Calibration Course Renewal Food for Thought

Unless it's drastically short (see my example of one course that flip-flopped between 300m and 1,000 ft.) I would think the SCPF should cover the discrepancy.

And I thought I was playing Devil's Advocate! Matt, you're positively demonic!

I agree with Jim.

However, I personally don't think cal courses that have been in constant use over the years need to be re-measured. We are on them multiple times every year, so we know nothing has changed. The nails are still there, the marks have been re-painted, so we know we are in the precise location that was originally set.

While it takes "only" 15 minutes to re-measure a 1000-foot course (sorry Bob, I mark miles on the courses, so I do my calibration and measuring in feet, only converting to metric on the application papers, and the cert) with two people, it is unnecessary time spent. I believe that, if a cal course is used continuously, it can be renewed without any action other than a request by the measurer for a new cert. If there is any doubt about the frequency of use, the certifier can review the application paperwork, and see that the course has been used regularly.

Frequency of use has nothing to do with preserving accuracy, other than noticing road repairs. What matters is how reliable the orignal marked points are, if they can be easily distinguished from other marks and have been strong enough to still be intact, not paved over or destroyed.

The second issue is the ground between the marks should not have changed in any significant way.

The shorter the cal course the more inportant that there be no surface change. On a long cal course, 1/4 or 1/2 a mile, a road or pothole patch is unlikely to make any significant percentage change.

I would argue that the longer the cal course, the less small changes in the surface make any significant changes to the overall accuracy.

If you have a 1/2 mile cal course a change by two inches because a pot hole was filled it only changes a 5k by six inches, where as if the cal course is only 100 meters long two inches, multiplied 50 times, makes a significant difference.

One could argue that shorter cal courses should expire sooner than longer cal courses because any error over time suffers grater magnification by multiplication.