This is a pretty good substitute for the usual ARDF report to the Board. Dave http://www.arrl.org/news/features/2007/01/17/1/ Skip to page content <http://www2.arrl.org/news/features/2007/01/17/1/#skip_c> · Home <http://www2.arrl.org/> · Site Index <http://www2.arrl.org/search/bigindex.html> · Site Search <http://www2.arrl.org/search/> · Call Sign Search <http://www2.arrl.org/fcc/fclook.php3> · Catalog <http://www2.arrl.org/catalog/> · Join ARRL <http://www2.arrl.org/join.html> · QST <http://www2.arrl.org/qst/> · Classifieds <http://www2.arrl.org/radiosonline/> · Members Home <http://www2.arrl.org/members-only/> · Operating Activities <http://www2.arrl.org/toc.html#operating_activities> · Licensing <http://www2.arrl.org/toc.html#licensing> · News/Bulletins <http://www2.arrl.org/toc.html#news_bulletins> · Services <http://www2.arrl.org/toc.html#services> · Education <http://www2.arrl.org/toc.html#education> · Public Service <http://www2.arrl.org/toc.html#public_service> · Support <http://www2.arrl.org/toc.html#support> · Donate to ARRL <http://www2.arrl.org/toc.html#donate_to_arrl> · ARRL Info <http://www2.arrl.org/toc.html#arrl_info> View page with graphics <http://www.arrl.org/news/features/2007/01/17/1/> HamTestOnline(tm) -- Ad <http://www.arrl.org/adredir.php3?id=252> ARDF Update: A Year of Firsts in ARDF By Joe Moell, K0OV ARRL Amateur Radio Direction Finding Coordinator Contributing Editor January 17, 2007 ________________________________ The 2007 USA ARDF Championships take place September 14-16 at South Lake Tahoe, in the Sierra Mountains near the border between California and Nevada. The courses will be open to both beginners and experts. ________________________________ Dick Norton, N6AA <http://www2.arrl.org/news/features/2007/01/17/1/n6aa1.jpg> One southern California ARDF practice and training session of 2006 was at Topanga State Park, which is close to the home of ARRL Southwestern Division Director Dick Norton, N6AA. Everyone was pleased when Dick came out to the session, borrowed an RDF set, went out on the course and found all five transmitters with a very respectable elapsed time. [Joe Moell, K0OV, photo] Nadia Scharlau <http://www2.arrl.org/news/features/2007/01/17/1/podium2.jpg> In September 2006, Nadia Scharlau of North Carolina was the first American to win a medal at the ARDF World Championships. [Richard Thompson, WA6NOL, photo] Bronze medal <http://www2.arrl.org/news/features/2007/01/17/1/medal06b.jpg> Nadia Scharlau bought home this bronze medal from Bulgaria. [Richard Thompson, WA6NOL, photo] Parade <http://www2.arrl.org/news/features/2007/01/17/1/parade06.jpg> Just as in the Olympics, there is a parade of nations at opening ceremonies of the ARDF World Championships. Some of the ARDF Team USA members in the streets of Primorsko, Bulgaria, heading for the 2006 ceremonies, were (L-R) Jay Hennigan, WB6RDV; Jerry Boyd, WB8WFK; Bob Frey, WA6EZV; the Bulgarian hostess; Dick Arnett, WB4SUV; Dale Hunt, WB6BYU (carrying flag), and Bob Cooley, KF6VSE. [Richard Thompson, WA6NOL, photo] Charles (NZ0I) and Nadia Scharlau <http://www2.arrl.org/news/features/2007/01/17/1/scharlau1.jpg> Charles (NZ0I) and Nadia Scharlau, seen here at an equipment checkout session just before the 2006 World Championships, were organizers of the 2006 USA ARDF Championships last April in North Carolina. [Richard Thompson, WA6NOL, photo] Marvin Johnston, KE6HTS, and scouts <http://www2.arrl.org/news/features/2007/01/17/1/jota06b.jpg> Marvin Johnston, KE6HTS, shows a Ukrainian 80 meter ARDF unit to three scouts at Jamboree On The Air near Santa Barbara in October 2006. Marvin is chair of the organizing committee for the 2007 USA and IARU Region 2 ARDF Championships, coming in September. [Joe Moell, K0OV, photo] Judging by my mail, it's clear that more hams in more places tried on-foot hidden transmitter hunting under international rules last year. This radio sport, which goes by the names foxtailing, radio-orienteering and Amateur Radio Direction Finding (ARDF), got its start in Scandinavia after World War II. It grew to prominence in Europe during the 1950s, with national and continental competitions mostly on the 80-meter band. Later, events with 2-meter AM "foxes" were added, and Asians joined Europeans at the biennial world championships. Hams in the US first tried ARDF in the early 1990s, but it didn't take off in this country for almost another decade. Since 1999, however, growth has been steady. Every month, more hams in more states discover this enjoyable way of improving their fitness and radio skills at the same time. Last year's USA ARDF Championships attracted stateside hams over a wide age range, plus visitors from England and Germany. ARDF is an ideal activity for Scouting, as I discussed last October <http://www2.arrl.org/news/features/2006/10/10/1/> . Our 2006 Jamboree On The Air (JOTA <http://www2.arrl.org/FandES/ead/> ) near Santa Barbara brought it to more youth than ever at an excellent Scout camp in the Santa Ynez Mountains. Did your club include foxhunting in JOTA? If so, I would like to hear from you. Bringing Home the Bronze The biggest ARDF news of 2006 in this part of