[ARDF] ARDF demo event at Hamvention...

[Matthew Robbins]

We announced an ARDF during the fox hunt forum, and had 6 people show
up.  We took photos, but we only have 2 of the 6 names.  Hopefully, we
exchanged e-mails so we can figure out who attended.  I think we would
have had a lot more if we advertised it in advance, but that just
wasn't possible:

I didn't get park approval until  Thursday, two days before we did it,
so we didn't advertise it more.  This was unusual for me.  Usually
park approval is pretty trivial.   Bob Frey, Dick Arnett and I each
brought loaner gear (them more than me...).


We used two 2m and two 80m transmitters on a two-minute cycle, and we
put them really close.  We had to stay on trails, but we tried to make
it at least partly a map-reading exercise.

It was a beautiful day in the park.

After the foxhunt forum, but before I had to leave to go to the park,
I walked around carrying my tape-measure beam.  (Not on purpose---I
just didn't want to waste a bus ride back to my car and then back to
Hara.)  It was pretty shocking how many questions I got asked about
it.  If I ever do that again, I'll print up sheets of information to
pass out.  One funny thing was how people would look at, but not ask
me anything.  Whenever someone did ask about it, it usually drew a
small crowd of people who didn't want to ask.

(I actually started a handout sheet for general ARDF topics, but just
didn't have the time to finish it.)

Saturday was a long day for me.  I gave a 10 or 12 minute ARDF
presentation at the foxhunt forum, but I had been up until 4:30am
finishing it.  I had two hours of sleep.  After I got out of the park,
I went to a QRP banquet and ended up home at about 11:45pm.  Instead
of going to Hamvention again on Sunday, I slept about 11 hours.

I still think it's a good idea to have a two-day ARDF during
Hamvention, but it requires a lot more work than you'd think,
particularly if you want to do it on one of the premium days (Friday
or Saturday).  If any of you would consider attending, let us know
what format would be best for you.  A very aggressive format would be
event 1 Friday afternoon, and event 2 Saturday afternoon.  That would
still give people plenty of time at Hara Arena.  I don't know.  I will
definitely be talking to Bob, Dick, and Brian to see what they think. 
The big question is: Should we try to attract active ARDFers, or
should we just try to hold demo events for beginners?

One thing we talked about was how our Cincinnati group doesn't
advertise our local events except by personal e-mails.  If you're
planning to be in the area,  let us know---We might be able to
accommodate your schedule.  (maybe)

Matthew
AA9YH