To let everyone know of the status of the distance scoring group, a user’s
group was formed in February, 2009 to study distance scoring concepts in VHF
contests. Over 40 people have become members of the group. This has been a
grass-roots effort and is meant to be a stand-alone, independent attempt at
forging a consensus recommendation on the subject. Much work has already been
done within the group. The user’s group can be found at:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/VHFDistanceScoring/.
A status report of the group’s activities can be found at
http://www.w9smc.com/SMC%20VHF/DistanceScoringReportInitial.pdf
Please feel free to look through this initial report. Very briefly, strong
support currently exists within the working group for using points per km
scoring calculations in distance events. Some support also exists for several
other methods, including km zones, concentric grid rings, and combination
events using both distance scoring and grids. More complete details can be
found in the report.
Several issues are still under discussion. Rather than an agreement occurring
on one particular distance method, a variety of options may be emerging from
the discussions. Hopefully at some point, recommendations will ultimately be
made from the working group to the broader VHF community for further
consideration.
A baseline set of distance rules, along with alternate concepts, are currently
being tested through simulations. Log data will be collected on the upcoming
June, 2009 contest so that we can test the baseline and alternate proposals
using a large number of logs submitted from this one contest. Data from a June
event is ideal to test whether long distance QSO’s on 6 and 2 meters may be
able to overwhelm distance calculations on other bands.
If you have any questions or comments regarding distance-based efforts or would
like to add something of interest to the Initial Report, please drop by the
distance scoring working group at the above URL, or feel free to contact me
directly.
Additionally, if you can volunteer your June, 2009 log, it will be added to a
data base used for the evaluation of various distance proposals under
consideration. Your June, 2009 log data, along with an indication of your 6
digit locator, would be greatly appreciated.
Kevin
W9GKA
moderator
VHF Distance Scoring Group
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