Essex Qualifier 1st June 2008

Fifteen teams assembled at Gt Dunmow for the event, with added suspense caused by the entry of a ‘Mystery’ Competitor!

Station A - most got around 350, (should have been 358).

Could that be the mystery competitor kneeling stage left?

Station B

260 ish.

Mark Coventry (before he was famous).

Fine tuning is essential for these high tech events.

No, that is not the mystery competitor in the background - just Tim's best profile.

Transmitter problems earlier in the morning at the B station having been resolved by switching to a standby rig, two good signals were heard at the start leaving some thinking the stations were close by.

Teams split fairly evenly, with seven heading north for the A station and eight west for the B station.

Problems were caused at the A station after the operator arrived to find the Wilding Trust conducting an Orchid count at West Wood and decided to move out the top of the wood up the footpath. This meant some signal radiated into high tension power lines close by giving false signals to some teams (humble apologies).

This did not deter Tim Parker who limped in to find the first Tx of the day at 2.22pm.

The B station was also in a Wilding Trust wood called Rushy Mead located by the Stort canal just south of Bishop’s Stortford. A good 100 metres of aerial ran up from the canal, through swampy bits and tall stinging nettles towards the main road. Raymond being on hand here to take photos of people coming and going throughout the afternoon.

Tim Parker lost his initial lead, finishing third at 3.47 pm at the B station, very good going given he was on his own and still recovering from a major leg injury.

Say

Ahhhhhhhhh....

Whilst a number teams took a while to find their first stations the distance between the two sites and a good level of signals meant a second station could be found in just over 40 minutes. This left only four teams only finding one station.

Bearings - plenty!

Station A - Richard

The day looked as if rain might stop play but it kept off long enough for a rather impromptu relocation of station A site, just at the top of the map and within a nook of some rather large power lines. It was therefore considered that full camoflague of the operator would not be necessary.

The prompt arrival of Tim at just 2.22 confirmed all was working ok and the steady stream of competitors came to me from the south, as expected, and chose all possible variations on that theme. One of these was of course Mark. I didn't recognise him but I knew he was off to a flying start. Well done sir!

The exception was Roy, who chose a rather more scenic route from the north.

Yep, I had exercise, see bearings.. My thanks to him for taking my battery back to the car after the event.

The station was very simple, with about 200' of wire out and a dummy earth stake.

Well done to the winning team!

Cheers, Richard

Tea at Saling Village hall finished off an event which ended up harder than the organizer thought given the scarcity of good sites on the Chelmsford map and the closeness of stations to the start.

Superb tea - Much hard work from Caroline and Daphne, thank you.

The A Team

Second in at the A station (14:31:22)
but overtook Tim Parker on the way to the B station.

Mark's first win (15:41:15)

The final...... sorry Brian you will have to get another operator.

It's a mystery...

Miracle of the NHS - Andy Collett, fresh out of retirement and in good form, leading the B A competitors all afternoon 14:28:05 - 15:46:16.

Thanks to Richard (never easily found) and to Philip for all the hard work during many weeks of preparation.

An excellent DF. .............................. on to Banbury

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