I was little bemused at the summary given of my homebrew entry this year. It was for a semi-automated tester for our foxhunt systems, and we actually did end up using it quite a few times over the Mt Gambier foxhunting weekend, amongst our multiple gear failures.
The description given of the tester itself was fine, but the SDR timing problem that prompted the tester in the first place was a bit misrepresented.
The issue had nothing to do with SDR software ‘not keeping up’ due to lack of PC resources, but more the discovery that the particular SDR software I was using, GQRX, has what can best be described as an underlying design flaw, rather than a software bug.
It’s a bit of task to re-write GQRX to remove the fault, so at present I get around the problem by effectively automatically restarting the SDR periodically; whenever the fox channel is changed, or every 10 minutes, before any time delays can manifest significantly.
As our SDR rotating system was only available less than half the time, due mainly to water ingress problems, I can’t say for sure, but I believe we didn’t experience any more timing problems.
Here is the Homebrew entry documentation. Of particular interest may be the story of the hunt for the timing issues in Appendix 1.
This event is just for fun and will not contribute to convention results.
Transmitter locations and results added below.
Event arena: The area that is bound by Bay road, O’Halloran terrace, Wehl st south & Railway terrace / Eleanor street. (see map below) The only street that you may need to cross is Margaret street. Please use caution when crossing roads.
There is access from railway lands through to Margaret street in 4 places. At both ends (Bay Rd and Wehl St S), next to the Woolstore brewery (36 Margaret St) and at the public toilets (22 Margaret St).
There is also access from Margaret St through to O’Halloran Terrace in 4 places. At both ends (Bay Rd and Wehl St S) and either side of the Wulandia stadium (Between the Scout hall and the stadium and between the stadium and the courts).
Access to the Reidy park school grounds around the school buildings and playground is prohibited for this event. (Access to the oval is allowed and can be used to get between O’Halloran terrace / Wulandia and Wehl St S)
Start/Finish location: Mount Gambier scout hall, Margaret street
Transmitters: 5 Transmitters on 145.300Mhz. Each will each transmit for 12 seconds in sequence each minute with the following morse codes:
TX1 – MOE
TX2 – MOI
TX3 – MOS
TX4 – MOH
TX5 – MO5
Start time: Anytime between 8:30am and 9:00am (transmitters may be on before 8:30am, if they are you are welcome to start early.)
Time limit: 30 mins from your start time. (10 point penalty per minute (or part minute) late, transmitters will turn off at 9:30am)
Recording method: Maprun app
Each transmitter is worth 20 points (100 is the maximum points for this event)
There is no physical marker or punch at each transmitter. You do not need to actually find the transmitter, you just need maprun to register that you were close enough.
Warning: If you pass close to the start/finish then your event will automatically finish. Please only go close to the start/finish when you intend to finish. Keep in mind that GPS can be very inaccurate.
If you have never used the Maprun app before please see these friendly instructions.
Special thanks to Bruce and Mark for their assistance with creating this event.
Note: Apologies for the delay in getting this report out – there were some scoring issues to resolve. I also only got home an hour ago or so.
The Victorian foxhunting championships this year returned to a full day event, after a bit of a lull since Covid. Based around the Castlemaine area.
Morning VHF/UHF hunt The day started sunny but cool in Walmer, at the new(ish) abode for Peter. Hounds headed off only a few minutes after the planned 11:00am start heading for 23cm. This was located atop an old gold mine north of Maldon. The 2nd leg on 2m was on the Muckleford Diggings MTBO map to the south of Maldon, atop a hill (which Pierre remembered riding!). WWW team managed to lop their antenna mast off on a track somewhere in the forest, so their time on that hunt was impacted. Final leg was on 70cm, with a beam, in a twisty turny maze of tracks behind the Castlemaine Golf course, which also featured on the recent MTBO champs event.
Each hunt leg was treated separately on leg time, so was like 3 independent fox hunts. Overall the morning hunt was won by FOX team with two 0’s and a 7. Runners up FAST with 12 and OW with 19. Full scores below.
