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 Organiser Roy G4JAC/P |
Sunday 13th April 2025
Multi-Tx DF Location Pods Wood, NE of
Tiptree
NGR TL 89963 17946 Map with zoom Contact us direct or by using this email. Noticeboard Event format Dates |
 10 Txs and associated triffids provide the amusement. |
The number of sites large enough for
Multi-Tx events locally is limited, unusually we had not used
Pods/Conyfield in 2024 so I decided visit to see if still enjoyed
public access without new buildings and endless signs saying 'stay on
footpaths'. All my memories of DFs here involved lots of ferns
interwoven with brambles, the latter were still present but at least
you could see them and there were areas of bluebells - I suspect we had
not visited in April before. To leave these undamaged for other wood users, I decided that these areas were best avoided. Only A was close to one patch but could be approached via paths, probably made by the several muntjac deer that I saw.  The lack of ferns for cover
and avoiding the blue bells left me a limited area to play with, how
could I occupy everyone for 2 1/2 hours without making them run/walk
large distances? With April weather being uncertain I had
not made a point of inviting beginners and I knew that those coming had
all won an event previously, some serious triffid hiding would be
needed.
Saturday was sunny and warm, I arrived on site to plant Txs and Triffids at 11am. I wore my hi vis jacket, with aerial pole and back pack, several people assumed that I was some sort of warden and asked about plants etc. I, of course, took the opportunity to explain the wonders of Triffids! By the time I had planted the ghost and checked my watch it was 4pm .... wow, where had the time gone ..., I hoped the competitors would enjoy their time in the wood as much as I had. |
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| All
Txs were buried using a trowel. At B a piece of pipe protected against
feet, the left arrow shows the aerial wire. Arrow top right shows the
piece wood which the triffid is behind - close up on the right shows
what the competitors had to spot, a reasonable colour match with the
leaves. |
Sunday At the briefing I explained that, in the absence of any beginners, the triffids had been hidden with a little more care than usual. I reminded them, that time spent searching is intended to reduce heart attacks caused by lengthy periods of running, instead offering frustration stress as a more effective provocation. I also pointed out that the very dry ground conditions had produced some unusual signal strengths heard during the test transmissions, green K being particularly weak but audible once you had found one of the others in the chain (L or M). |
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 As I followed, Gary shot off to the right heading for his joker M. |
 I could see from his best profile that he had spotted Triffid K ..well done! |
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 |  This was the hide - what took them so long! 15:00, time to move the Tx to the car park where it would act as the car park beacon from 16:00. |
| Results - had real triffids been watching our activities? |
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Richard found 8 Txs but finishing back at his Joker K two minutes late meant only his first dib counted.
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| Gary had found all 10 and returned to his Joker M at 15:27:24 BUT
its points that count (based on order of finishing at each Tx). Before
handicaps were applied, the raw scores show that Tim finishing
with only 9 seconds to spare came out on top just! Why are points preferred to times? - because they discourage following - if we used times competitors would hunt in groups (quickest) rather than splitting up, trying to find Txs on their own - which is much harder/skillful. The scoring is explained here. |
 Tim - a deserving winner of the first 2025 trophy.
|  Second place and Ghost Buster - Chris.
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 Third - Rosie - prize for a 'Proper Job!"
| Winner's report from Tim: Well it was all down to luck really…… We started on the North side of the B road this time, in Conyfield Wood, about 100m in. I didn’t take bearings or use a map, just an approx. direction. A and F were heard fine, with A pointing across the road to western edge of Pods wood, F also across the road in the direction of the other car lay by. K was weak and somewhere in the top corner of Conyfield wood, I didn’t give it much attention and decided that knowing roughly where it was, I could go back later. My joker was C (not listened for at the start) and I aimed for A. I find it useful to know who you are up against, to try and sneak in and grab a 40 before someone else gets to their joker. This time I couldn’t see anyone heading in the same direction so I went straight for A. |
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| A transmission or
so later and a strong signal was pointing straight at a holly tree –
one of those that forms a canopy that you can get inside – but there
was no sign of an aerial going up the trunk, although it may have been
at the side. Still with no signal on, I had a good look around but
found nothing. Leaving the tree to the south to get another fix from
further away, the next transmission again pointed to the tree but from
the other side. So back to the tree for a look to one side where the
canopy reached the ground. Still nothing. By now Rosie had turned up,
surveyed the tree, and was crouching near a thin tree a fair way from
the Holly. I was grateful that this showed me where the triffid was,
but I was annoyed with myself for not spotting it first. Rosie has
better triffid eyes than I have. On the next transmission we headed for
B and my intention was to overshoot to C before someone nabbed my
joker, but picking up B on the way if it was handy. Colin M seemed to
be surveying a couple of holly bushes on the way so I stopped and
looked around, but nothing. Rosie had gone somewhere else and I thought
I was going to have one of those days and have to submit to her
superior technique. Luckily I spotted her entering a big clump of
rhododendron type bushes and so I headed over that way, and entered
through the canopy into an open area inside. A signal was needed for
help, and when it arrived, it took me back to the edge of the canopy
where I seem to remember there were some bricks and even a pipe, or
there may have been just a low branch. But the triffid popped up from
where it was tucked in, and 40 points were in the bag. I felt a little
apologetic towards Rosie as I had just found her joker, B. |
| Now
the Reds had me confused so far. C and the Ghost were uncertain in
