Category: Local RadiO

Saturday 15th November 2008

In conjunction with the night orienteering event held by Nillumbik Emus, we decided to try a night RadiO course of their own. After much discussion with club members, we decided that the main format for the night would be a 2m ARDF course, following international rules (750m exclusion circle, transmitters at least 500m apart), and with total course distance being approximately 7km. For an added challenge, Rex Niven, the course setter for the orienteering course, kindly allowed us to show six of the orienteering controls on each competitor’s map, so that, as an added challenge, people could choose to find some or all of these as well as the ARDF transmitters. It was a perfect map for such an event – there were hills, but not so many as to make the reflections overwhelming or the terrain unrunnable, and the bush was very open, making beeline navigation between transmitters almost a viable option!   Now, as we’ve never run an ARDF course at night before, and had no idea how difficult such an event would prove, we made a few changes to how we set up the course.

1. Joyce kindly provided us with some reflective tapes, which we attached to the ARDF flags so that, as is the intention during the day, if you got reasonably close, you had a good chance of finding the transmitter. These things were incredible! You could see them from a mile away and they reflected so brightly, that it was easy to mistake them for other people’s torches!
2. We also placed 5 2m Fox-Ors, transmitting on 144.250 MHz, out on the course. Their purpose was twofold. First, those that did not feel confident about completing an ARDF course at night could instead just complete the Fox-Or. Secondly, we placed the ARDF transmitters into the same 200m circle as the five Fox-Or-ing controls. The theory was that if people got close to the ARDF transmitter but couldn’t quite find it, then they could use the continuously transmitting Fox-Ors to zero in on them a bit. In future events, we probably won’t do this. Some people chose not to use the Fox-Ors and complete the ARDF course in the traditional way, while those that did felt they could have coped without them.
3. On each transmitter, we placed a segment of the map showing the 200m circle that the transmitter was located in. If people had lost contact with the map, which is a common occurrence even during the day, let alone at night, then they could use this segment to help them relocate themselves.
4. We placed the transmitters so that getting them in order was the most efficient route. Not everyone realised this, but for those that did, it meant less zig-zagging around than on some of the ARDF courses.
5. We asked everyone to return at midnight, with everyone starting no later than 9:05pm. Without the usual 90 or 120 minute time restrictions, we figured people would be able to take their time and find the transmitters without feeling the need to rush back to the start.

  We had great turnout for this event – ten competitors. Starting most people off at 9pm, except for a couple of stragglers that started a couple of minutes later, we settled down to wait for the verdict. David had just managed to lodge the homing beacon up a nearby tree when Rex, our fellow orienteering course setter, expressed an interest in night ARDF, saying he had tried the format in the past but without a great deal of success. Figuring most people wouldn’t be back for a while, we headed off with him to give him some moral support as he found a couple of the transmitters. He enjoyed himself, and managed to find 3 transmitters in the 2 and a half hours or so that he was out on the course. And he drew some extremely accurate bearings in the meantime, too – two of which crossed perfectly on Tx2’s location.   After an hour or so out on the course with Rex, however, I had that uncomfortable feeling that we’d forgotten something… Racking my brains, it finally hit me – although the homing beacon was in the tree, it wasn’t actually ON! I rushed back to the start with my rapidly flattening torch batteries to turn it on – and lucky I did, because not only did Adam beat me back to the finish (having done all the ARDF transmitters and a couple of O controls in just over an hour – brilliant effort, before returning to drop off his sniffer and heading out again to get the rest of the controls), but also Bryan was not far from home when I arrived! It’s worth mentioning that not only did Bryan find all the ARDF controls without a compass and without tuning in to the colocated Fox-Ors, but he also managed to find his way back to the finish the old fashioned way – navigating by the stars – since I only turned the homing beacon on about 10 minutes before he got back. Well done, Bryan, and sorry about the delay!   Other competitors returned later, with most enjoying their run and finding what they’d set out to get. Bruce, Mark, Geoff and Gary all found the five ARDF controls, with Bruce finding three of the orienteering controls as well, despite taking out a northern hemisphere compass! Ryordan and Darian went out together and found all five of their Fox-Ors while Suzanne headed out to get a couple of the Fox-Ors and some orienteering controls as well. Peter M had a bit of difficulty, but still found two of the ARDFs and two orienteering controls, so well done to him! No-one noticed the echidna which had been making itself comfortable at transmitter four when we put the controls out, so perhaps it had moved on by the time everyone arrived.   All in all, night ARDF seems a promising concept. No-one got too badly lost and, provided the terrain is good, it looks like people can still complete fairly accurate and rapid runs. The colocation of Fox-Oring controls is probably unnecessary, so I don’t think we should repeat that next time around, but other than that, I recommend the format to people looking for a course to set in the future!  

Sun 13 April, 2008

What an interesting event !

