[ARDF] Fun and Frustration

[Vadim Afonkin]

Marvin,

We had our hunts almost every weekend here in Boston and by now we  
have 5-7 folks coming to the trainings on regular base. But none of  
them hams. And every time we have a training at Blue Hills we have  
more and more people wondering what it is and how they can try it. It  
is important to understand that word "ARDF" makes no sence for people  
not familiar with this, when word "Radio Orienteering" explains it all  
in a flash. I think we shoul use word Radio Orienteering for  
newcommers. Want more people? Go after runners and orienteerers. Go  
after 13-14 yers old kids. Those are best groups to approach.  
Unfortunatelly hams are not interested in ARDF

Отправлено с iPhone

25.09.2009, в 12:32, Marvin Johnston <marvin at west.net> написал(а):

>
> I really appreciate all the comments that have been made regarding  
> this
> topic! Right now, I'm still thinking about them to see how they can be
> used to increase participation. I still need to check out the online
> orienteering game to see how useful it would be for training.
>
> A couple of thoughts come to mind.
>
> First, I don't think anyone who would like to be more serious about be
> too concerned if it is called ARDF or Radio Orienteering. Where it  
> might
> be important is when creating images in newer peoples head about what
> this is all about, especially orienteers.
>
> Here are the Google external keyword Global monthly search counts for
> August:
>
> ardf - 6,600
> transmitter hunting - 390
> thunting - 1,300
> radio orienteering - 390
> t-hunting - 14,800
> transmitter hunt - 320
>
> As a first thought, it would be a good idea for any of you running a
> blog or website to make sure both "ARDF" and "Radio Orienteering" are
> included as part of your keyword list in addition to "t-hunting."
>
> A second thought is still that monthly hunts are just too infrequent  
> to
> get anyone seriously interested in ARDF. That is one reason I'm
> interested in hearing how the weekly hunts in Boston are working out.
>
> A third thought is that I am starting to work on is a website  
> dedicated
> to ARDF training. I've been talking to Joe Moell, K0OV, about this  
> for a
> while, so I'm sure he is sick of hearing about it :). There are SO  
> MANY
> things that reading just can't make clear, so I am planning on using
> audio and video as well.
>
> A simple example would be what the sound of pointing towards the
> transmitter vs away sounds like. I don't think training people to  
> use an
> HT S-meter is useful as it starts people off on the wrong way of doing
> things.
>
> And just to make it clear, I would most likely have a bunch of free
> content covering the basics to get people interested, but charge for  
> the
> more advanced content. I'm not sure at this point if I would publish a
> DVD or just make it available for viewing/downloading.
>
> Thanks!
>
> Marvin, KE6HTS
>
>
>
>> I would love to hear your thoughts about is what people find fun, and
>> what they frustrating about ARDF. Joe and April Moell and myself have
>> been putting on ARDF hunts almost every month in So. California for a
>> number of years now. Something I've noticed is the relatively low  
>> return
>> rate of newcomers.
>>
>> This begs the question of why.
>>
>> Your comments/thoughts would be very much appreciated!
> _______________________________________________
> ARDF mailing list
> ARDF at kkn.net
> http://www.kkn.net/mailman/listinfo/ardf