think you are
over-interpreting. If you're doing a rover/mobile operation, you're unlikely to
have the big antennas and perhaps the big amplifiers that a big fixed station
would have, so your small score won't be noticed by the serious competitors.
Nobody will care much if your 500 meter circle moves. Just don't try catching a
red eye (or getting a remote rent-a-station) to the other coast to get on from
a different big station to pick up those tough multipliers.
For normal contests you might also run into issues if you're crossing state or
CQ/ITU zone lines during the contest. Most contests haven't addressed that
issue as it has seldom or never arisen, at least among competitive entries.
But from much experience, mobile or rover operation in a state QSO party is
great fun! I hope you have the chance to try it some day.
73 - Jim K8MR
-----Original Message-----
From: John Owens <john@lorien.org>
To: cq-contest@contesting.com <cq-contest@contesting.com>
Sent: Mon, Feb 21, 2022 1:50 pm
Subject: [CQ-Contest] "500-meter circle" rule question
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
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