Tim M0BGE
Sunday 13th October 2024
Multi-Tx DF
 
  Location 
  Fordham, West of Colchester. CO6 3LX
    Driving to the  site - map with zoom
 

    Noticeboard          Event format           Dates

    Contact us direct or by using this email.


10 Txs and associated triffids provide the amusement.

Well I thought I’d make it a nice easy event for the final multi of the year – a site we’d used before but this time with more mature trees. The transmitters were to be confined to a relatively small area, except for the ghost, but requiring a bit of a run from the start, which wasn’t too far from the main car park.


It had been quite dry in the days before the event and when I surveyed the area on the Tuesday before, the ground was still quite dry. The trees and shrubs had begun to shed some of their leaves, so cover was not as thick as it may have been.

The plan was to make A, F and K relatively easy with the yellows and reds progressively harder. The ghost was to be placed on the north side of Fossetts Lane, to tempt in competitors from the start before crossing over the road to the rest of the transmitters.



Leaving the road to go into the wooded area, the path to the west was blocked, and there was no way in from the northern path apart from going up the path and doubling back (unless you really did want to follow a straight line through lots of thick stuff and brambles.) Thus the ghost was deemed to be sufficiently hard to waste some time.

It was thought that competitors may depart from the start in one of three directions as indicated.

All was going to plan the day before, and ABC, FGH and the ghost were all set up in a timely fashion. Then a rogue shower / cloudburst drenched proceedings for the set up of KLM, so they were placed in a bit of a hurry, but the job got done. The only worry at this stage was the waterproofness of the kit for the hours until the start on Sunday.



Thankfully Sunday was a nice day, but the rain had left big puddles (particularly at the start) and slippery tracks.
The test transmissions could all be heard from the start so there was no panic required.
Phew !



Colin and Rosie led the prayers to Mecca.            

Ready .... Steady ...

I walked back to the car park and drove round to a vantage point on the corner of Fossetts Lane, near the ghost.

  

Left - Ben’s set failed at the start, and he struggled with a replacement until it was fixed and returned to him half way through.

 
 

A ghost story:

  

           

Right: Small dots = Roy and Colin M’s way in through thick stuff.         Dashes = “Easy” way in from the road.
            Red arrow = blocked.

 
      
 

Don't forget to validate ....... 

 


Results

PosCompetitorHcapJokerABCFGHKLM?ScoreRaw %Total
1George F79G2015204080402323322331689237
2Gary P130M17233226323240408032354100224
3Chris I45K261323322323643215025170206
4Richard S40A803217202017202017024368203
5Colin F113H3220262326521715234027477161
6Rosie M50L23170151720265220019053140
7Roy E74C0268013130017262620156127
8Ben G40F00034150000049139
12Colin M80B0800000000080220



CompetitorJokerABCFGHKLM?Validation
Ben GF


14:39:5615:02:24




15:56:09
Chris IK14:59:4315:11:2715:23:5414:17:5614:29:3414:40:5213:48:4013:59:5715:39:46
15:47:47
Colin FH14:43:4115:00:5015:14:5614:23:4714:29:1314:16:3415:45:0815:35:0115:27:2513:53:5615:56:04
Colin MB14:22:1013:51:4015:33:3214:43:4715:12:5714:40:25


14:58:5613:51:40
Gary PM15:19:4714:41:5814:38:2814:19:0214:07:1214:13:5213:44:2313:59:2613:52:1914:53:5215:34:36
George FG15:19:3515:11:1815:33:2413:48:5313:59:0614:12:3614:28:1214:44:4514:39:5214:58:5915:46:44
Richard SA14:22:0213:52:0615:56:0214:35:1214:52:0415:00:5915:17:3215:26:0015:32:04
15:59:35
Rosie ML15:18:2715:10:53
14:44:0415:02:0814:56:5414:18:2614:33:3815:31:48
15:34:00
Roy EC
14:41:4014:33:0315:09:3115:12:43

15:34:1015:24:1714:58:4815:53:28

Note Richard's time at C and then his validation back at his Joker A - impressive!


CompetitorJokerABCFGHKLM?
Z2-TimesOnly



15:47:20

Parker junior junior joined the hunt halfway through and managed to find F (dibbing three times, as he liked making the triffid flash).

 Triffids and Transmitters were collected in at Fossetts Lane, and here tales of woe poured out including failed receivers, missed footpaths, bottomless streams, misleading signals, and efforts to find the ghost. 

