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2005 Texas ARDF Championships
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Bob Frey WA6EZV crosses the finish line.
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Sunday, October 23, 2005, Bastrop State Park
The first ever Texas ARDF Championships were held on a beautiful and sunny
fall day in Bastrop State Park. The event was held in conjunction with the
Houston Orienteering Club.
Eight competitors participated - seven from Texas, and one from Ohio.
Everything worked well except the
PicCon timing. All five
transmitters were in perfect sequence at 6:20 AM when they were turned on,
but by the time the event started, several had drifted into a significant
overlap. MOE and MOI overlapped, and MOH and MO5 overlapped. During the
three and a half hours or so that competitors were on course, the drifting of
the transmit controllers variously improved or degraded the situation.
Whether the problem was in the PicCons, in the programming of the PicCons,
or in something like battery voltage irregularities must still be
investigated.
Results
| Class |
Name |
Callsign |
Location |
Start
Time |
Finish
Time |
Total
Time |
Transmitters
Found |
| M19 |
Michael Bayern |
W2CVZ |
Houston, TX |
9:35:00 AM |
12:40:12 PM |
3:05:12 |
none |
| M21 |
Darrin Lutz |
KE5CQL |
Georgetown, TX |
9:30:00 AM |
12:13:16 PM |
2:43:16 |
MO5 |
| M40 |
George Fremin III |
K5TR |
Johnson City, TX |
9:40:00 AM |
12:49:14 PM |
3:09:14 |
MOE, MOI, MOS, MOH |
| M40 |
Keith Stolle |
KE5FYG |
Round Rock, TX |
9:45:00 AM |
12:36:52 PM |
2:51:52 |
none |
| M50 |
Bob Frey |
WA6EZV |
Cincinnati, OH |
9:35:00 AM |
12:08:47 PM |
2:37:47 |
MOE, MOS, MO5 |
| M50 |
Mike Urich |
KA5CVH |
La Porte, TX |
9:45:00 AM |
11:32:25 AM |
1:47:25 |
MOS |
| M60 |
Walter Higgins |
W5SWA |
Kingwood, TX |
9:30:00 AM |
11:52:41 AM |
2:22:41 |
MOE |
| W21 |
Jen Harker |
W5JEN |
Austin, TX |
9:50:00 AM |
12:36:26 PM |
2:46:26 |
MOE, MOS, MOH, MO5 |
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Time Limit: three hours
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This was the first-ever ARDF meet for most of the competitors. Only
Bob Frey WA6EZV and Jen Harker W5JEN had run an ARDF course before.
Jen Harker W5JEN was the only competitor to find all of her transmitters
and finish on time. Most of the runners used equipment that they had
built themselves. The most commonly located transmitters were MOE and
MOS.
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Michael Bayern W2CVZ and his dad Mark Bayern AD5SS.
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Jen Harker W5JEN.
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Course Lengths
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The following are the computed straight-line distances for the routes for
each course, choosing the optimal short-distance order in which to find the
transmitters. These are all shorter than you would see at a USA or IARU
Region II ARDF Championship.
| Class | Distance | Number of
Transmitters |
M19 | 4.30 kms | 4 |
| M21 | 5.25 kms | 5 |
| M40 | 4.94 kms | 4 |
| M50 | 4.21 kms | 4 |
| M60 | 3.25 kms | 3 |
| W21 | 4.21 kms | 4 |
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| Mike Urich KA5CVH and Darrin
Lutz KE5CQL examine the map and discuss their courses after finishing.
In the background is Walter Higgins W5SWA.
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Keith Stolle KE5FYG.
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George Fremin III K5TR.
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Comments
"Despite being new to international ARDF and getting up close and personal
with some of the most rugged parts of Bastrop State Park, I had a very nice
time. I'm already thinking about the things that I could do different or
better and am looking forward to the next local ARDF event." - Walter Higgins
W5SWA
"Not knowing what to expect made for an interesting challenge to say the
least, but we'll be more prepared the next time. I would love to attend
more events and gain a lot more practice." - Darrin Lutz KE5CQL
"All in all, though, fun was had, the weather couldn't have been
better, I gained yet more experience in ARDFing, and maybe we
got a few more people interested in the sport!" - Jen Harker W5JEN
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