If you are a returning Vic ARDF member who has joined via Eventor, and none of your details below have changed, you do not need to fill in a form. Everyone else needs to fill in a 2021 membership form (links below) and send to Kristian and Suzanne, at the address included. Payment details are also in the form.
Attention OV members:
If you are a member of another Victorian club, please join that club first, then join ARDF in Eventor.
In Eventor, you can still enter any OV event with whichever club you wish to. We encourage entering under ARDF, as this helps our stats.
If you wish to join OV, and ARDF is the only orienteering club you want to be a member of, please do not use Eventor to join; fill out this form and Bank Transfer the $45.
Your Details that may have changed:
New SI stick number (did you buy an SI-Air stick recently?)
New address
Joined/lapsed OV or WIA memberships
New callsign
New email
New contact phone number
Sex/Name changed
PDF document: https://ardf.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Victorian-ARDF-Group-Membership-2021.pdf
Word document: https://ardf.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Victorian-ARDF-Group-Membership-2021.docx
After some teething problems with logging the GPS locations for the start and each of the transmitters only to find the program I used to save the locations only went down to 3 decimal places. I then went back to the course and tried again using another 2 apps this time it was better. 6 decimal places. The MaprunF file was created and sent to Geoff Hudson to create the file for the MaprunF app. My map was made using Open Street Map but Geoff put the Coordinates onto the Camelot Rise Streeto map. This map had better detail of the area but the exact start location was slightly out. I know the advertised start location of the bridge was accurate as when I did a test of the event MaprunF started me as I stepped onto the bridge. All of the transmitters were located in the park and I noticed from the various course routes that having the Motorcross Track, Whitehorse Waste Transfer Station and Bunnings did make for some interesting route choices. Transmitters were activated on December 14th and originally the plan was to collect them on December 24th. As the course dates did not suit everyone it was decided to leave the transmitters out until after New Years Day. I could hear Transmitter 2 from home so each day between 15:00 and 19:00 I could monitor it. Occasionally if conditions were good I could hear TX3 as well. From the Bunnings carpark I could hear all of the transmitters with TX1 being the weakest. In the time the transmitters were out only 7 people attempted the course and owing to the time of the year it’s understandable. For those of you who did not do the course and wondering what the terrain is like here is a video I made of my test run: https://youtu.be/qxTOoP5uCfw Not the best but it will give you a good idea of the area. Hopefully if I make another video like this I will get the map and the synch of the receiver better. Peter VK3ADY was the first to attempt the course but did not allow enough time and after he found his 3rd transmitter the timer cut in and all of the transmitters turned off. Peter returned the following day to find the last 2 transmitters. Mark VK3BES could only hear 3 of the 5 transmitters. I did hear TX5 come on the day he attempted the course but it may have shut down shortly after. I was planning to collect the transmitters on Monday Jan. 4th but as TX5 and TX4 were reported not transmitting I collected them on Sunday 3rd. 1,3 and 5 were still going strong but by the time I had collected 3 and 5 TX1 it had gone silent as well.
Name Callsign TX Order Time Distance Date Comment
Peter Cole VK3ADY 5,4,2 01:04:06 3.98 16/12/20
Peter Cole VK3ADY 1,3 34:04:00 1.94 17/12/20 Picking up missed TX’s
J. Bramham VK3WWW 1,5,4,2,3 31:39:00 2.4 19/12/20 Course Checking + Video
Peter Cole VK3ADY 1,5,4,2,3 29:58:00 2.4 19/12/20 DF1FO 2m RX Test
Bruce Paterson VK3TJN 3,2,5,4,1 28:51:00 3.26 23/12/20
Monica LoPresti VK3FFAB 3,5,1,4,2 57:45:00 3.3 23/12/20 Joined by Uncle Rod
Ewen Templeton VK3OW 5,1,4,2,3 32:40:00 2.37 28/12/20
Jenelle Templeton VK3FJTE 1,4,2,3,5 01:00:06 3.29 28/12/20
Mark Besley VK3BES 3,5,1 41:37:00 2.26 01/01/21 TX2 and TX4 not operational
This Covid-safe event ran for over 3 weeks for 4 hours a day, stretching from Jack first out the gates on Thursday 22nd October, through to Henk & Di on Saturday 7th October. I suspect this may be the longest foxhunt we’ve ever run?! Perhaps longer even than the US election. Of course this renders it a bit pointless to include the traditional reference to the state of the weather at the event.
