Sun, 19 February, 2006

Twelve competitors gave RadiO a go today at the Bush Orienteering season opener near Daylesford. Despite some early drizzle in Melbourne the weather at the event was perfect.

Unfortunately not many attempted the full scale 5 transmitter ARDF event, but a few gave the novel Combo (Fox-or+) course a try . The line distance for the ARDF was 7km, but the quite hilly terrain made for a challenging event. Noone found all 5 within the 120 minute time limit.

The Combo course (do the Fox-or but also try to find any two ARDF transmitters) was an attempt to give a gradual introduction to ARDF to those already reasonably proficient at Fox-or style events. In the future a Combo course could be rolled into the standard Fox-or, but with bonuses for finding any ARDF transmitters as well.

The hilly terrain also meant many that attempted to do both a Bush-O and a RadiO were just too exhausted. There are two possible future options here. Those attempting both should be actively encouraged to do a shorter bush-O than normal (to have any real chance at the RadiO at all), or we attempt to always offer a Bush+RadiO course that incorporates a suitably short Bush-O only leg (Hageby style). The latter would require allowing Bush+RadiO starts from the same time as Bush-O (10:00am).

A few small issues:

1. There seem to be only 3 mini flags + punches in the Fox-or bag. Had make do with some Medals as flags.
2. Fox-or #1 started fine, but when it came back it was no longer flashing; it was stil producing a weak carrier. Some people found this one a bit weak. (Unit marked �Dodgy� with duct tape.)
3. The new LCD sniffers can’t really be lent out yet. A competitor who had one came back saying it didn’t work (for Fox-or) as it was too insensitive.
4. The fudge at the Woodend shop is really fudgy.

Bruce Paterson, Course Setter

Results

Course	Name	Transmitters	Time
Combo	David Beard	8	2:08:00
	Marta Salek	6	1:34:20
Fox-or	Dianne Shalders	4	1:20:00
	Gary & Ryioden Panter	4	1:36:56
	Ewen Templeton	3	1:03:00
	Ian Stirling	2	0:40:00
	Ken & Anitra Dowling	2	0:60:00
	Darian Panter	1	0:30:00
	Shane Keely	1	0:50:00
ARDF	Tony Langdon	4	1:58:17

Sun, 22 May, 2005

Report:

Weather conditions varied between brisk – warm and gusty, depnding on time, and cloud cover. A great day none the less was had by those competing in the second dual MicrO/RadiO event orgainised by the Victorian ARDF Group Inc. A few competing events resulted in lower than expected enterants. Those that did turn up were greated with a lovely stroll / run through the ample parks, aptly named Endeavour Greens for that very reason. There were eight courses on offer, providing ample choice for those that wished to walk or run or have a go at RadiO. A double sided map provided competitors with a small scale black and white map to navigate to the start of the colour map which was provided on the reverse side. The full colour 1:5,000 map provided competitors with interesting route choice challenge’s including many uncrossable fences. Three radiO courses provided competitors with navigational chalenges both inside and outside the 200m diameter control circles. The control circle once navigated to contained a low power hidden transmitter / control which the provided direction finding equipment (sniffer) was used to find. In organising the courses I found that several control circles provided ample route choice with many uncrossable features. Carefull use of sniffers ensured a few competitors cut down substantially on distance, without wasting time looking for the control on the wrong side of the river or fence..

It was great to see soo many competiors diversify by having a go at both diciplines. Many thans again to Bryan Ackerly for the use of the transmitters which operated perfectly. Check the usual event guides or websites, another one of these great events will be orgainised on a Saturday or Sunday in the not too distant future. Don’t miss it…

Results:

Runners A Course – 7Km:

Place	Competitor	Time
1	Marta Salek	32:55
2	Jun Okabe	36:54
3	Denise Pike	42:06
4	Peter Grover	43:10
5	Louise Hall	46:51
6	Robyn Hall	53:45
7	Peter Yeates	57:20

Runners B Course – 5.5Km:

Place	Competitor	Time
1	David Beard	40:25
2	Helen Alexander	49:40
3	Mike Hubbert	57:35
4	Ian Baker	59:15
5	Wally Cavill	63:40

RadiO Runners A Course – 5Km:

Place	Competitor	Time
1	Mark Diggins	24:05
2	Bruce Paterson	27:40
3	Marta Salek	29:45
4	Bryan Ackerly	31:20
5	Tony Langdon	33:30

RadiO Runners B Course – 4.5Km:

Place	Competitor	Time
1	Mike H+ Joy M	53:20

Power Walkers A Course – 5.5Km:

Place	Competitor	Time
1	Tina Smith	43:25
2	Stan Gurman	48:00
3	Judy Hopkins	50:15
4	Ilze Yeates	40:49
5	Graham Morey	69:55
6	Sue Gurman	71:55
7	Des Gregory	72:15
8	Pam King	DNF

Power Walkers B Course – 4.5Km:

Place	Competitor	Time
1	Josie + Jasmine Cox	59:10
2	Dianne Shalders	77:35

RadiO Power Walkers Course – 4.5Km:

Place	Competitor	Time
1	Greg Tamblyn	56:43
2	Henk DeJong	65:30
3	David Beard	69:05

Map for Runners A Course:

Runners A Course (Colour Map, Scale 1:5,000, 5M Contours)

Thanks,
Adam Scammell

Sun, 31 October, 2004

Report:

A warm day greeted those who competed in the Fox-oring event run in conjunction with the MicrO event run by Melbourne Forrest Racers. Conditions were great for running except for the odd snake or two seen crossing a path by competitors and your organiser. Five people competed in the long course of 8 transmitters which was approximately 5.3Kms when taking the tracks and allowing for a detour to check which side of the river number 4 was on. The short course of 4 transmitter had two entrants and was approximately 2.5Kms in length. Competitors had to navigate to a 100m circle and then use their direction finding equipment to find the transmitter / control. The organiser was a little sneaky and placed two of the circles in an area that covered both sides of the river thus making the competitors choose the route carefully. It also ensured that directional bearing could help competitors determine which side the transmitter was on, without wasting time looking for the control.
Several competitors once back from the radio course also competed in the Micro event, while 2 people competing in the Micro gave the RadiO event a try on a shorter / easier course. Thanks to MFR for the map and registration and also thanks to Bryan Ackerly for the use of the transmitters which operated perfectly. Another one of these RadiO event’s will be orgainised combination with the Darebin MicrO event on Sun the 14th November 2004.

Results:

Long course:

Place	Competitor	Tx’s	Time
1	Adam Scammell	8	27:30
2	Bryan Ackerly	8	31:55
3	Bruce Paterson	8	35:27
4	Ewen Templeton	8	44:58
5	Tony Langdon	8	46:51

Short course scores

Place	Competitor	Tx’s	Time
1	Henk de Jong	4	32:03
2	Mike Hubbert	4	39:43
3

Bruce Paterson above, searching for his second control Transmitter number 4 (Photo: Adam Scammell)

Bryan Ackerly above, searching for his last control Transmitter number 7 (Photo: Adam Scammell)

Thanks,
Mark Diggins