Multi-DF   Sunday August 21st 2016
Organiser - Philip G0NXH with 10 Txs to amuse us.

Location -  Stour Wood, between Manningtree and Harwich.

Site info 

Stour Estuary Nature Reserve
Complete with picnic tables!

Tea venue  
Crown Hotel, 51 High Street, Manningtree, CO11 1AH. 

Event Format 
Details here

New for this event 
A Tx was located in the car park - Identity P for Practice before the event and car Park location after the event. When active it transmitted for 30 seconds in each minute on 1900 KHz.

A second Tx transmitted on 1960 KHz continuously from when Philip had confirmed the operation of all other Txs until 13:25. Purpose to 'jam' reception of test transmissions and inform local amateurs that the frequency would be in use up until 5 pm.


Trouble 't start ...  a  practice  beacon is on but Rosie can't find a set that works despite having a Skoda boot full!
Regular servicing is the key ..
Steve models his super sensitive working set, deafening signal.

Are you ready  Rosie?    ..........   No!

We're off
Colin has found the Tx wire but has a bad case of 'Triffid Blindness'


Suddenly everyone started heading for Tx I

Tx Locations
Amazing what these laptops can do with numbers, if I just ......
Results
Position Competitor Handicap Joker A B F G I J R S Y Z Total Percent
1 Roy E 54 A 80 40 26 32 23 40 20 23 26 23 279 100
2 Rosie M 13 F 32 26 64 26 32 32 0 0 0 17 216 77
3 Gary P 135 Y 26 32 40 40 26 26 23 20 64 40 202 72
4 Steve S 102 Z 23 23 17 17 20 20 40 40 40 64 202 72
5 Colin M 63 S 20 20 23 20 17 17 32 52 23 20 181 64
6 Colin F 140 S 17 17 20 23 40 23 26 64 20 26 136 48

Note  Gary beats Steve although they have the same total because he was first to check in at A.  Full details are here
Unaccustomed as I am  .....    having had a dunking in Multi-Spice on the previous event, becoming the first person to achieve a negative score, I decided to adopt a low risk strategy for this event.
The 'Red Joker Bag' contains  A, F, I, R, R, S, S, Y, Y, Z, Z where the last 8 are  red (difficult Txs to find) .... could this be my lucky day? Yes -- I have A!!!
   As 13:30 approached Philip said 'Of course we will all know if someone drew  Joker A because they will run off as soon as transmissions start!'  I considered hanging on to hide my good fortune but at 13:30 Gary ran off like a scolded cat, had he drawn B?  I decided I better follow albeit at a more dignified pace. Both of us headed off along the path to the east but fortunately Gary changed his mind and headed off in the direction of  G. A's second transmission confirmed I now needed a path north but by the third it was clear I had overshot. However, I had time to get a bearing and machetied my way back along a straight line - obviously with Tx, Triffid and large ticket box I couldn't fail to spot it. Three transmissions and numerous circles later I discovered the box and triffid completely covered by leaves - has 'Nice Guy Philip' gone over to the Dark Side,  Is Tim his light lance touting father?  Enough; on to B.  No spice today back to A to post!
 Now for G, 32 as expected, Gary has been here. At  'F' I encounter a slightly deaf Rosie, now on the last receiver from the Skoda boot.
On to J, gosh 40, this is looking good.   So where is I?


Steve, said he was sure it was down the hill in the thick stuff but was going to wait  for another transmission to confirm. With 40s under my belt I decided I needed to be positive and duly descended into the swamp and brambles.
 As 'I' came on it was obvious I had positively made the wrong move - it was up on the hill and suddenly all but one of the competitors were looking for the same Tx.

Looks as though Gary has spotted it - b'other - only 23.
Now on to Y, Z,   but first BANK AT A! Grabbed Y and 26 without as much difficulty as I was expecting (my first red). However Z made up for it. Colin M was already there and not amused, found the Tx but these triffids are .... 'a pain'.
After much undergrowth flattening I was forced to agree. Then our Hero Colin F arrived, for some reason his eyesight seems unaffected by exposure to triffids. I decided to employ him as my guide dog ...well done,  good boy, have a biscuit!

So far the Txs had been quite closely grouped and I decided to risk not returning to bank at A - daring! Had I realised how far R & S were I might have done. When I got within range I could see Gary dashing about seemingly undecided as to whether to go for R or S.  My legs decided on the nearest one, R.   Found the Tx but couldn't see the triffid, the 3 metre rule meant it could be the other side of the bush, hacking through thorns gave me a ring side seat as Gary arrived at my original position and lifted the triffid lid.  Fortunately my ego was massaged when I managed to spot triffid S before him.

So Start .... A, B, A, G, F, J, I, A, Y,  Z,  R, S, A.  
Not my usual headless chicken impression - more an ostrich with a limp - a definite improvement.

In fact after the last event  'Zero to Hero', well not quite but Zero to Star,. ain't bad.
Hero League


Life is tough at the top!
By coming 3rd Gary put pressure on current Hero Colin F, forcing him to keep his 140 point handicap.  If Colin fails to score on the next event Gary can grab the Hero with either a 2nd or 3rd place.
Some are sliding down snakes hoping to grab a 50 point ladder, while others are content to climb 10 or even 3 steps at a time.
What will event 6 bring ?????

Colin is still 'our Hero'

That's where Rosie's working set went!
Thanks for an excellent event Philip, particularly as I know you were away until late on the Saturday.

Next event on Sunday Sept 11th  is a chance for Colin M to get his own back on triffid hiding - so expect no mercy!  Details here.

Oh and 'by the way'  I have decided that we will all stay at the start until the first cycle of transmissions completes so no one knows when I have Joker A next time!