[ARDF] 2003 US ARDF Championships - Thoughts, Improvements, Etc.

[Kuon & Dale Hunt]

>I am really curious where everyone had their problems on both the 2M and
>80M courses.

   Physical fitnes:  I jogged on and off for the first two controlls
   on 2m, then had to climb a hill that I shouldn't have, and walked
   the rest of the way.  I jogged about 100m on the 80m course, and
   quickly decided I'd done enough of that for the week already:  I
   walked (or more accurately, "trudged") the whole way instead.

   Because I know hills are my limitation, I planned my route to
   get all the high ones first, then drop down the hill, even if
   it means a longer distance.  (May not always be the best route,
   but I try to plan it that way if possible.)

   Major problem:  not adjusting my perception of the course when
   presented with new information.  I figured #4 on the 2m course
   had to be over the edge of the hill since I couldn't hear it
   from the start.  Actually it wasn't working then.  So I hit
   #5 and #3, then headed down the re-entrant and around the
   sidehill to #4, only to have to climb back up the hill.  I
   should have paid more attention when it came on, and I
   probably could have avoided some unnecessary climbs.

   Maps:  I had pretty good plots on my maps... if I had only
   paid attention to them.  I totally ignored both my plotted
   bearings and the direction I had travelled when I reached
   #3 on the 2m course, plotting my position much further
   West than I was.  I missed following the trail from #5 on
   80m - sure seemed like I would intersect it eventually if
   I folled a bearing parallel to it far enough...
   One thing with competing in the older age categories is the
   need for good glasses - I can't read the map with my distance
   glasses as well as I used to.  I'm considering getting
   bifocals in just one eye for reading the map, while the other
   eye could see my feet while going down hills.  Don't know if
   it will work or not.


   I didn't have any problems with bearings - except not paying
   attention to them (and sometimes not being able to tell them
   apart.)  But Kuon's bearings were off about 15 degrees on
   the 80m course - enough to put #3 on the east side of the
   creek.  I've checked the receiver and it isn't the problem,
   so we will work on her technique.  It may be that keeping
   the map oriented to North and plotting the bearing along
   the antenna may be simpler than reading the bearing in
   degrees and plotting that on the map.

   But you do have to make sure to keep the compass away from
   steel materials - including the tape measure bladess on the
   2m antennas.  (I use a wider spacing between the driven
   element and reflector so the compass is not adversely affected
   if I put it in the middle between them.)

   Better compasses are certainly in order, though our $8 ones
   did the job.

   One downside of taping the crayon to my finger is that I end up
   with marks all over the radio.  But it allows me to mark with
   my right hand while holding the radio.

   Attack points:  if you have good cross bearings so you know pretty
   well where the transmitter is, the standard orienteering method
   should work.  Otherwise you want to head for a point where you
   will be in a good position when the transmitter turns on.
   You also might want to consider the problem of running straight
   to the transmitter - you can't get any cross bearings, so the
   only method of determining distance is signal strength.  (You
   certainly want to learn how a signal sounds on your receiver
   when you are 1 and 5 minutes away.)  But you might also
   consider choosing a route that takes you away from the straight
   line enough to get a cross bearing.  Especially when going
   down a trail, I may not leave it until the bearing is between
   60 and 90 degrees (depending on conditions) since that gives
   me a better idea of where it is.


   Yagi design:  Kuon uses the Ron Graham  2-element phased antenna,
   but it only has about a 6dB F/B ratio, so it is easy to get a
   bearing in the wrong direction.  One of her standing instructions
   is to turn 360 degrees when taking a bearing to make sure she
   is on the right one, but it is easy to forget.

   I've had good luck building some of W4RNL's designs (www.cebik.com)
   for yagis - these have all spurious responses down 20dB from
   the peak, which is quite adequate to avoid confusion.  I want
   to experiment with the Moxon beam, which is a small 2-element
   with good F/B ratio.  The ends of the elements are bent towards
   each other which makes it easier to use in the bush, but requires
   different construction methods (and may snag branches on the angles.)

   Kuon also got confused looking for #3 on the 2m course:  she was
   standing in one place and just couldn't hear any difference as
   she turned the antenna.  Since that flag was harder to see than
   the others, I suspect she was standing within 5m of it, and didn't
   know that was a symptom that her receiver was totally saturated.
   This is the second time she has almost been standing on a transmitter
   and had to give up looking for it in a Region 2 Championships, so
   looks like we will have to do some work on her receiver and how
   it handles strong signals.

   Hydration:  I use the camel principle - drink lots of water before I
   start (in this case, on the bus), don't take any with me, and plan
   to stop and pee along the way.  Of course, this is presuming that
   I will finish the course in a reasonable time.  (Yes, I used the
   same approach in ABQ when I had only 2 kidneys.)


        - Dale WB6BYU


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