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 Previous: Larry Wolfgang, WR1B, Named QEX Editor |  Next: SimSat Balloon to Launch Next Week |
By Joe Moell, K0OV
ARRL Amateur Radio Direction Finding Coordinator
Contributing Editor
July 17, 2007
It was dicey for a while, but the Angora wildland fire didn’t force cancellation of this year's events. The championships are open to all, so make your plans now to attend.
Registrations for the Seventh USA Championships of Amateur Radio Direction Finding (ARDF) are still being accepted. The event is scheduled for September 14-16 at South Lake Tahoe in the Sierra Mountains, near the border between California and Nevada. Beginners and experts at on-foot radio-orienteering will test their skills and learn from one each other. As in recent odd-numbered years, our national championships are being combined with the ARDF championships for International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) Region 2, which encompasses North and South America.
Plans for this year’s championships began just after last year’s USA Championships in North Carolina. Marvin Johnston, KE6HTS, was eager to have the championships in California again, after the successful events of 2004 in the Golden State. He took the ball and ran with it, getting full support from Santa Barbara Amateur Radio Club, an ARRL Special Service Club. The Los Angeles Orienteering Club agreed to co-sponsor the event and provide orienteering supplies, including electronic scoring equipment.
Even though it is a 525 mile drive from Santa Barbara, Johnston knew that South Lake Tahoe would be an excellent location for the 2007 championships. The ideal course-setter was also available. Bob Cooley, KF6VSE, of Pleasanton has been a classic orienteer for many years and has been doing radio-orienteering almost since the beginning of ARRL’s involvement in it. Cooley has a large collection of medals from the USA and IARU Region 2 ARDF Championships. He brought home a gold medal for USA from the IARU Region 3 championships in Australia in 2003, and finished in the Top 10 of his category at the ARDF World Championships in 2000, 2004 and 2006. Cooley is an expert at orienteering mapping and knows the El Dorado Forest near Lake Tahoe very well.
No Cots or MREs Here
Some of the best IARU-rules championship events worldwide have made group housing and food service available for the participants in places such as school dormitories and campgrounds. Like an Olympic Village, this brings all the participants together to share experiences and form friendships. It took a while to get it to all come together, but Johnston and Cooley were able to arrange for the use of Camp Concord, a rustic but comfortable facility two miles from the city limits of South Lake Tahoe, owned by the city of Concord, California.
Camp Concord was headquarters for the 2003 US Orienteering Federation’s championships. For participants who bunk there, no additional transportation will be needed to get to and from the ARDF competition courses. Johnston negotiated an inexpensive package, including two nights of lodging in the cabins and five meals, for event registrants.
Registration opened in early June and plans for the championships were proceeding. But on the afternoon of June 24, a forest fire (known as the Angora fire) broke out south of Fallen Leaf Lake. Fanned by high winds, it moved rapidly northeast into a nearby residential area. More than 550 firefighters worked diligently around the clock to slow the expansion of the burn area and prevent further structure damage.
Full containment of the Angora fire was achieved just before Independence Day. It destroyed 3100 acres, 242 homes and 67 commercial buildings. Damage occurred to 35 additional residences. Total loss has been estimated at 11.7 million dollars. Progress of the fire was halted at Highway 89 and the southwestern boundaries of the city of South Lake Tahoe.
Camp Concord is 1.6 miles from the edge of the burn area and has reopened for the summer camping season. California Department of Forestry’s Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit has closed the entire burn area until at least November 30 to protect the fragile environment and to rehabilitate the watershed. Forest land near the shores of Fallen Leaf Lake has mostly been spared.
According to Cooley, “A little of the area I wanted to use for the 2 meter course was burned, but I have enough other mapped areas to fill in.” So plans are again going full speed ahead for this year's USA ARDF Championships. Early Bird registration (at a $25 savings) was scheduled to end on July 14, but because of the delay, that deadline has been extended to July 31.
What’s It Like?
International ARDF competitions have taken place in Europe for almost 30 years and USA has been represented for almost a decade, but most hams still don't know much about the sport. What is it like to compete at the national championships? First, understand that anyone with reasonable physical abilities can participate. A ham license is not required and there are no age limits, but you must be able to run or walk through the forest and carry your RDF gear for 5-10 kilometers. The medal winners will be covering each kilometer in 10 minutes or less.
National ARDF Championships are for individuals only. No teaming or assistance on the course is permitted. Participants are divided into five age categories for males and four age categories for females, in accordance with standard IARU rules. Medals for first, second and third place will be awarded in each category.
It's best if you have your own handheld radio direction finding (RDF) sets for each course: FM on 2 meters and CW on 80 meters. If you don’t, check with the organizers in advance to see if gear will be available for loan. There will be a practice and equipment check day on Friday, September 14. Better yet, attend the optional ARDF training camp that Cooley will be holding on Wednesday and Thursday before the championships.
Course operations are in accordance with IARU rules; these are uniform throughout the world. As a competitor, you will be assigned a starting number by lot. Lowest numbers go first in the 2 meter event on Saturday and last on 80 meters Sunday. Competitors start at exact 5 minute intervals. You may be starting with up to three others, but they will all be in different categories.
Ten minutes before your start time, you will receive your orienteering map and you can tape it to a map board that you provide, if you wish. You will clear and check your electronic scoring tag. Five minutes before start, you will get your receiver/antenna set, which will have been impounded up until that time. You may not turn it on, but you can approach the starting line.
Timed tones will give you a signal to start at the appointed time. You will run up the marked starting corridor to the end, at which point you will be out of sight of the waiting competitors and you may turn on your receiver. From then on, it’s up to you to find all of your three, four or five required transmitters (depending on your category) and get to the finish line.
Each of the five fox transmitters is on for 60 seconds at a time in numbered order, and then the cycle repeats. Fox #1 sends MOE continuously in Morse, then #2 sends MOI, #3 sends MOS, and so forth. You don't need to know CW, because the number of dits tells you which fox is on.
Close to each fox transmitter, there will be an orange and white orienteering flag with an electronic scoring box attached. You do not have to find the actual transmitter or antenna, just find the flag and dip your scoring stick into the box. The transmitters may be attended, but the attendants won’t give any clues. You may not make radio transmissions nor ask for assistance from others on the course, unless you are injured and need medical help.
You may find your foxes in any order. Your map will have the start marked on it with a triangle and the finish marked with concentric circles. Use it to figure out approximately where the foxes are, and then pick a route that gets to each and to the end with least distance traveled, to minimize your time.
Try to deduce which required fox is furthest from the finish and go for that one first, and so on. Keep track of your position on the map at all times, so you don’t get lost. If you lose your place or lose your map, you can take a bearing on the transmitter at the finish (which is on a different frequency) to help you get home.
Keep an eye on your watch. You will be told the time limit for the day’s course (usually in the two to three hour range) and you must get to the finish before that time elapses or you will be disqualified. If time gets short, you may have to forego bagging that last radio fox.
There is another corridor at the end, leading to the finish line. Be sure to run the length of that corridor so that those waiting can cheer you and take your picture. You did it!
Take the Plunge
SBARC is waiting for your registration for the championships. The Homing In Web site has the latest event announcements and updates. You can download a registration form and see more photos of Camp Concord. There are also pages of photos and stories from the previous six USA championships.
E-mail addresses of the organizers are also at the Web site. They welcome your inquiries. The ARDF mailing list (reflector) is another good place for your questions and for discussions with other active radio-orienteers, beginners and advanced.
Make this the year that you try ARDF, our hobby's fitness activity. You might even win a spot on USA’s team to the next ARDF World Championships. See you there!
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