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Sunday August 14th 2022 Multi-Tx DF - the Heatwave in Kent Location Trosley Country Park NGR TQ644617 Road map with zoom |
 G8YDB |
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Event map provided - All Txs were within 1km of the start (grid 1km).
| Rosie says: Knowing that the weather was likely to be hot I decided to be kind to competitors. I avoided placing TXs in the steep open scarp areas and confined them to the shade and relative cool of the woods. Most TXs were placed only just off the extensive path network as there is a lot of dense bramble in places. It seems however that I was too kind with the triffid placement, especially for the tougher stations. I intended the ghost to be quite a challenge to sort out the men from the boys. Sadly it didn’t receive many visits, not helped by Roy managing to pull the aerial down, unfortunately I was not made aware of this. After collecting the ghost I was able to return home to continue food preparation leaving the rest in Roy’s capable hands. Thanks to everyone for their food contributions and for those who travelled from further afield. Congratulations to Tim for lifting the trophy and becoming the new hero. Note: The Trosley Park site was so close to home that I was able to hear all the stations from our back garden! It’s not often that this is possible. |
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 |  As usual the 'Can you spot the Triffid?' competition |
Results
Dave found 8 Txs but didn't manage to validate most of his finds back at his Joker - Ahhh that Multi-Spice! His times are below. |
Times
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 Multi-Star and new Hero, Tim |  2nd and only 2 points behind, Chris
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 The Rosie award for ghostly endeavour, Roy
|  3 + + plates of food later - thanks Rosie - anyone for 10 more Txs?
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| Only person to find all 10 Txs and with over 50 minutes to spare - how did Tim do it? Three good signals from A,F and K were heard at the start; A from the far end of the field we were in, F stronger and to the SE, K to the SE. With my joker being M, I set off along the road in the general direction of K hoping to find the footpath marked on the map. Gary was streets ahead and Ben made an early dive into the woods. I decided not to do my usual tactic of green first, hoping to snatch a 40, and then red, but with Gary around I thought I had better play safe and go for M first. (I later found out that he was heading for the ABC group and not KLM !) I found the desired footpath as K came on and ran along it, quickly changing to receive M which was further down the path and to the right. I used off-time to move in the desired direction, ending up on a broad and well populated path to wait for the signal. |  |
 Tim's track
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When
it came on the signal took me along the path and up a bit into the wood
to a fallen tree before it went off. I deposited my extra water bottle
there, partly hidden away from other DFers. So time to kill. There was
a likely fir tree up ahead. On investigation, a smidgeon of triffid
green and yellow was visible through the lower dark green branches of
the tree. What luck! Off back for K now before the whole world and his friend arrived. I mistakenly took an off-road route through brambles when close in but I did spot Colin F searching close by. With no signal at the time, I had time to investigate likely hides. Without really looking hard, triffid K was spotted and I was surprised to get another 40. I thought Ben may have got here first. |
| L
was back in the direction of M, so back to where I had waited
previously. L came on and was strong, but with no obvious path down
from the main I went off-piste again. The next transmission told me I
was there or thereabouts, but with lots of possible hiding spots, I
didn’t find the target. Then Colin F arrived and went and I knew that I
had blown this one. I stopped looking in all the covered areas and then
spied L up against a tree in plain sight. Kicking myself! I opted for FGH next. F proved tricky, and I spent about 4 transmissions to get close in. Overkeenness at G took me in a straight line through brambles and when I emerged onto a path the signal had gone off. I went back and forth past G a couple of times, not believing it would be so close to the path. So more time wasted here. I hadn’t tuned for H, so with no signal, the F-G-H chain rule gave me a calculated idea of which way to go. By the time I had gone a short way, H came on and was very strong, but being a red it went off before I could say Jack Robinson. There was a little bit of evidence of undergrowth trampling on one side, so I decided to use the time to explore. Very little time passed before I stumbled across the signalless H. More luck. Six down, four to go. Time for the ghost.. |
| The Ghost is usually strong from all across the
site, but today I had only heard it weakly from the KLM area and since.
It was still quite weak at H. I followed a likely path and arrived at a
main path after the signal went off. I was thinking that the ghost may
be back near the start, even behind the car park. When it came on I
emerged from the wood into a cul-de-sac, where I spent a short while
explaining to an inquisitive couple why several similarly headphone
clad persons had run/walked/crawled by. It took me a few more
transmissions and tracking along roads before the signal got strong.
Into a new bit of wood, where the signal took me to a spot inhabited by
a white bearded occupant. Not the usual welcome of “Nice to see you”.
More like “Oh no it’s you”. However the nice man did give me a focus
for a search. Fallen trees and ivy. Lots of it, on the ground and up
trees. No point in listening to signals. It was just here somewhere in
a 3m “globe”of ivy and tree. As it was my day to have all the luck, a
ground search did the trick. Unfortunately my attempt to hide my
discovery by pretending to fall over didn’t fool my desperate companion
so he got in straight after me. Even more disappointing was that my
fall ripped the headphone jack out of its socket and the adapter pinged
off somewhere. My immediate though was that I was not going to have
audio to track down ABC and back to M. BUT !! My set has a built in
speaker. Phew!! I thought A was on the same side of the road as the start. I knew where I wanted to head for, but the roads on the map and in real life confused me so I just followed the weak (audio) signal. I came out back at the start and was expecting to head into one of the woods to the North of the road, but the signals just said keep going along the road. I was roadbound for several transmissions before the S-meter gave more of a deflection, a good sense, and into the wood. When the signal turned at 90 degrees I took a track into the wood, but the transmission had now ended. However I did spot Colin M noting something down before walking off. Time for a look, but still plenty of places. How about looking where that bit of paper is ? Maybe someone has dropped their map! Map found, triffid found. Much appreciation Colin ! Where’s B? Probably about 150 yards down the path. After a short stroll, I was no more than 20 yards away when it came on. Straight in. Probably down the chain and hill for C, but there were lots of children playing in a clearing so I kept away. The next signal gave me enough time to get to another ivy clad tree but this time the triffid was easier to spot. 10 found; 3.00 pm. Back to M and water and brow mopping by 3.10. And 50 min relaxation sitting up against a stump watching the odd competitor arrive to search for M. And contemplating how much luck I had during the afternoon ..particularly with red Txs. |
Thanks to Rosie for a challenging event, made sensible for coping in
the hot conditions, and to both Merrys for their hospitality and well
needed refreshments in their grounds. Tim Well done Tim, you are the new Hero! Changes to Hero League this event:
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 | Those within a win of being Hero next event:
Note some cunning discarding to keep in range if 50, 20, 8 or 5 HPs are gained. See here for more about the Hero League Details of the next event may be found here. | The weekend was preceded by warnings of extreme heat and I suspect all of us approached the event with some concern. At the start there were mutterings: 'No running today'
Most of us had a bottle of water to carry with us and then Rosie offered more. Someone suggested leaving a bottle at your joker - you visit early and finish there, often with time to kill before equipment collection. Most thought this a good idea. During the event, the tree cover and height of the site made it feel surprisingly pleasant and ... With two bottles of water everyone was fine - Multi-Evolution continues! |