sense, not strong, and H was booming out. But at this stage I had no
option but to go for my joker, C, and I feared throngs of DFers, dogs,
squirrels and passers by may have all got there first. I arrived with
Rosie and I was sure it would be payback time. To my dismay Colin F and
another were already in the vicinity too. A search took me through the
twisted branches and leaves of the rhodo thingies and out into the open
on the other side. On the next signal I honed in on C, but the other
pair had shot off to the right. I thought they’d been in at C. Now with
the leaves and branches from head to foot I thought it would be another
wasted half an hour before finding the triffid. Luckily, I spotted the
brown aerial wire which made searching slightly easier, and after just
a few minutes the triffid was located about waist height amidst the
leaves nearby. Seeing the flashing “1” was quite a surprise !! Why had
the others run away ? Still in a state of red and ghost confusion, I decided that higher points may be had back across the road, so that’s where I went. With K not giving away much I thought I would tie it down using L. So not long after my arrival near the top of the wood L was relatively easy to find in low brambles, a short way from footpaths. At this point there was about only 25 mins left to find the ghost, so I chose to abandon K, have a quick look for M and then go ghostwards. I already had an idea of where M was, and a signal took me towards yet another holly tree on the edge of the wood. A very suspicious looking water bottle was propped up against it ! There were many possible hides for a triffid here, but working on the assumption that it wouldn’t be near the water bottle, and with the next signal to help, the search was confined around a fallen tree stump with holes in it. With no moles in the holes, the low growth nearby looked promising, and that’s where M was lurking, well camouflaged. Wow ! 32 here ! |
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| Now
it was a race against time to get to the ghost – just 15 mins left. By
now I knew that it was back over near A, so I skirted the road for a
fair way before diving back in and along the path running along at the
edge of the southern wood. The path and signal led round to where a
relative abundance of competitors who were seemingly heading away from
a ghostly figure with a camera through the trees. Taking route one to
the said apparition, which uttered no words of help at all, another
transmission was required before the real ghost was busted for just a
few measly points. What next ? H was still strong but further along from C ? No, play safe and go cross country to F – a bit of a way but longer transmissions. A decent path was found after traversing the main track through Pods wood, and all pointed to a well-hated area of rhodos used many times on previous events, I think. This time I seem to remember going round to the back of the clump, and although signal strength and direction told me I was in the right place, there was still the matter of many broad leaves and many looping branches to contend with. I had to waste another signal confirming I was I the right bit inside the wretched shrub but this did lead me to the aerial. So at least now a thorough search, together with branch shaking should bring benefits. F duly gave up its hide, so off to G. I got there or thereabouts, spotted Richard nearby, but Colin M nearby too and looking suspiciously like he had just found something. Thank you Colin ! That was G-whizz. |
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| So H next. Working on the idea that it was further along the top edge
of the wood from C, that’s where I headed – but I thought I’d overshot
as it looked rather like C territory. So I just had to wait on the
path, move along a bit, and follow the signal in as straight line as
branches would allow. Thankfully, H didn’t take long. With only 25 mins to the firing squad, I decided to bag my points at nearby C and then consider going over for an attempt at K and back again. 20 mins left after C. Now with H and C and all those rhodo thingies having fried my brain, I needed something to assist my return to C if indeed I found K in time. I used a convenient slab of expanded polystyrene lying by the road to mark where I had to cross the road and enter the bushes. As fast a walk as possible back to the car park and up towards the top left of Conyfield wood led me to somewhere near K; but it was very weak when it came on; roughly along a path. But help was at hand ! Colin M was there again to assist, and I followed him straight into K !! Or so I thought…. This area seemed too familiar, and lo and behold, I had found L again. With just over 10 minutes left, and two K transmissions, it was make or break. The first took me roughly to where K was at the edge of the wood, up from M. The next got me in at 5 to 4. Just 5 minutes to get back to C and log K. |
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I looped around paths back to the car park with a mixture of fast
walking and slow jogging. I had to use the edge of the road to maintain
speed, but my polystyrene friend did his job and led me woodward
towards C. Cursing time wasted having to slalom around low branches, I
had C flashing just in time before the bullets rang out. So having made things difficult for myself at many points throughout the afternoon, I was surprised to be at the top of the woodpile in the end. I was indebted to the many “discards” I had made last year. No heroics today, but I’m now only 19 points behind the current leader. Many of the triffids were well hidden as Roy had suggested, and the 10 transmitters could not be relied upon for helpful signal strengths. I was glad I had taken headphones with me this time as I don’t think my set loudspeaker would have been up to the job. Thanks as always to Roy for organising a fully functioning kit, and running what felt like a different style of event in familiar territory which gave us quite a challenge, for picking decent weather, and to Rosie for finding my water bottle near B. Tim |
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 Hunting with a handicap of 150, Gary remains our Hero, but with complex discarding apparent, others are after him!
Full list here
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| Thanks
to all for coming along and making the task of hiding ten Txs feel
worth it. I needn't have been reticent about April weather as it
happened, a beautiful day on Saturday and Sunday until I closed the
boot of my car to head for the pub, when the heavens opened and washed
the dust of several weeks of dry weather from my windscreen - perfect! |
| George will be the 'Planter' for the next event - watch this space for details. Roy |