Any feeling of satisfaction on a job well done fast disappeared when I got home only to find that the car park transmitter….was still in the car park !! (But still there the next day, thankfully.)

Congratulations to George for top spot and all who found all ten. I tried to make the event “do-able” but the unpredictability of the seasoned competitor cannot be planned for and still amazes us all.

I hope you all had fun, and at least you stayed dry. I didn’t ! (the day before).

Tim
M0BGE

Over to our winner George:

Another very interesting event, one I nearly ducked out of due to there being some rocketry excitement happening live across the pond (the metaphorical big one, not the ones that annoy us on DF hunts).

So, the walk down to the start... glued to the video on my phone (I'm even watching the phone in the photo at the start)... SpaceX Super-Heavy booster launches Starship from Texas! Yay!  (sorry, I'm a space fan).  Now the anxious wait for the booster to return. 

Oh no, Tx A is on, got to take some bearings.  Back to the phone... no sign of the booster yet. More bearings on another Tx, quickly swapping between phone and receiver...

Holy Moly, it's BACK!  And they caught it! They grabbed a rocket out of the air!  A 70m high rocket is now dangling from the launch tower that it left less than 10 mins before. 

I look around and realise everyone is taking off in all directions... oops, better get back to the job in hand...

So, my joker was G, missed hearing it at the start as I was pre-occupied, but had an idea where F was so headed that way. 

Here's where I got lucky.  (1) It transpired that Colin was in my group, and he headed for the Ghost early, and (2) by chance I picked the right side of the fence first. 

F and G were inside a fence/hedgerow, H was outside it.  walking down towards F, G could now be heard off to the left, seemingly through the trees, F was ahead and strengthening quickly.  Downhill too, so I almost managed a jog. After passing F, I fairly quickly backtracked and found it.  First one in there. 

I nearly blew my chances by diving through the trees fairly straight for G... it was a long way through there like that, head down under the branches.  After a bit of fumbling around amongst identical looking trees, I was first to G.

Very good start, soon to turn to panic as I determined H to be the other side of what looked like a ditch and a fence, with a long walk round.  However, it was really close, so I elected to try a scramble over some low bramble.  Yep, it's in here, both Colin and Gary are now close by, back on the path from G. 

I nearly blew it again with my technique of not reducing the gain of my receiver as I close in on a Tx, and I swear both Gary and Colin homed in on the howl from my set.  however, I think they both thought I'd already dibbed, and rushed past me... I hadn't, but caught sight of the Triffid seconds later and did so... Yay, first to that one as well.  Cleaned up on my group, great score.

On to the next group, KLM.  Got some odd bearings, not sure what I did there, but went round the path and embarrassingly didn't notice I was going past L and M.  K got very strong, so went for it first.  After faffing about back and forth along the path, I dived into the trees for L.  Overshot, got confused in there, decided M was stronger and went for that instead. Backtracked through the trees to L.  I don't know what the official route to L was, but I definitely didn't take it.

Now getting dangerously close to 3pm... so a quick dash to the Ghost. 

Bearing through the trees.  Oh well, head down, charge on. That was not the fastest way to go either, and by the time I got to the vicinity of the ghost, there were only minutes to go, and Roy is frantically trying to find it. 

We both started panicking, and crashing about round the back of the clump of shrubbery, to be joined by Colin.   A highly amused Tim had strolled round the correct way and watched us eventually find it just in time.

Phew... I'm now exhausted, and ABC is off to the south.  B was fairly easy, arrived as Chris and Rosie were close.  Rosie beat me too it, and since it was a scramble across the ditch, I offered to dib Chris for him.  Turned out that was nearly a big mistake... I headed off down to A in Rosie's wake, but she turned left at a path, I had a bearing to the right coming down the field.  I just beat her to it, found the Triffid...

Oh No! I've lost my dibber!  It's not on the lanyard. Ohhh... must have dropped it in the ditch at B.  I started walking dejectedly back to B, checking all my pockets... found it!  I'd put it in my other pocket instead of back on the lanyard when I dibbed Chris. 

Rush back to A, oh no, Gary is there, but luckily he hasn't found the Triffid so I beat him to that one.

After all that you'd think the last one would be easier, but no.  Found Colin walking about complaining he can't find the Triffid, so I thought I'd try round the other side.  Looks good, as I spied Chris walking away from the area round there. But no, bearing from very close said Colin's side of the ditch, which looked deeper water than my trainers.  Turns out Chris did get it from that side, he went for a wade.  So back round into the bush with Colin in it... yep, there is the wire... finished up hanging from the tree clambering sideways to get to the dibber from the least accessible direction.  Oh well, all turned out right in the end!