Kristian has just pipped Geoff for the fastest time just under the 3/4 hour mark, but note the impressive minimal distance Geoff managed it in. However, we should note that Kristian had some issues using MapRunG, and was forced to return to his car part way though his run, as well as locating 3 of his transmitters by sight. As the transmitters had been very carefully hidden, as they were going to be out in the wilds for quite some time, this would have been particularly difficult. He also didn’t take out a paper map, complicating things for himself.
Darian, Pierre & Cameron, I’m told, also somehow forgot to use MapRun (?), so also had to eyeball locate some of their transmitters. I’m not sure I completely understand that, but anyway, Darian-et-al’s track was loaded up retrospectively. Unfortunately they were over the 90min time limit, so I had to mark down as overtime, but all their results are still shown. A welcome to first-timer, Cameron.
Jack was so keen he decided to have multiple goes at the event, finding a different set of 4 transmitters each attempt. On his first attempt, he was never able to hear TX#3, so after that I decided to swap TX#3 and TX#5 positions, as the latter was a much stronger TX. Jack returned a second time to check the new TX configuration, and then yet again on a later weekend to post his 2nd result, which I’ve shown at the bottom as unofficial.
Rod notes the event was an excellent start to his weekend, and he & Monica liked the course layout. Their course length is also excellent, only 400m longer than Geoff’s. Di mentioned that she & Henk might well have found all 5 transmitters under the time limit, if Henk hadn’t wanted to actually see all the transmitters (see above!), but as they were running a bit short on time decided to cut out the one over the other side of the creek. Good to know all the transmitters are still working fine after 3 weeks, as they went for a stroll on Saturday 7th.
The first event upload to MapRun didn’t successfully set it up as a Score event as wanted, but unfortunately the second attempt didn’t seem to either. I’ve therefore extracted the results here, taking into account those who eyeball located some TXs, and the TX location swap. Beware that the Track files linked will have TX5 & TX3 swapped still. Many thanks to Geoff for promptly doing the MapRun submission – if you can prepare a (correct), MapRun compatible, kml file for him detailing the TX locations, this is a lot of the work required done.
Sprint training Covid style is available now in Ashwood South. 5TX 2m (on 145.300MHz). Each TX runs for 12s, so 5 TXs form a 1 minute cycle. There is a 90 minute event time limit.
Start location in in Harlequin Dve, at the main park sign. Off Power Ave., Ashwood South.
Transmitters run for 4 hours daily, 3-7pm. I’ll finish the event once everyone has had a chance to try who wants to.
Use MapRunF to register at the controls. Event name is under Victoria/RunFree/ARDF/Ashwood_south_ARDF_Use_this_one_ScoreV90, or “Events Near Me” should have it top of the list if you use that near the Start. Please avoid cheating by looking at the map on the phone, even though it’ll be mostly purple.
PDF version: https://www.ardf.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Ashwood_south_ARDF_Score90-2.pdf
You can currently train on this event in Melbourne if you live within this 25km circle:
UPDATE: Due to the updated COVID-19 restrictions which are effective from 11:59pm on Wednesday, 8th of July, this event will be ending on Wednesday, 8th of July. Sorry, if anyone was planning on attending after this date.
5 Transmitters (145.300 MHz) are located within the parkland.
Transmitters are at least 100m from each other, and from the start/finish.
Transmitters are on from 2pm until 4pm each day from Saturday 4th of July until Sunday 12th of JulyWednesday 8th of July.
There is no flag or registering device at the transmitters. You will need to use the MapRunF app. To find the event in the app go to Shwerkolt Cottage and press Events Near Me. The event is called “ARDF – Yarren Dheran ScoreRun90 04-07-2020” If you get asked for a PIN enter 6771.
Once you start the event you shouldn’t look at your phone until you finish.
The best thing to do is to move off the map screen. Select the centre tab (the symbol looks like a clock). This will show you how much time you have remaining, how many controls you have punched and what the last control was. (Note: the start and finish are counted as controls)
Make sure your volume is as loud as it goes so you know when you have registered as locating a transmitter.
Your time will start when you pass through the start/finish location and MapRunF registers that you were there, your time will end when pass though the start/finish location for a second time. (There is no beacon at the finish.)
The Map attached to this blog post is far superior to others that I have seen of this area, but if you wish to use others then feel free. (Thanks Geoff for the map.)
Please park in the carpark at Shwerkolt Cottage and walk north west to get to the Shwerkolt Cottage Orchard Shed (The western most building). The start/finish is the water trough north east of the building.
Some warnings
Do not enter the Freeway.
There are a number of cliffs in the area. There is no need to attempt to climb up or down any cliff.
Do not cross any fences. They are often close to the top of the previously mentioned cliffs.
To be fair to all competitors, please only cross the creek using one of the marked bridges.