Sniffer hunt I believe the only rain for the day of note happened about 1 minute after the on-foot 10-transmitter sniffer hunt started. Not the best timing perhaps! Hounds quickly lapped up the 4 nearby FoxOrs, but found the more distant slow-pulsing transmitters more challenging. These ones had been placed the day before and programmed to turn on at 2pm. Darian didn’t like the slow pulses (“worst sniffer hunt I’ve ever &^%& done”) as it messed with the YNG autoranging, so I’ll have to remember that for future foxhunts (hehe). It’s not as if he couldn’t have used Dset-0 mode to work around this.
The slow pulsing TXs (some, or all) ended up being a bit wide-band (heard on other channels), so this will have to be looked into. I thought I’d used the specific number code for no (AM) modulation when programming, but I may have mucked that up. As far as I understand, no-one found TX 1 or TX3, which were the easternmost, and in more rugged terrain, depending on the approach direction. It’s also possible TX1 never even started at 2pm (its battery was the most suspect). Darian won (for FAST), despite the whining, with 8/10 TX. Kristian (for FOX) also found 8/10, but lost a point due to overtime. All finding 6/10 TX were Jeremy, Mark, Monica & Emily.
The sniffer hunt was followed by afternoon tea, which was a bit chaotic due to the hasty re-location inside the shed. A big thankyou to Suzanne for catering (and the special chocolate cake). Forgot to take photos.
Afternoon HF hunt Drama was aplenty this hunt, with a surprisingly mobile tree popping up uncharitably right in the way of the OW team. No injuries, except perhaps to pride. OW was now out of the foxhunting though. WWW and ACM teams assisted towing the car to the side of the road, mainly because they needed to get past to get to 80m 🙂 I have adjusted the scores for this leg, which means WWW manages to sneak in within the 10 minutes (see info below). 6m provided more dramas. No-one could hear it, possibly due to something wrong with the 6m fox? Also, no-one was able to figure out how to drive to the sneaky fox location, so they all had to crack out the 6m sniffers. Good practice! The final leg on 10m was back on a hill, not that far from the Campbells Creek Five Flags pub for dinner. At dinner we were joined by the OW team, who’d been given a lift by the fox. The car had been towed.
Hopefully Stephen made it to the airport this morning.
Night hunt 23cm, 2m, 70cm, 10m
This one was designed to head the teams back to Melbourne. Perhaps we were a bit overly optimistic on distances between legs. Eventually, however, all 4 teams hunting made it to the final leg (thanks to Suzanne for hanging on so long).
There were dramas again:
What happened to FOX team on 23cm?
Apologies there was still a FoxOr running not far away from 23cm on the following 2m leg frequency. I simply ran out of time to retrieve all the FoxOrs beforehand, and we only decided to flip to 2m at the dinner, due to the poor 6m fox performance earlier.
Still very confused why that FoxOr had been moved, and left on a random hill. A special present for me that ended up costing me a lot of time much later in the night, as I was retrieving using GPS pins rather than by sniffer.
70cm fox signal was problematic. Same gear had worked perfectly in the morning hunt, so we still don’t know what went wrong there. Lots of phone calls fielded as I was heading back to the farm allowed the teams to narrow in.
I was pleased to hear from Mark MD that the 10m signal had been heard not far south from the 70cm fox location, so though it was the longest leg of all the hunts, teams could (just) hear it. The 10m fox location was actually a bit further than intended, as, due to an IT hiccup, and earlier draft location was accidentally used. Caused some confusion for the fox team too!
Winner for the night hunt:
Using the NERG 1st past the post method, a surprising win by WWW team!
Using the leg time method: 1st WWW on 16, 2nd FAST on 17, 3rd FOX on 18
All teams got a 10, 3 teams got a 0.
Hopefully you all got to test some gear prior to Mt Gambier. The fox team will just have to ‘test’ our gear once we get there. Unfortunately it may require a new hound vehicle for one team, and perhaps a new clutch for another.
