Here is the discussion from our 2012 meeting.
Lifetime of calibration courses: It had been suggested that calibration courses be exempted from our standard 10-year expiration policy, and should last as long as the nails remain in place. Discussion of this issue covered lots of things that can go wrong in trying to use a previously certified calibration course: Can we ever be sure that the nails currently in place are the original ones? What if a 300 meter calibration course is assumed to be 1000 feet, or vice versa? Gene Newman mentioned that in last year’s validation of the Olympic Trials course, the nails for one of the calibration courses looked wrong, and a steel tape check showed that course to be off by half a meter. Toni Youngman asserted that if you’re measuring in another city, you should always measure a calibration course yourself, even if it was certified by someone else. Jane Parks asked how much work it is to spend half an hour re-taping a calibration course once every 10 years. It was decided that calibration courses will continue to expire after 10 years.
