Multi-DF     Sunday June 5th 2016

Organiser Tim P

Location  The Flitch Way, Great Dunmow.    The invite is here

Pre-event ceromony:
Parading of a competitor from one of Tim's previous Multis.
Who would win 'The Dunmow Flitch' for not arguing with Tim about Triffids?
No one??

There's plenty of undergrowth ....
.... it's the talk of 10 second transmissions at the 'reds' that worries me!

Current Hero Gary has an uphill task with a 135 point handicap.
Yep there is undergrowth

Appropriately Steve  has Joker S
Colin F has a plan ...

 ... others don't.
"I" is here somewhere ....

 ... so is Steve, and he is not happy!
 The sets say "I" is here but our eyes don't agree.

Why is photographer Tim so amused?
Could it be that the lines bisecting our backsides meet at a triffid point?
Rosie has spotted us ....

Out of the way 'boys' this might need some intuition.
How did she spot that? I am thinking higher handicaps for women.

Colin seems to have a spring in his step.
Nearly 4 pm, time to get those tickets in, check all pockets!

Results for the day

Position Competitor Handicap Joker A B F G I J R S Y Z Total Percent
1 Colin M 33 A 80 20 17 20 26 26 26 23 23 26 254 100
2 Colin F 90 I 26 26 20 17 80 32 20 20 40 40 231 90
3 Richard S 0 B 15 80 26 23 0 0 23 32 0 0 199 78
4 Roy E 54 Y 17 15 40 40 17 23 0 0 64 23 185 72
5 Rosie M 33 Z 32 32 32 32 23 17 0 0 0 40 175 68
6 Steve S 102 S 23 23 23 26 20 20 40 80 0 0 153 60
7 Gary P 135 Z 20 17 15 15 32 40 32 26 26 64 152 59


Colin M took the Multi-Star
  While Colin F took "The Flitch" - no arguments from him!

So how did you do it Colin?

It is typical for me to hold back at the start but today my lucky joker was “A” and I couldn’t resist legging it on the dot of 1:30. It turns out that the site was quite compact, bounded by two main roads and station A was indeed not too far from the start. I found the TX within six minutes. But only the TX and the cassette box. I couldn’t see the triffid anywhere. Well, there is no benefit in finding a TX without the triffid so I had to go around in increasing circles to locate the devil. Still no joy. Evenually found it right next to the cassette case but that did take another valuable six minutes!  Whilst looking for the triffid I was able to monitor the other TXs and decided that the J transmitter was closest. Decided to go for TX “I” first as it happened to be on first. Ran through the wood, across the field with tall grass and came across the stream in a deep cutting. Of course I was on the wrong side. Choice: do I go through all the nettles and down the steep bank and up the other side or simply find an easier way?


Colin up to is DF set in  ......
Investigated along the stream edge and found a footpath and bridge beyond the field boundary. Crossed the bridge and turned left into a mass of high nettles and undergrowth. Someone else had been there before, fortunately, and a vague path had been cut. Went to stream and area of interest but it took a number of transmissions to locate the TX. The triffid was cunningly placed against the steep bank of the stream. Difficult to spot but I soon found and then I back-tracked to the long grass. Found micro J on the other side of the long grass field, bounding the wood.

Next, signal strength-wise was Y and  Z. Transmitter Z took me to the southernmost extremity and, after a few more transmissions, to a lone tree next to the footpath. Found the transmitter at the foot of this tree. Saw some other competitors in this area including Gary, who was also looking for Z. Now we were both looking for the Z triffid. Gary found it first. I observed where Gary stood and went to the same place but still couldn’t spot it. It was hidden amongst the vegetation and was just very difficult to see. Then off to Y. Found Roy who had obviously been there for some time and was going round in circles. On came the TX. Gary appeared again and the two of us converged on the transmitter almost simultaneously.
Now there were two TX sets left, F & G and R & S. They all seemed to be in the same direction, off to the west. On the way, TX B came up and, since I had not heard B earlier (DF set had a spurious output which blotted out 1915kHz when BFO was selected, I later found). Steve Stone kindly showed me the B triffid and I just happened to be at the right place at the right time. Continued on way to F & G and was overtaken by Colin F. We were both looking for F & G. Colin F went for F and I went for G first. After 5 minutes we again crossed over to find the partner TX.   Then off to R & S. Found S first without too much difficulty. Then to R. This was more tricky. Again, near to a stream and lots of downtrodden undergrowth. But where’s the triffid? It must have taken another 7 or 8 minutes before finding it heading back to station A.

Good site, well hidden TXs and even better-hidden triffids! Thanks Tim for a good multi-TX hunt and for fixing the weather which had been bad previously but today the sun shone brightly.


The Hero League   
Gary remains our Hero keeping the trophy, topped up with some scratchings.   Can anyone knock him off the top of the league?  

Our next chance is on the 10th of July when Steve will be taking us West of London so distant friends can have a try.

Thanks Tim for another .....     e..... vent.
Have we forgiven him?  
Well at least it is another year before we encounter the 'Timbo Triffids' again!


Keep your eye on the noticeboard for details of Steve's event.