The Scores
And now, like any QI program, we come to the question of the scores. And like QI, the scoring methods used may prove be opaque and suitably illogical (well not really). The Alan Davis award is of course taken out by the OW team.
Every transmitter is leg-time scored out of 10 minutes, like normal Friday foxhunts. The sniffer hunt (10 TX) is scored out of 16 (the best score on the day), which seems reasonable (about 1.5 legs worth). The 80m leg times were adjusted around the tree situation.
Teams assured me that the time to move OW team off the road was “well over ½ hour”, but this would have changed the leg outcome too significantly. Instead I have taken the time of the call from Ewen to report an issue (16:13), and taken off 3 minutes. Then Mark has noted the time a photo was taken of the OW vehicle successfully moved aside as he was heading back to the car (16:25), and added 2 minutes. That makes an adjustment time for teams WWW and ACM of 17minutes. Teams that are overtime, but find a fox score 10. Teams that don’t quite find a fox score 11. Just a small bonus point for actually finding a fox.
In conjunction with the MelBush-O orienteering event at Darebin Parklands, on Sunday 16th March 2025, I plan to offer a 2m classic ARDF course. Location: https://eventor.orienteering.asn.au/Events/Show/21784
https://maps.app.goo.gl/ohbV3eKqW3vDVxU2A
Starts for ARDF from 10:30am.
You can do both O and ARDF events if you wish, doing the O event first. If you do elect to do this, please start your (short) O course at 10:00am, so as to leave time for the ARDF after.
Time limit for ARDF 120mins, but for late starters note ARDF TXs will be collected from 1:30pm.
Registrations for the ARDF will independent from MelBush-O, as will the SI download. Start & Finish will be shared. Do not pay at Melbush-O registration if you’re only doing ARDF. You cannot pre-enter the ARDF course.
Cost $12 for ARDF.
I’d appreciate if you could let me know as soon as you can if you plan to attend, and if you require a 2m sniffer.
In conjunction with the MelBush-O orienteering event at Darebin Parklands, a 2m classic ARDF event was held, in the rain on Sunday 16th March 2025
Despite the awful weather, 12 ended up taking part.
Peter M arrived too late to do an O course, but I allowed him to start the ARDF, but with the usual proviso we’d start picking up transmitters whether he was back or not.
Paul VK5FAB from SA also took part in his first pedestrian ARDF hunt. He had some difficulty recalibrating to the 1 minute ON cycles, more used to the 30s ON time of the Mt Gambier car-based ARDF style hunt. However, at least it’s easier to work out which TX is which with the proper MOE, MOI etc ID.
It was a compact area with a 1:3500 scale A4 map, so all transmitters could be easily heard over the whole course, but the complexity of the creek and steep river banks make it quite a challenge, and increased the course length suitably. The two creek crossings went underwater during the event, making it extra challenging for the later starters.
At such a public park, transmitter placement is a compromise between not being particularly visible to random walkers (even on such a wet day there were still many out), yet visible enough to be punched whilst not transmitting.
Thanks to those who were able to pick up transmitters afterwards, Ewen, Darian, and especially Alistair who grabbed the two on the other side of Merri Creek (driving all the way around rather than risking the now underwater creek crossings. Everything was packed up by 1:30.
The club Christmas event was a FoxOr event with twist: The circle only tells you where you might hear the 1st FoxOr in a string or chain of FoxOrs. Once you find the first one, you should be able to hear the 2nd, and so on. Here’s the map the competitors saw:
You don’t know quite how long the chain you’re on currently is, other than it is between 1 and 5 long. In fact the chains were A=4, B=5, C=3 & D=1. I only had 13 transmitters!
You know there are 6 FoxOr frequencies to choose from, and a chain will never repeat a frequency (but between chains will, of course). You also know that as you follow out a chain, the next frequency will always be higher. In this case they were A = 144.25, 144.75, 145.50, 145.70 B = 144.00, 144.75, 145.30, 145.50, 145.70 (144.00 was a mistake, was meant to be 144.25, but competitors knew beforehand) C = 144.25, 145.30, 145.70 D = 144.25
Here’s the TX locations:
Things that went well: – All the transmitters worked and could be heard. – Nothing was stolen. Apparently some intrigued neighbours. – The chain with the FoxOrs closest together (A), was perhaps the more difficult. – There were transmitters people could visit when picking up TXs after that they hadn’t been to when competing. – Noone had to be rescued.
