[ARDF] Re: 2m ARDF in Cincinnati, July 16, 2005.

[Matthew Robbins]

Whoops.  Two things.

My order was 23514.

And...I punched 1 about two seconds before it came on, but I wasn't celebrating.

Matthew

On 7/16/05, Matthew Robbins <cedarcreek at gmail.com> wrote:
> Bob Frey set a 2m ARDF today at Mt. Airy Forest, in Cincinnati. It was
> 4-something km, with a *bit* of climb.
> 
> The most amazing thing was the forest. The map is 12-years old, and
> the vegetation is much better than the map shows (at least the places
> where I was). We really need a mapper to add some small depressions
> (sinkholes) and give us some awesome 3-color green. I can't think of a
> better place to be in the woods in Cincinnati in the summer.
> 
> The winner was Brian DeYoung in 67 minutes, followed by Dick Arnett in
> 80 min. I took 120 minutes. My order was 24514, the same as Brian, I
> think. Dick did 35142, which might have been a good decision.  When
> Brian and I committed to 2, we gave up initial bearings for 3, 4, and
> 5.  Dick was probably able to be more confident in the order, and the
> extra distance wasn't too much.
> 
> I spiked 2 and 3, but I wasted a cycle each on 5 and 4. Four was right
> up against a tree, which bugs me a little. I'm so used to regular O'
> that I almost never think to look behind a tree (unless it's a big,
> mapped tree). Am I whining?  Maybe.
> 
> I screwed up 1 heinously, because I just missed it on my initial
> approach, and got into an area where reflections became predominant,
> but not obvious. It took me about 6 cycles (30 minutes), after my
> first attach from the road. The best I can tell, I was within 100 feet
> of it four times in that 30 minutes. It was unusually
> reflective---everything was wet---and the bag was at the bottom of a
> 2m sinkhole, while the antenna was sticking up above the lip. It was
> amazingly confusing to DF, even though I don't think the other two
> guys had any trouble with it. My biggest mistake was not paying
> attention to 1 in one particular place---I thought I was going for 4,
> I was really out-of-breath, and I forgot to check it as I was climbing
> a hill.  I wouldn't have had line-of-sight, but I should have noticed
> the signal was stronger that I expected.  Luckily, at the point where
> I was going to commit to a big descent to go for 4, I decided to wait
> for 1, just to make sure it wasn't behind me...
> 
> Overall, it was a very good course.  It kept me off-balance pretty
> much the whole time, and there was little opportunity for taking
> trustworthy cross-bearings.  For some reason, 4 was transmitting for 2
> minutes.  Bob decided to not fix it, and it wasn't as bad as I
> thought.  It made getting 4 a whole lot easier.
> 
> Also, I forgot to post about Dick Arnett's last course, which was on
> Field Day.  It was 80m, short, a little over 3km, I think, and fun fun
> fun.  I've forgotten the results, but I think it was Bob Frey, then
> me, then Brian.  Emily got 2 of the 5.  Bob said he had a perfect run,
> and I screwed up the last one pretty bad, or it would've been
> closer...
> 
> Matthew
> AA9YH
> Cincinnati, Ohio
>