There are hidden hazards in many areas including, logs, rocks, old fences and unmarked low cliffs.
There is a busy bike path that runs through the middle of the map, please use caution when entering/exiting or swinging your beam on this path.
Some of the ground is very muddy, spare shoes are recommended for the drive home.
If you venture off a track please be careful.
In case of emergency / technical issues
I will be within approx. 10 mins whilst this event is active.
If you are seriously hurt call 000. If you have a minor injury and require assistance then call me.
If one of the transmitters isn’t working then please contact me, I have a spare transmitter, but it may take 20 mins to program appropriately and get it in place.
Whilst you are in the area
I recommend the donuts at The Pastry Board in Ringwood North, or if you want a sugar overload Pizzeria Express has Donut Snack Packs (DSPs).
Results
Results will be available instantly in the MapRunF app but will also be posted on this page.
Transmitters are at least 100m from each other, and from the start/finish.
Transmitters are on from 2pm until 4pm each day from Saturday 4th of July until Sunday 12th of July.
There is no flag or registering device at the transmitters. You will need to use the MapRunF app. To find the event in the app go to Shwerkolt Cottage and press Events Near Me. The event is called “ARDF – Yarren Dheran – July 2020”
Once you start the event you shouldn’t look at your phone, but please make sure your volume is as loud as it goes so you know when you have registered as locating a transmitter.
Your time will start when you pass through the start/finish location and MapRunF registers that you were there, your time will end when pass though the start/finish location for a second time.
The Map attached to this blog post is far superior to others that I have seen of this area, but if you wish to use others then feel free.
Please park in the carpark at Shwerkolt Cottage and walk East to get to the Shwerkolt Cottage Orchard Shed. The start/finish is the water trough NE of the building.
Image
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Some warnings
Do not enter the Freeway.
There are a number of cliffs in the area. There is no need to attempt to climb up or down any cliff.
Do not cross any fences. They are often close to the top of the previously mentioned cliffs.
To be fair to all competitors, please only cross the creek using one of the marked bridges.
There are hidden hazards in many areas including, logs, rocks, old fences and unmarked low cliffs.
There is a busy bike path that runs through the middle of the map, please use caution when entering/exiting or swinging your beam on this path.
Some of the ground is very muddy, spare shoes are recommended for the drive home.
If you venture off a track please be careful.
Whilst you are in the area
I recommend the donuts at The Pastry Board in Ringwood North, or if you want a sugar overload Pizzeria Express has Donut Snack Packs (DSPs).
Results
Results will be available in the MapRunF app but will also be posted on this page.
Congratulations to the VK3MZ team for a job well done in taking out the January hunts results were as follows. Many thanks to Kristian and Megan for opening their home and providing supper. Also thanks to Tom, Brendan and Greg for running the hunts. The formating looks great on my scree lets see what happens to it through the list!!
Thanks to all those who made to the Vic ARDF Christmas Party.
The weather turned out perfect, considering the scorcher only 1 day earlier.
The results from the two fun 2m events have been unearthed and are below. Thanks to Darian for working them out. A couple of the 2m FoxOrs had somehow ended up on low power (?), and unfortunately they were some of the more distant ones. One was in constant carrier mode, which was a bit confusing with so much other RF noise around.
2m Sprint Course (~1.5km) 4 TX (something went wrong with TX#4 on the day, but it seems to work fine now!)
Darian 22mins 4TX
Monica 39mins 4TX
2m FoxOr Course (~5km) 9 TX on different frequencies
Bryan 70mins 9TX
Darian 50mins 8TX
Adam 57Mins 8TX
Jack 56mins 6TX
Monica 53mins 4TX
Henk & Di 78mins 4TX
Suzanne 80mins 4TX
Ewen also presented us all with an intriguing ARDF word puzzle that was quite a challenge. No-one got all the words, with I believe the closest being Monica with 15 ARDF words. Other placings went to Mark, Bruce and Henk.
Nibblies and BBQ followed, then we viewed the Legend of Burnout Barry, featuring the well known Invermay Drive in Monbulk. Many also stayed for the feature, chosen by a popular vote of 2 Vs 1, of Jasper Jones.
The November hunt was run by the MD / HRL / VR / MZ team. The weather was a good for hunting other than a little rain on one hunt and a lot of wind on another. 5 teams were up for the challenge.
The night started with light in the sky and the first hunt was to test the accuracy of the equipment and the accuracy of translating that to a map. No sniffers were allowed. Closest was FAST who were approximately 30m – 40m from the actual location. The were followed by CI, FOX, AI. BLN had gear problems with seating of a Win Radio card and did not complete the event.