Things that went not-so-well: – Some considered it a bit hard to understand, or DF, or read the map. – Grumbles about blackberries and fences on the A chain, but frankly these things were both self-inflicted. Read the map:) – It was too long. No-one found all TXs, best was 9/13. I didn’t want too much interference between chains that could be confusing, so they had to be well separated, but that made it a bit long. – FoxOr C-2 on 145.30 was (deliberately) 50% duty cycle, but could be heard over nearly the whole map. It was in the highest location (Essex Heights), and being a Sprint-TX in ‘FoxOr mode’ appears to have a bit more oompf. It’s only 1 range higher on the YNG sniffers, but that seems to make a big difference. In retrospect, lucky it was on a On/Off duty cycle. FoxOr C-3 was also a Sprint-TX, in Homing Beacon mode, but wasn’t as high up, so wasn’t as much of an issue.
Bulletin 4 with all the details of the Competitions.
The team in the new snazzy outfits raring’ to go, after a 4 year break of International competitions due to Covid. (Postcard with thanks to Janelle and Ewen)
We were all picked up with other competitors by a preorganised bus at the Prague Airport and had a pleasant ride to the University accommodation in Liberec where we were going to stay during the event.
This time,Jack VK3WWW is a Referee and Ewen,Janell and Peter are competitors in the M70 and W65 agegroups.
Here’s Jack and the other Referees.
Couple of things to add was for the first 3 events the rain was a nuisance. It was also quite chilly but that was better for running. But, not for the transmitter sitters. In WC with so many competitors classic events have half on 2m and the other half on 80m so there were 10 transmitter sitters/technicians hidden under. camouflaged tarps low to the ground so most of the competitors never even realised they were there. Also 5 of the 7 referees were wandering the course making sure there was no cheating. There were a couple of disqualifications but in general all were well behaved. One thing that did come up though is the smart watch issue and gps watches with mapping. Smart watches are fairly new and pose a bigger threat than older gps watches. It will be interesting to see how the Region 1 technical advisory committee handle it. All in all it was a great event and the Czech clubs that joined forces did a great job I estimate the organisers had about 50-60 people organising most were ARDF people and on top of that number still had plenty of top athletes in all categories to fun full teams.-Jack
From Janelle and Ewen
Training
The first two days comprised of training which was invaluable. Having had limited training before leaving Australia, these practice events were a good opportunity to test our equipment and familiarise ourselves with the terrain in the area. The altitude and contours were a definite reality check.
Classic 1
Most of the older age groups competed on 2 metres. It was a day of mixed results for our team. Personally, 2 metres is my least favourite event, and my focus was to keep in touch with the map. The high points on the map gave the best bearings and I was delighted to find my three transmitters and have a secure path to the finish, 4th place but well off the pace. On the M70 course the transmitters were more elusive. Although not the result Ewen and Peter were hoping for, they finished within the time limit. There were reflections everywhere. From the start Ewen had good DFs to the North, South and West to the number 4 TX.
Photo – a good reason to smile
Sprint
Following the bearing and high speed were the tactics for success. With very runnable forest in most of the course, there was no need to keep in touch with the map. The winning time in the M70 class was just under 20 minutes. Ewen was pleased to have a good run and apart from a small error was placed halfway through the field. This was only Peter’s second international sprint competition and timed it perfectly to get back with just 33 seconds to spare. Not a great day for me, lost considerable time on the first 3 Txs and finished overtime with no result.
Note: we need more 80 metre sprint practice.
Photo – Ewen
Rest day
We began the day with lots of resting and then joined some of our US friends for a coffee and cake at a local café. We returned several times to this café, the best coffee and cake in Liberec!!