the world occurred when Nadia Scharlau of Cary, North Carolina, became the first American to capture a medal in the World Championships of ARDF, which took place in Primorsko, Bulgaria. Not only was she the first US radio-orienteer to do so, but she was the first from International Amateur Radio Union (IARU <http://www.iaru.org/> ) Region 2 (the Americas and the Caribbean nations). Nadia was one of 13 members of ARDF Team USA, who hailed from eight states and earned their positions in our 2005 and 2006 national championship competitions. ARDF was a large part of Nadia's life as she grew up in the former Soviet Union. She began winning medals by capturing gold at the European Championships in 1984. After moving to the US, she rediscovered the sport five years ago and picked up where she left off. She's earned a spot on Team USA for every world championship event since 2002. Last September 16, Nadia tied for third place in the category for women of her age range (W35) in the 80 meter event. A tie for medals is very unusual in ARDF, since standings are determined by elapsed time, measured electronically to the second. But the circumstances in this case were equally unusual. I'll tell that story shortly, but first some background. Foxtailers find their way in the woods with an orienteering map that shows elevation contours just like a topographical map. An O-map also has color-coded indications of vegetation as well as standard symbols for trails, roads, fences, buildings, large boulders, and so forth. It is oriented with respect to magnetic north for easy navigation with a compass. Competitors in each category start at five-minute intervals, to prevent "follow-the-leader" issues. Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers are not allowed on the courses, but a sixth transmitter on a separate frequency is located at the finish corridor so competitors can use RDF to find their way home. This has proven invaluable to those who have lost their maps, glasses or contact lenses during the hunt. National and world championship foxhunts are scored first by number of transmitters found and second by elapsed time. You will almost always score higher if you find all your required transmitters and get to the finish in two hours than if you skip one and get to the finish 30 minutes sooner. There is a course time limit -- typically 2-1/2 to 3 hours -- after which a competitor is disqualified if he or she has not reached the finish. Nadia's husband Charles, NZ0I, also a 2006 Team USA member, recalls the 80-meter course. "There were sufficient trails out where the foxes were, but when it was time to go to the finish, there was a lack of trails and you had to go cross-country," he said. "It was pretty hilly. No matter what route you chose, you had to go up and down through the trees with very few landmarks to guide you." Nadia found the last of her four required foxes at 1:04:42 elapsed time. Only one other person in W35, Lyubov Provatorova of Russia, had better time at that split. "When I got my last transmitter," Nadia said, "I knew I would be very close to the medals, because I did not lose much time and did well in my judgment. But when I tuned to the finish beacon frequency, it was not there. I was shocked." Nadia continued, "I checked the frequency written on my map holder and, yes, I was tuning to the right frequency. I checked the other transmitters again, and I could hear them all, but not the finish beacon. Of course I knew the approximate direction, but there were no roads, it was green area. I was losing valuable time, so I ran what I thought was the right direction and stopped every two minutes to see if the beacon was back on. These woods were very complicated, so I was devastated at the finish." For the 1.4 kilometer split from last fox to finish corridor, through heavy vegetation, the other top three W35 finishers took 10:33 to 12:12. They all had the benefit of the finish beacon, because they all started significantly earlier or later than Nadia. Without the beacon, it took Nadia 14:24 to get through the brush from last fox to the corridor. This coincided almost exactly with the duration of the beacon failure. A protest and appeal was made to the international jury, consisting of representatives from all three IARU regions. According to Team USA Captain Harley Leach, KI7XF, the jury deliberated the matter for several hours. The final decision was to credit Nadia's time by 1:09, tying her for third place and qualifying her for a bronze medal. Nadia was very pleased, of course, but she said, "I am very proud for our entire team, especially on the second day, because the courses were very challenging with high hills and few trails. We had to think and work very hard. That is what I like about ARDF, it is always interesting because it is like solving a puzzle on the run." NZ0I summed it all up very well: "The entire team did an excellent job on two very difficult courses. Illness, minor injuries, and equipment mishaps took their toll on Team USA, as they did on other nations' teams," he said. "But I believe that in the end, we proved ourselves to be better prepared than in any