[ILQSO] COUNTY LINES by MARAC RULES

[Fritz Bock]

I think the IL QSO FAQ's do a great job on answering the question of a
county corner...nice and simple.....

Q:  I want to operate from a three or four county corner.  I think I know
the exact location of the corner (from a map or posted signs), but how
close do I have to park to this spot to qualify?

*A: The traditional answer to this has been: “As close as possible, keeping
safety uppermost in mind.”  To claim three or four counties, the operator
should 1) As nearly as possible, locate the exact corner; 2) Find a safe
spot as close as possible to the corner to set up the station; 3) Obtain
permission from land-owners if at all possible; 4) Arrange portions of the
antenna system to be physically placed in all three (or four) counties if
possible.*



Fritz Bock
WD9FMB
309-256-2297
IL ARES District 7, DEC
Peoria County ARES EC
www.peoriacountyares.org
www.W9UVI.org
ARRL PIO, IL Section

On Fri, Oct 3, 2014 at 4:09 PM, Danny Pease <dpease at adams.net> wrote:

> Even MARAC gives no distance, they simply state a vehicle must occupy both
> counties and do not allow more than two counties to be occupied at the same
> time.
>
> Since most portable operations do not operate out of a vehicle, it might be
> easier to have parts of the operation on two counties or more at the same
> time, but doing so safely is almost impossible when it comes to a road
> being
> involved.  Because of the ILQSO rules allow for more than two counties at a
> time to be activated, there has to be a little bit of leeway in what is
> close enough for the sake of safety.
>
> Besides that, we do not want to discourage our multi-county operations from
> going out by forcing them into a dangerous situation. I suppose we ought to
> set a number of feet as being close enough to make it a little clearer.
>
> MARAC mentions an accuracy of 20 meters as being acceptable when using a
> GPS. Maybe that would be a good starting point, but that does require you
> know the exact intersection to measure from, another variable.
>
> NG9R
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: ILQSO [mailto:ilqso-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Tom
> Pennebaker
> Sent: Friday, October 03, 2014 2:56 PM
> To: ILQSO at mailman.qth.net
> Subject: [ILQSO] COUNTY LINES by MARAC RULES
>
> */The Rules/*
>
> *The USA-CA award sponsored by CQ magazine
> <http://members.aol.com/cqmagazine/usacarul.htm> makes no mention of
> county
> lines in the rules.*
>
> *The major county hunting organization MARAC (Mobile Amateur Radio Awards
> Club) also issues many county hunting awards. In 2000 they issued the
> following rules for county lines: *
>
>     *A county-line is that legally defined boundary separating two
>     geographic and/or administrative regions. The best evidence of the
>     location of a county-line is the marker permanently placed beside a
>     highway. The marker will be assumed to be correctly placed for
>     county-hunting purposes, except for those at wet lines.*
>
>     **
>
>     *Other devices may be found on secondary roadways, such as, a cattle
>     gate, or a monument placed in the fence line. Frequently, too,
>     changes in the composition of the roadway surface are a indication
>     of county boundaries. For county hunting purposes, when no other
>     means of identifying a county line is available, these markers may
>     be used.*
>
>     **
>
>     *With the degradation of GPS having been turned off on 1 May 2000,
>     GPS may be useful as an aid in locating county-lines. While the
>     accuracy of GPS is now a nominal +/- 20 meters, it may be relied
>     upon only when other markers and evidence are not apparent.*
>
>     **
>
>     *A county-line may be run with credit being given for both counties.
>     A part of the vehicle must be in each of the counties. Thus, a
>     county-line may not be credited if the mobile is in motion.*
>
>     **
>
>     *A county-line may be wet, that is, a watercourse (river, lake,
>     water reservoir, creek, brook, stream) may cover the legally
>     described boundary.*
>
>     **
>
>     *A wet line may be run for county-hunting credit as long as the
>     County Line can be located as described above and can be run SAFELY.*
>
>     **
>
>     *Three and four county lines may not be run simultaneously for
>     county-hunting credit...........................Tom N4RS
>     *
>
>     ************
>
> ______________________________________________________________
> ILQSO mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/ilqso
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
> Post: mailto:ILQSO at mailman.qth.net
>
> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
>
> ______________________________________________________________
> ILQSO mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/ilqso
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
> Post: mailto:ILQSO at mailman.qth.net
>
> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
>