Where Radio is a Contact Sport

Roster Update Efforts

As you know, or I think you probably know, the TCG membership requirements are pretty liberal.  Since that may be a bad word in some of these parts, let’s just say that it is real easy to be declared a full member of TCG.  All one has to do is list “Tennessee Contest Group” in the club line of your Cabrillo log submitted to a contest sponsor.  Simple, no dues, no nominations, no secret ballots.  Membership is kind of self-declared.

However, there’s a “gotcha”.  Contest sponsors define the acceptable club territory for club competition.  For ARRL contests, and by extension RAC and IARU contests, our club territory is the Tennessee Section which is coincident with the state boundary.  This means that W5MX and ND4X who live in Kentucky are excluded from submitting points (but by no means are they excluded from anything else.)  I have no idea how closely the ARRL Contest Branch monitors club member’s QTH.  If they do, it would be real obvious that Bryan and Paul reside outside of TCG-land.

But wait, there’s more!  CQWW defines club territory for USA clubs as a 250 mile radius from the club center.  Our current declared and published club center is Murfreesboro.  That puts Bryan and Paul within the TCG area (for CQWW sponsored contests.)  There’s nothing I know of preventing us from adjusting our club center to maximize club eligibility provided we are up-front and public about it.

Other sponsors may define club area differently.  I think DARC uses 500 KM circles, but I can’t find that in English.  Most state QSO parties probably haven’t thought about it.

I do not advocate abandoning one’s home state or local club.  To the contrary, I’m just pointing out that there are options available.  If you participate in the JT-65 24 Day Marathon and you are the only one, then TCG becomes a possibility.  I’m only posting this for informational purposes so that nobody feels excluded by where they live and certainly not to the detriment of any other club.

Ned K1GU
Executive Assistant (until April)

Mark and I are getting older daily.  It’s time for somebody else.  The pay is not great but the pay-back is.