[ARDF] Fun and Frustration

[Vadim Afonkin]

As for transmitters - set of 80 meter microtransmitters from ukraine  
will cost you only about $100 and will make your work easy. It is very  
portable and you can hear it up to 3-4 km. Sergey Storkov I believe  
has one set for sale.

I may get more if we need.

What we need is cheap but good receivers.

But most of all - less talks and more work.

Отправлено с iPhone

27.09.2009, в 13:38, Charles Scharlau <charles.scharlau at gmail.com>  
написал(а):

> Hi Marvin,
>
> You have put your finger on the crux of the matter, and the most  
> difficult
> question to answer. How must the sport evolve?
>
> My concern internationally is that the sport has been evolving away  
> from
> being a technical sport, and has become more a sport of pure  
> athleticism.
> The World Championship courses are much longer than they used to be,  
> with
> difficult terrain to traverse. With more age categories the numbers of
> competitors out in the field has increased. The result is an  
> emphasis on
> endurance and running ability, with rampant following and no  
> enforcement to
> prevent it.
>
> The sport remains relatively popular in Eastern Europe where there  
> is still
> some state sponsorship of the sport. In Russia, the Czech Republic and
> Ukraine there are established clubs and organizations that receive tax
> dollars to cover travel to competitions and stipends to encourage  
> those who
> teach the sport. In the remainder of Europe and the rest of the  
> world (with
> few exceptions) it remains a purely amateur sport. So it is without
> exception that the competitive teams all come from the Eastern  
> Europe, and
> that seems unlikely to change for the foreseeable future.
>
> Internationally, I think rules changes are in order to 1) prevent  
> rampant
> following, 2) bring more technical skills back into the sport, and 3)
> promote an even playing field for all competiting countries.
>
> One encouraging development that Nadia noticed in this year's European
> Championships results is some statistics revealing likely following by
> competitors. So hopefully the organizers will get a better idea of the
> degree of the problem, and will deal with it swiftly and  
> appropriately.
>
> Domestically, the problem boils down to how we make the sport  
> appealing (at
> least as appealing as orienteering) without any "ARDF stimulous  
> money" being
> invested by the financially strapped governments. Nadia and I have  
> had long
> discussions about that, and have not come up with any brilliant  
> solutions.
> Realistically, I think it will probably take quite some time, and a  
> lot of
> work, for the sport to reach critical mass in the USA. Here's my  
> thinking on
> a strategy right now:
>
> 1) Identify and target groups and organizations that have similar  
> interests
> or related goals. Orienteering clubs, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, others?
>
> 2) Sell ARDF to the leadership of at least *two* closely-located
> clubs/troops in those organizations. A commitment from the groups to  
> provide
> motivated participants must be put in place.
>
> 3) Promote competition between those clubs/troops, and provide
> training, support, and practice opportunities to them. An annual local
> championship competition needs to be part of the mix.
>
> 4) Be willing to modify the rules a bit to adapt to the competitor's  
> skill
> level, be flexible, and don't give up. Keep promoting to other  
> groups to
> join the fun... with support provided mostly by the active groups.
>
> An inexpensive domestic source of quality ARDF equipment would also  
> be very
> helpful, since it would make it simpler for these activities to get  
> started
> with an affordable and quantifiable initial investment cost.
> Will it work to plant a seed? I don't know. But it is the best we've  
> come up
> with.
>
> -NZ0I
>
>
> On Sun, Sep 27, 2009 at 12:43 PM, Marvin Johnston <marvin at west.net>  
> wrote:
>
>> Charles,
>>
>> In what ways do you think ARDF needs to evolve? I'm not sure if  
>> ARDF needs
>> to evolve or if the way we are approaching promotion needs to  
>> change ... or
>> both.
>>
>> I certainly agree with Vadim that a time committment needs to be  
>> made, but
>> that time also needs to be spent effectively. It is quite possible  
>> we are
>> repeating ways of promotion that are just not effective, so I am  
>> starting to
>> test different approaches.
>>
>> Putting on an antenna building workshop prior to a hunt has brought  
>> out
>> some new people. And a couple of them show some real promise of being
>> potential competitors.
>>
>> My next approach (besides the ARDF practice this month) will be to  
>> put on
>> some ARDF training on the afternoon of our next Scouting  
>> orienteering meet
>> at Firestone Boy Scout Camp. We will have training and equipment  
>> for the
>> scouts. I'm also thinking about an adult leadership training for  
>> scout
>> leaders who would like to know more about ARDF and how to help  
>> scouts get
>> involved.
>>
>> Thanks!
>>
>> Marvin, KE6HTS
>>
>>
>>
>> Charles Scharlau wrote:
>>
>> I think ARDF will ultimately need to
>>> evolve or go extinct. I think it must evolve both in the USA and
>>> internationally. The rules, and the equipment, both must evolve.
>>> -NZ0I
>>>
>>
>>
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