The next hunt was on the Sth side of Paterson River which required a run of over 1km (to make up for not sniffing on the first hunt :-). Several teams tried the North side of the river as there was no close vehicle access on the South side. First in was FAST followed by FOX. CI and AI. BLN was still fixing their equipment.
The 3rd hunt location was chosen to split up the hounds from the different road options. MZ’s new 70cm Micro fox was used for the first time. First in was FAST followed by FOX, AI, CI and BLN who started late with gear working again.
The next hunt was in Keysborough in a water retaining basin. All but one team came in from a park on the North side of Dandenong bypass and had little trouble finding the source of radiation (fencing wire) or the hidden transmitter about 10m away. First was FAST followed by BLN, AI, CI and then FOX.
The 5th hunt was on a small spit on the Sth side of Mordialloc creek. Several sniffers could be seen on the Mordialloc pier which was the hope of the planner. First in was BLN followed by CI, FOX, AI and FAST
Hunts 6 and 7 were made into a multileg hunt to speed things up. On Hunt 6, (2m) hounds needed to run around the soccer complex if coming from the Sth. A short distance away was the 70cm leg (hunt 7) which was easy to get into if you knew how.
For hunt 6 the order was FAST, FOX, CI, BLN AI
For Hunt 7 the order was FOX, FAST, BLN, CI and AI.
Scoring for the night was order based and the final results were:
The AR club only entered two teams in the Mixed category (Short,Long,Medium) of the Victorian Orienteering Club Relays, but they placed 2nd and 3rd, so everyone competing got a certificate. Dry and warm autumn conditions at Eppalock.
The small AR club had an impressively high placings hit rate at the Street-O Monday/Wednesday Summer series presentations on 3rd April.
We even had the 1st/2nd/3rd tri-fector in one of the Power Walking categories !
Congrats to Bruce, Suzanne, Mark, Dianne, Henk, Jenelle, Ewen and Ian (not in picture – he had to head off home earlier).
The February fox hunt was run by the VK3OW team. The hounds were VK3CI, VK3BLN, VK3FAST and VK3FOX.
The first event was a two legged hunt with the first leg being somewhat unusually on 80 meters with the second leg being on 2 meters. Both transmitters were in Plenty George Park Melway map 10 . 80m on a knoll at ref E7 and 2m in the bush at about J5. The two foxes were a 1.5 Km run or a 10 Km drive apart. The 80M fox gave, as it turned out, rather too cryptic comments suggesting the the hounds should bring a 2m sniffer when hunting the 80m fox. Or was it my rather rusty CW too difficult to read? The FOX team found both foxes within the time limit. The CI team found both foxes and although strictly over time for the 2m leg were given a point for actually finding the fox. Bruce in fact found the 80M fox first with Kristian 4 minutes later. Kristian was however first into the 2m fox, I suspect because the FOX team were better organised getting a 2m sniffer to Kristian. There appeared to be harsh words spoken in the CI team! The BLN team gave themselves somewhat of a penalty by starting from Doncaster or there abouts rather than Greeensborough. The hunts were run by VK3OW (80m) and VK3SLH (2m)
The next hunt was on 2m with the fox located in Cherry Street Grasslands, Melway map 20 A6. CI were first in followed by the FOX team sometime later. The BLN team arrived in good time but then tried to drive in and ended up getting their antenna tangled in a tree which slowed progress considerably. The hunt was run by VK3AI and VK3FVXN.
The next hunt was on 10m with the fox located in Price Park, Melway 20F11. The hunt started after a delay due to an air gap in the fox antenna system and the FAST team finally lived up to their name arriving quickly with BLN a minute later, followed by CI a minute after that with another minute gap to the FOX team. Hunt was run by VK3OW and VK3SLH. We were sitting at a picnic table in what we thought was a fairly plain view but all the hounds ran wide of us, finally spiralling in after running past.
The next hunt was on 2m with the fox located in Lenister Farm Melway 21J11 As we were runnning later than we wanted to be the fox was turned on while Stephen was still mobile. To ensure a good signal he “mounted’ the antenna in the sun roof. We had also planned to hide the transmitter but decided to leave it in the car. First in was the BLN team followed by the FOX team and then the FAST team who would have done better if Monica had seen the fox antenna on the roof of the car before running around it more than once. The CI team arrived a minute later.
The final hunt, on 2m, was located in Finns reserve Map 33D2 where VK’s 3AI, FVXN and FJTE were preparing supper. First in was the BLN team, followed by the CI team then FOX and FAST.