There was drama, as Bryan arrived late after getting a bit navigationally embarassed relying on his GPS to negotiate the new freeway, cards lost and found, compasses lost at night and found one the “one last just-in-case check” and even Birthday cake.

There was exhaustion, as David just couldn’t contemplate that final A loop, and the opposite as Bryan flew through the B course, much to his own surprise, and fever as Adam couldn’t get his head together.

The forecast showers stayed away, and despite the few dramas, it went pretty smoothly. Hopefully it was woth having to wake up before 7am (!), to get all the RadiO controls, both FoxOr (it was fun finding places to put them, despite having to push the bike up one of the hills) and 80m ARDF (antennas were slung the night before; a well worthwhile time saving precaution) in place.

Thanks to Suzanne for the cakey bits, Greg for all his help merging the event with the BK Hageby, Bryan for (eventually) bringing the 80m receivers and all the competitors. Thanks also to those who helped pickup controls, including Pru and Peter who hadn’t competed in the RadiO.

Competitors had to start with the VHF 2m FoxOr, doing any 4 or 6 of the 7 large circles, then a bush-O leg, followed by HF 80m ARDF, doing and 3 or 5 of 5, then another bush-O leg to the finish.

Here are the results:

Sunday, 15th Oct 2006

Emerald Sunday Special & RadiO

On a cloudy day, a small group of intrepid RadiO orienteers gathered at the Lion’s Den in Emerald Lake Park. Attendance was low, both for the RadiO event and the BK normal orienteering event being held in conjunction with ours – this was set by one of our members, Dianne. Nonetheless, every event on offer was tried by at least one person, with mixed results.

A 2m ARDF course was on offer – this was tried by Bruce. Unfortunately, over 2 hours after beginning, he returned rather disgruntled, and informed us that the event was an ARDF course, not a fox hunt! Excessive paranoia relating to stolen transmitters, coupled with bushland much thicker than we had anticipated, meant that the transmitters had been placed in locations that were really too obscure for an ARDF event, leading to a lot of time spent standing around near the transmitter locations, waiting for them to turn on again. A good point was made by Mike Hubbert – should we be really worried about people pinching our equipment, then we could continue to hide the transmitters thoroughly, and just place the flags high up and further away from the transmitter location, so they can easily be seen.

More successful were the FoxOr and CombO courses. Seven 2m FoxOr-ing controls had been placed around the lake, with four of the ARDF transmitters positioned “in-between” these controls. Those doing the CombO course had the option of finding any two of the ARDF transmitters, as well as the FoxOring controls. Gary and Henk completed the FoxOr without too much difficulty (except perhaps for control 2, which had been placed in fairly thick scrub), while Bryan, Mark and Mike had a shot at the CombO event. All three of the latter people found the ARDF controls, and seemed satisfied with the course, which was a bit of a relief after the ARDF debacle! Credit to Mike and Mark for heading out after already completing an orienteering circuit; especially as the heavens opened halfway through their events, drenching all those out there for a good half hour or so! Full marks to Bryan, also, for competing despite still recovering from foot problems following the marathon he had completed the previous week.

An 80m 5-in-5 course was also available, although only a couple of people had a shot at this – I think the rather unpleasant turn in the weather meant that most people wanted to dry off and head home once they returned, and weren’t as keen to give the RadiO courses a try. There seemed to be fewer of our regulars around as well, which didn’t help matters. Nonetheless, I put the controls out, vigorously flinging red cable up into the trees and then hiding in panic as both the wire and various overhanging branches rained back down on me! David then went out to give the course a shot. A few problems made themselves apparent. First, the thickness of the bush meant that cutting through forest to get between controls was not a viable option – you really had to run along tracks and dive off once you got close. I had provided blank maps of the general area to make this slightly less painful, but I’m not sure how easy it is to navigate while having 1 minute to get between controls! I actually had to put controls somewhat closer together than I had planned because of this little problem, and also because, just as I started putting transmitters out, some park rangers decided to close off a bridge I had planned to use! Secondly, David found that stopping to punch the control (given that they were generally located amongst fairly thick shrubbery), meant that there was no chance of getting to the next control within its cycle period. We therefore decided that it was OK to just sight the flag; punching was not required. We should perhaps adopt this method for future 5-in-5 events… Bryan had a go before this new rule was introduced, but independently decided not to physically approach the controls anyway, mainly because he was using a new 80m transmittter in which the sense antenna wasn’t working. Bruce went out afterwards, and had a successful run – he didn’t quite get to the first control in the first minute because he was a couple of seconds late starting, but found the rest within the second cycle period, which is pleasing.

All in all, the FoxOr and CombO events went quite well, as did the 5-in-5 once the non-punching rule was implemented. Best not to say anything further about the ARDF course! A few more people giving the event a go would have been nice, but you can’t do much about the weather, I guess…

Results:

Marta and David