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.
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.
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”):
On Sunday 26 May 2013 Woodlands Historic Park was the venue for another exciting RadiO event.
7 competitors fought it out for top positions in the RadiO long and short courses, with Ian Dodd snaffling the lead over Bruce Paterson by 6 minutes. Thanks to Ewen who made time in a busy day to do the course. Peter and Hamish made a good run around the course and returned before their 90 minutes was up. Tim did some coaching for BK, then raced around to collect an impressive 150 points in under an hour. Dennis went out to collect all 6 foxOrs and returned in good time having found them all.
Welcome also to newbies Ian and Jenny and her father, who all set out to find 2 foxOrs after their orienteering course and found them without any difficulty. We hope you all enjoyed yourselves!
Competitors had asked course-setter Suzanne O’Callaghan to set a more challenging foxOr course, so she did them a favour and tested their sniffing skills with some interesting hidey holes – horizontal and low in a burnt out tree stump in the middle of a new growth eucalypt forest, inside a hollow tree, and behind a broken concrete remnant of an old weir.
Many thanks to Bruce Paterson, who set up the software for instant course results and manned the start while Suzanne was still out finding her interesting hidey holes. And to Bruce and Peter who collected controls.
Woodlands CombO results – 2m FoxOr and Orienteering