As ever, many thanks to Tim for organising the event, and Roy for the equipment.

Have a great Christmas and New Year, hope to see you all again next year.

George.


The Hero League -  Changes after this event
Competitor Handicap Points Awarded Discard New HP Events as Hero
George F795001290
Gary P13020015028
Chris I4580530
Richard S4000400
Colin F11301010310
Rosie M50010400
Roy E7400742
Ben G4000400
Colin M80010700
Tim P895108413
  Philip C
90
 N/A
 -
 90
 13

 

Well done Gary, finishing the season top of the league once again.

And well done George who is clearly going to be a new threat, hanging on to those handicap points, giving us lesser mortals a chance for an event win.

Thanks to everyone who has supported us during the year, especially Steve S, who despite being poorly at present, is still  working continually improving the software that prepares the equipment and processes the results for these, and now, virtually any form of DF that people care to dream up - just don't tell Tim!

Noting George's comments about space travel  at the beginning of his report, I thought it was time to review why, after 48 years of running, now crawling, around in bushes I am still doing it:



I remember commenting many years ago - "This is a very silly game, as soon as I get the hang of it I will give up".  Just one Tx of Tim's event reminded me that I still haven't qualified for retirement.

My Joker was C, a micro red Tx, meaning brief weak signals (around 15 seconds) so at 13:30, I was listening on 1915 kHz.  Yes, I could hear it roughly South. Tuned to 1930 for B and then 1960 for A with their longer transmissions confirmed the group were all pretty much due South. The F and K groups were a little East of South but they were not my target - worry about them later.

At 13:35 we were released just as C gave another brief signal. Off  down to where the two official paths split left and right, neither of which appealed to me with a nice open area to the South and obvious paths. Of those ahead of me, I think Colin M had gone right and others left, surely others would be following me to the South.

By the time C blessed me with another signal I was about halfway down the open path to the South, and strange, no one else in sight. A good signal off to right, great, clearly C is going to give me  2 x 40 points!

Approaching the road now, another signal straight into a clump of dense bushes due West. See my first diversion.  Much searching in likely places, then another strong signal but South again. OK, search next dense undergrowth just North of the road.  Next signal South again! Ah, I discover the reason this was not marked as the footpath to anywhere, I am confronted with a steep sided ditch with some water at the bottom.  Time to test my long jumping skills -  ....... - fail,  haul body and soggy feet out on to the road. Another signal SW. Hedge on opposite side of the road is impenetrable.  Oh, perhaps I should have gone right at the footpath junction! I set off up the road and meet Tim driving his car. "How many have you found?" , .......    "$**!*!%* .

After what seems like a very long walk up hill, I find what I take to be the path - with a new sign - No Entry Private!   Groan!!!  (Later I find I didn't go far enough, to another entry point). 

However, as I walk back, checking the hedge for ways South, I get another signal  EAST!  OK, must have got a reverse sense, check sense aerial connections - looks ok. Back to the ditch,  back across to the North side of the road.  More fruitless searching with set taking me from one bush to another all appearing to emit strong signals.  It is now 2:10 and obviously I should give up on C.  In a rare moment of sanity, I re-flop the ditch, go left, force my way up a bank and through brambles into a relatively open area heading for B on 1930 kHz. But then the red mist descends again - I won't let C beat me!!    Retune to 1915 kHz.  C is now weaker but SW. A fence around the pond forces me South.  Well as you might guess, I end up at a stream, with C strong again but on the other side. However, my feet are well prepared so only a minimal search for a crossing point before taking the plunge.

Yes! I found C in what is my now my current record, for the longest time taken to find a single Multi-Tx station 63:03. But I got my 80 points and there was more 'fun' to come.

Why the signals just above the road were so strong is just one of RDFs mysteries, probably some old wire fencing  resonating, forjac syndrome, or, was it a quantum  effect? - Must ask George next time we meet.

As Tim has pointed out, Ben had really bad luck with set problems throughout. Colin M had a critical set failure in the last minutes, so that he didn't validate his points. Colin F went for a brave strategy of Ghost first and suffered the consequences - needing alcohol to recover. Well, another one of my favourite DF sayings comes to mind:
" This is wonderful character training for when we grow up  "

Happy Christmas everyone and an educational DF season in 2025.

 Roy G4JAC

Noticeboard          Results and other reports of Multis       All Results Trad/Multi             Multi-Event format                        Dates