My thanks to the hounds for participating, and not lynching me for the 80M hunt. Also to Dianne, Jenelle and Henk for organising and preparing supper with a big thanks to Jenelle for the unexpected birthday cake.
Final results were CI the winners on 16 points, followed by the FOX team on 17 points, then The BLN team, 31 points, and the FAST team on 36 points.
Today was a lovely sunny spring day here in Melbourne, a perfect opportunity to test the new set of 2m Sprint transmitters, following a Street orienteering (Cake-O) event in the far eastern suburb of Chirnside Park. This was also a brand new map, the first time a street-O has been run in Chirnside. The Start/Finish location was the beautiful and manicured Delemere Reserve.
Start / Finish Location
A number of ARDF regulars decided to make the trek to dabble in a bit of Sprint practice, as well as most also competing in the orienteering event prior (which wasn’t quite as hilly as I’d expected beforehand).
The results for the Sprint TX testing appears below too.
Rough Results
Competitors self-timed, as this was only an informal practice, but for the heck, here are the recorded results. You’ll note for both Jack and Jenelle I’ve only awarded 4 TXs. Perhaps Jenelle forgot to get TX#3 ? There’s no punch there anyway. In Jack’s case, he has the wrong punch mark for TX#5. Now I don’t know quite how he managed this, as there was only one punch at each TX. I can only assume he has punched at some random orienteering control, or perhaps at the grey practice FoxOr, instead (in the big tree just near the start) !?!
Name
#TXs
Time
Place
Kris Ruuska
5
10:14.00
1
Monica Lo Presti
5
30:30.00
2
Ewen Templeton
5
33:00.00
3
Jack Bramham
4
26:00.00
4
Jenelle Templeton
4
35:00.00
5
Uncle Rod
1+
?
6
TX #1 near footbridge
TX #2 in hedge square
TX #3 in the middle of the roundabout (shrubs are a bit bigger than pictured here). Jenelle missed this one.
TX #4 in a different little park well to the south
TX #5 near the tennis courts. Jack didn’t punch at this one.
Testing, Testing…
Another reason was to test the new sprint transmitters in the field for the first time.
Successes:
They all turned on at 2:30pm that afternoon, as programmed to 2 days before, and the transmit sequence was perfect, with no overlap between transmitters.
Battery voltage tests afterwards show all transmitter batteries had barely discharged at all, after running for a couple of hours (and 2 days sleeping). Even the Homing Beacon, which has the highest duty cycle, the LiIon cell was still above 4V. Lowest was 3.77V on the test FoxOr transmitter.
Room for improvement:
Some had difficulty DFing and IDing the transmitters at the same time. This may be because the CW is achieved by turning the final off and on, but the exciter stays on during the whole 12s. This means in practice, in whoopee mode, the sniffers alternate between a high and low tone, rather than being a definite OFF between the CW pulses, and this is harder for the brain to figure out. Another test version of firmware from Byon turns on and off the entire transmitter, but this suffers from a slow PLL re-lock time, making the pulse ‘soft’ and too short (the lock time was nearly as long as a dit). Perhaps a new special version that pre-turns on the PLL before each final stage pulse could help. Alternatively, something kludgey that shorts the exciter output during the OFF might improve things.
There is currently no modulation on the transmitters. Only FM modulation is available, and this seems to spread the power available over a wider frequency band, reducing the range of the transmitters significantly (liatening on whoopee, the exciter alone produces a higher whoopee tone than the modulated FM with final on, effectively inverting the morse, making it very hard to read!). Jack had problems with the Nick Roethe 2m sniffer, as it only engages whoopee when close-in, and with no modulation not much could be heard on AM. No easy solution to this one.
Perhaps the dits could be a bit longer. This can be manipulated somewhat in the MicroFox programming, but any changes would then need to be re-cal’d on all transmitters so the on-time window is correct for an integral number of morse words.
The Homing Beacon seemed to be down on power at the end. The battery was not the cause of this. Needs investigation. Is the PA getting warm ?
The final event for the championships was the second classic.
Ewen, Jack, Jenelle and Peter all competed on 80m, whilst Kristian was the only Australian competitor on 2m.
Thankfully the terrain and map were very appropriate for an ARDF event.
All Australian competitors did very well, getting all of the required transmitters with plenty of time to spare.
Jenelle just missed the podium, placing 5th in a time of 112’41.
Kristian was unable to beat the “sweet, handsom” M21 boys, finishing just outside of the top ten, placing 11th in a time of 65’05.
Ewen placed 18th in a time of 114’10.
Jack and Peter were inseperable, placing 25th and 26th in 99’33 and 100′ respectively.
Tonight the team will celebrate our achievements before boarding flights back home tomorrow.