previous championships. If we continue to improve and can recruit new talent, especially in the younger age categories, the future looks bright for ARDF Team USA." Sniffing in the Sierras For Nadia and Charles, the World Championships were their second ARDF triumph of 2006. The first was in April, when they co-chaired the sixth annual USA ARDF Championships <http://www2.arrl.org/news/features/2006/05/05/1/> near their home. They did an excellent job, which will be hard to top, but some hams in California are getting set to try. Members of the Santa Barbara Amateur Radio Club <http://www.sbarc.org/> and the Los Angeles Orienteering Club <http://www.losangelesorienteering.org/> will present the 2007 USA ARDF Championships from September 14 through 16 at South Lake Tahoe, in the Sierra Mountains near the border between California and Nevada. As in recent odd-numbered years, the 2007 USA ARDF Championships will be combined with the ARDF championships for IARU Region 2. Marvin Johnston, KE6HTS, chairs the organizing committee. The competition courses for this event will be in the same forests where the United States Orienteering Federation held its 2003 national championships of classic orienteering with 350 competitors in attendance. The maps are excellent and the course-setter will be Bob Cooley, KF6VSE, a winner of medals in both classic and radio-orienteering. The fun will get under way on Friday with practice and equipment testing sessions, followed by a meeting for orientation and rules review. The 2 meter contest will take place on Saturday, after which all will gather for a banquet in the evening. Sunday's schedule includes the 80 meter contest and an awards ceremony, timed to end in mid-afternoon to accommodate those who must hurry home. Event headquarters will be at Camp Concord in the El Dorado National Forest. An inexpensive package including two nights of lodging in the rustic cabins and five group meals will be offered to event registrants. Camp Concord is fully accredited by the American Camping Association, but for those who don't prefer cabin life, several motels are available within three to five miles. National ARDF championships are for individuals only. No teaming or assistance on the course is permitted. There are five participant age categories for men and four for women, in accordance with standard IARU rules <http://members.aol.com/homingin/intlfox.html> . Medals for first, second and third place will be awarded in each category. Depending on the category, each competitor will be required to find three, four or all five transmitters on each day's course. Typical total distances from start to each fox and then to the finish are four to seven kilometers, depending on category. There is a time limit, typically about three hours. The best foxtailers usually finish in an hour or less. Even if you have never competed in an ARDF event before, you will be welcome at the USA and IARU Region 2 championships. The courses will be open to all, beginner and expert alike. This country's best foxtailers will be present, and they love to help newcomers at the practice session. To provide even more learning opportunities, there are plans for a two-day ARDF training camp just before the championships. This year's world-class course sites will attract the attention of ARDF enthusiasts from around the globe as well as around the states. Inquiries about attending have already been received from Asia. Previous IARU Region 2 championships in the US have drawn visiting competitors from Australia, Canada, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Hungary, Japan, Kazakhstan, Russia and Sweden. Any kind of portable radio direction finding equipment may be used on ARDF courses as long as one person can carry it from start to finish, and it does not emit any RF signals. Typical gear for 2 meters includes a flexible-element Yagi and a receiver with S meter and RF attenuation <http://members.aol.com/homingin/equipment.html> . On 80 meters, receivers with loop or ferrite rod directional antennas <http://members.aol.com/joemoell/80intro.html> are the norm. Mark your calendar for September 14-16 and start honing your foxtailing skills. Registration for the championships will open in about three months. You will find updates and registration information at my "Homing In" <http://members.aol.com/homingin/index.html> Web site as they are issued. I'm looking for another record-setting year for ARDF in 2007 and I hope you and your family will be a part of it. See you in the woods! Previous (earlier) Story <http://www2.arrl.org/news/features/2007/01/15/2/?nc=1> Previous: Spark Gap Experiment Considered a Partial Success <http://www2.arrl.org/news/features/2007/01/15/2/?nc=1> Next (later) Story <http://www2.arrl.org/news/stories/2007/01/17/100/?nc=1> Next: Radio Amateurs Support Emergency Services, Forecasters in Ice Storm's Wake <http://www2.arrl.org/news/stories/2007/01/17/100/?nc=1> ________________________________ Page last modified: 11:00 AM, 17 Jan 2007 ET Page author: awextra@arrl.org Copyright © 2007, American Radio Relay League, Inc. All Rights Reserved. ________________________________