Photo – coffee shop
Classic 2
Revitalised, we were ready for the 80 metre course. Should have known when I taped the overlay with north facing south on the map that was not a good omen. (Perhaps I needed Peter’s spare compass that faced south instead of north) The terrain was similar to Classic 1 with some excellent tracks. Taking the direct approach proved heavy going with low vegetation and fallen timber. Some of the lesser tracks had been used by machinery and very muddy. My reluctance to tackle Tx1 straight up the hill resulted in a very convoluted route and well down the result list. The M70 course was far more challenging. Both M70 and W65 had Tx2. It was difficult to get a good bearing from the start and decide the transmitter order. Fortunately for W65 course, the Tx4 and Tx2 had similar bearings and lead to a high point that gave a clearer direction for TX2. M70 was not so lucky with Tx5 and Tx1 to the east and south of the map, that Tx2 was the obvious choice for their first Tx. It was certainly hard work. Peter and Ewen managed 8th placing in the teams event.
Foxoring
The wet weather had cleared and there was promise of fine weather and some sunshine. Would have loved a later start as the mornings were still quite chilly. For the foxoring, there is not the luxury of studying the map and working out a strategy before you start. The buzzer goes, you grab your map, run, and try to plan a good route as you head down the start corridor. In hindsight stopping for 30 seconds and setting up the map compass would have been beneficial. In the rush to get started, I lost my position and precious time and consequently my orienteering advantage. Fortunately, the kit 80 metre receiver worked extremely well and the Txs all appeared on cue. No amount of fast running could make up for lost time and finished with another 4th. Ewen’s goal in orienteering has always been to choose the optimum course and this has obviously paid off with his choice today, the same order as the top competitors in M70. In 12th place with all Txs, it was a great effort. Peter had a late start and it fell to the first starter of the Australian team to chorus the “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie” to bring home the men. Again, it was only the second time Peter had competed at an international Foxor. It was a creditable performance finding all but one of the transmitters and well within the time limit. All those Parkruns have paid off Peter.
Photo – Peter in the finish corridor
On a rough count over the 6 days of activities we each covered a daunting 40+ km, plus the lengthy walks to the starts and around the city of Liberec. Exhausting, but certainly worth the experience. The camaraderie amongst the competitors, the enthusiasm of finish corridor spectators and the support and encouragement from the organisers and referees made the championships a wonderful experience. Thank you to the Czech Radio Club for a world class event. It certainly challenged us.
Finally, to my fellow team members a big thank you for the technical support, encouragement, and good humour. Together we made it through the week.
Maps of the competition
Hygienic measures against African swine fever virus: Every competitor is obliged to go through disinfection corridor after reaching the finish line and disinfect his shoes!
We all had to mark the out of bounds Rifle Range when sorting the map out in the map tent.It’s the red areanear the Finish circle! Most people had to run around it to get to the Finish.
It was a blustery but warm day for the Karkarook Park Orienteerng and Sprint ARDF event on Saturday afternoon on 29th August.
Not only was the AR club running the Saturday afternoon Cake-O event, set and organised by Suzanne O’Callaghan, but the numbers were also boosted by AR members having a go at a 2m 5 transmitter Sprint-format ARDF event.
The new Map
Some orienteers were attracted by the new colour park map by AR member Geoff Hudson. This map had as the centrepiece the original 2005 Karkarook Park map by Adam Scammell, but now significantly updated from field checks by Bruce and Geoff. This was then extended by a colour street map of the area north of the bypass road, and extended south into industrial/retail estate. This region had previously been mapped by Steven Dunbar as a B&W street-O map for BK, but the detail was insufficient for park orienteering, so the decision was made instead to make a new colour map of the whole area.
Park O
There is a push to move Saturday Cake-O’s from just another street-O to a bit more park based orienteering, and the new map and the cunning course from Suzanne did not disappoint. She had to avoid much of the newly mapped intricate minor tracks around the lake itself, as this was mid-winter and things had a chance of getting sticky, but expect to see a summer event taking advantage of these in the future.
There was strange indirect hearsay of some discontent from some about actually having to navigate, but this was rumored to be from persons who really should know better anyway (bush-O people), and were really just caught out being lazy.
Notable placings are Lauris Stirling and Ros King in Power Walking, and yours truly & Phil Torode in Run45 (noting that Phil was riding a bike).
Control 9 was one of those controls where concentration was required, unlike depicted here
Sprint ARDF
Five 2m transmitters running 12s each, so the whole cycle takes 1 minute to repeat. The time limit was set to 90minutes, but a soft landing of 5 points/min late was applied instead of the normal ARDF sudden death overtime rule. Each TX was assigned 20 points, but due to a strange MapRun bug, the start and finish both counted as 20 points too.
Transmitter locations
This map segment shows the 5 transmitter locations, but this is hidden from ARDF competitors both on the map and on MapRun when competing.
Some complained that the distance required for this Sprint event were more akin to a full classic ARDF, and though it is true the obstacles did make it longer than a typical Sprint, there were only half the number of transmitters than in a full double-stage Sprint ARDF. Also, here’s what the normal classic ARDF exclusion circles of 500m and 750m look like on this map:
Totally fails classic ARDF exclusion zones
11 ARDF competitors gave it a go on the day of the Cake-O, and Darian completed the event (total 12) only yesterday (Monday 7th). His time has been adjusted to exactly remove the time he spent actually retrieving each of the transmitters (thanks Darian!) as he went. Peter C enjoyed it so much the first time, he revisited Karkarook during the week to try to track down the transmitters he didn’t find the first time around. In that he was 50% successful.
Apologies to Dougie who replied just a tad late.
Here are the results. You can also see the routes taken.
Congrats to the placers: Bryan, Darian and Monica/Rod, just edging out Ewen from the placings, but who also located all 5 TX in time. Bryan also had the extra self-inflicted handicap of not using MapRun, and the transmitters were pretty well hidden from public view.
Here are the 4 routes of those who found all the TXs:
Next Event
Peter Cole is setting the next AR street-O this Wednesday on Academy Hill.
Darian has plans for a Large Sprint format ARDF (or small classic ARDF) possibly using 30s TX timing as a compromise (2.5 minutes per cycle). Those traveling overseas soon should let Darian know when you’ll be back.
We wish Jack (as an official), Peter, Ewen & Jenelle the best of luck in Czech Republic at the World ARDF championships, 2023.
Setting this course was fun and so different from a StreetO event where only the GPS locations are required – trying to find good “safe” spots to hide Ewen’s 80m transmitters so they wouldn’t be stolen or attract attention was the aim – and fortunately all were hidden well, and performed flawlessly, and were returned home intact. Phew!
I was pleased to find, when walking around the Bellbird Dell area, that the areas which I thought were out of bounds before are now part of a park redevelopment and after I read the sign carefully, walked through a break in the barbed wire fencing to find ideal places to hide transmitters.
Ultimately, after correcting the angle of this map which must have been at least 10 degrees off North, a hand out was made.
I had put placement locators out using green garden stakes – which are so camouflaged that I had trouble finding them later – but all was set,- transmitters placed, all timing sorted and power on. So I went back to the start at Terrara Park car park – to find several eager participants waving their sniffers in all directions, trying to hear signals with varying success.I turned on mine expecting to hear all five but thought I best have my ears looked at because I could hardly hear anything.
Oh well, I thought,- nothing I can do – if the transmitters are all working these guys will be able to find them they are all so experienced. Then I thought – ” I’ll just try one of the ones Jack had assembled, to see if it’s my sniffer which is the problem – and Boom! – I could hear them 5 and 9 plus. Good one Jack – the club sniffers work better than my overseas one – (The one which you can’t open up and mess around with .)
Here’s the Maprun6 map of the 5 transmitter locations –
Weather reports for that Saturday were that a storm was coming late in the day – in fact even though the sky was clear, with a few clouds appearing, crashing static could be heard from what might be coming up and sure enough it came later but everyone was back before any rain fell.
Altogether there were 9 who did the event. Congrats to everyone taking part. – Bryan, Ewen, Mark D, Pierre, Monica, Mark B, Geoff, Henk and Dianne. I’m glad it worked out and everyone had a good time. Extra points go to Henk and Dianne who found the closest coffee shop to the Start position.
As per usual now, it’s a MapRun event. No need to eyeball the transmitter – it is deliberately well hidden from public view.
Event Name: /Victoria/OV-Clubs/AmateurRadioDirectionFinding-ARDF/Damper Creek ARDF July 2022. In fact, if you are quick off the mark you could even squeeze it in today, Friday!
When: Commencing Saturday 16 July, 1:30pm. Transmitters will run daily from 1:30pm to 5:30pm till at least Sunday 24th July (or later on request).
Start is where the dirt path leaves on the south side of the tennis club carpark, in Federal Reserve, Mt Waverley. Melway 61D9. WARNING: Don’t forget that once you Start, avoid going anywhere near there again till you actually want to Finish.
Frequency 145.300Mhz. 12s Sprint timing, 5TX. Time Limit 90 Minutes. If you want to give yourself the full time-limit, don’t forget to start before 4pm. It is possible you may not hear all transmitters from the start location, so keep an careful ear out as you head around. I could hear 4 of the 5 at the Start.
Well done to everyone who gave it a go over the week, a total of 13 competitors.
Special thanks to Geoff, who not only managed to win overall, but did it while picking up all the transmitters for me as well. He had no choice but to do it quickly, as he rang me around 4:30pm today saying he was heading to try the event. I pointed out to him that it was less than an hour before the transmitters were due to turn off at 5:30pm. Geoff figured he therefore might have to run. He managed to locate the last one to collect, #4, just before they all turned off! I hope he had a backpack with him, or lots of roomy pockets. Geoff gets the Golden Retriever award (hey it’s gold for 1st place, right?).
Most people chose the nice weather today to attempt the event, but Henk & Di also struck a good afternoon mid-week. Oddly, noone chose yesterday (Saturday). I wonder why? Jack was first off the mark (last weekend in the drizzle), managing to hold on to the winning time till today. Jack is therefore awarded the Beaver award.
Second place goes to Darian, followed by Mark. However, I should mention Mark’s time may be artificially long, as he accidentally ‘started’ before he even got out of his car. I have instructed him as to how to cancel out and restart in Maprun. He might have even nudged Darian out of second place. Along with Jenelle, Mark also decided on an unconventional route choice off the map. I’m pretty sure you aren’t really meant to do that in ARDF, but Jenelle left the maps at home, so I’ll decide to ignore it this time. It does make sense if you are going between #3 and #4, but probably isn’t much shorter. I have decided to award both Mark and Jenelle with OBE awards (that’s OutofBodyExperience, not OrderofBritishEmpire – I’m not Tony Abbott!). Maybe Mark should also get the Tardigrade award, for his late start?
Many reported not hearing #5 from the Start, but you were forewarned. I note also that most took a more complicated route over two creeks to #2, rather than directly in via the path below. A better map may have helped out here. The dithering by Di and Henk just before #2 makes amusing viewing in replay mode. Di & Henk are hereby awarded the Phaff award.
Peter’s result may not be indicative. He decided to willfully ignore my careful warning, imploring competitors to avoid going too close to the Finish before they actually want to finish, so we will never know what became of him after #3. Did he find any other transmitters? We’ll never know, but I have decided to posthumously award Peter the Icarus award, as all that I found left was a smoldering pile of feathers.
Ewen’s result, however, is even more curtailed than Peter’s, in that it is completely absent. I’m told there is some terrible embarrassment there, which he hoped to avoid by not even uploading his result. Unfortunately that has backfired, as now, due to this very report we now all ponder what he might be trying to hide. Ewen is awarded the Bloody Mary ghost award.
Another thing to note is that the most popular order was 3-1-4-2-5, which probably isn’t the most optimal route. I consider that a bonus for the course setting (or likely more just due to the land topology hiding #5 till later).
Next ARDF event is Sat 13th August at Bellbird Dell, by Icarus. He is also setting the next AR run street-O on Wed Aug 10.
Results
Click here to see results, and view each competitors route.
A Radio “Combo” event was run in conjunction with the Saturday afternoon Orienteering event at Endeavour Greens on 7 May 2022. Unforunately the weather was rather poor but despite that we had eight people competing.
Five 2m Fox-Or transmitters were placed in bush or park areas on the map and competitors had to locate these once they had reached the large red circles on the map. A copy of the map is below with small blue dots indicating approximate transmitter locations. A 75-minute time limit was set with 3 points per minute late penalty. The event was run using MapRun and no flags were set with the Fox-Ors.
Congratulations to Bruce Paterson who got all 20 orienteering controls and 5 Fox-Ors in the time, achieving a perfect score of 120 points. Newcomer Christopher Hall also did very well, getting all five Fox-Ors and all but three of the orienteering controls. Chris also managed his time very well, returning 30 seconds before the 75-minute deadline. Monica Lo Presti came in third with a respectable 91 points. Jack Bramham was feeling a bit unwell following a flu vaccination the previous day but still went out to get one of the radio controls after spending some time getting MapRun set up on a new phone. Scores are copied below (also available on MapRun “Leader Board”):
Start: Nortons Park car park, Nortons Lane, Wantirna South
This is a free practice event, using MapRun and virtual controls. However, we will be taking donations for the Junior Squads (cash or card), at Registration.
2Meter ARDF sprint course will be available with MapRun scoring.
There is also regular orienteering courses,
Choose any of three Line courses – Hard 5 km, Medium 3 km, Easy 2.5 km. Use MapRun6 on your smartphone or bluetooth watch, to locate controls.
Start any time between 12 noon and 1.30pm. Courses close at 2.30pm.
Covid rules: Groups of up to 30. You must check in with the Service Victoria QR code, at Registration, and show your vaccination status. Practice hand hygiene and physical distancing. Wear a face covering if you can’t keep your distance.
Please stay home if you are unwell, waiting for test results, been in contact with a positive case or at a Tier 1 exposure site, or otherwise required to isolate.
Hays Paddock training event is on from 9 Oct – 24 Oct (or later if requested). For now only if it’s in your 15km circle, but fingers crossed that may change, before the batteries die.
Sorry if outside your circle – I tried to suit as many as I could !
The 2m transmitters are on daily from3-7pm daily. Time limit 90 minutes. Frequency 145.300 MHz, 5TX Sprint Mode
The event will be on MapRun6. Use the QR code on the map, “Events Near Me”, or in Victoria/OV-Clubs/AmateurRadioDirectionFinding-ARDF/
The start, as shown on the map, is the northern track junction east of the carpark.
So that’s a wrap. Tracks and results are now visible here
Congratulations to Jack on the winning time, and I think a pretty impressive track. Apologies to those who missed out on hunting down #3, when it had a temporary outage. I can see some spent a while on long excursions looking for a signal. Click on any of the tracks to see where it actually was located. Jenelle just beat out hubby, leading a large cohort who were all close after the 50min mark. And well done to Peter M who, as usual, did the event in PMT as the controls were being picked up. He brought the total up to 16 competitors, which is a great effort.
By the way, #5 was located on the peninsular south of the creek (which is even more ‘loopy’ than mapped), but seems MapRun just allowed check-ins on the north bank, as I can see a few made use of! Oh well. We awarded Greg #4, as he was unable to get there due to the lake flooding.
Many thanks to Bill, who was able to monitor the TXs for me when required, and who we can all thank for restoring #3 to health – three times! (all for differing reasons). The firmware will upgraded so the website auto-update can be stopped for easier/safer delayed-turn-on programming (reason 1). #3 will receive a new battery (reason 2 & 3).
PS: The next version of MapRun6 will have configurable control punch tones, which will be much more satisfactory for handsfree (phone in pocket) ARDFing.
