KØOV's Photo Album
of the 2009 USA and IARU-R2 ARDF Championships
Page 1 of 5
On Friday, June 5, early arrivers gathered at Breakheart Reservation north of Boston for informal practice and equipment checkout.
Leszek Lechowicz NI1L of Bridgwater, MA tested his two-meter ARDF set.
Bob Frey WA6EZV of Cincinnati showed his high-tech two-meter receiver to the two competitors from Japan, Kentaro Kurogi and Masahiko Mimura.
Visiting from Ukraine was Nikolay Ivanchichin UR8UA, one of that country's top radio-orienteers. At the 2008 World Championships in Korea, Nikolay finished fifth on two meters and fourth on 80 meters in M50 category.
Back for another year was Brigitte Roethe from Germany.
Matthew Robbins AA9YH of Cincinnati tested his two-meter setup.
The Cincinnati ARDF group provided transmitters for the championships. This is one of the 80-meter set-ups, with a vertical wire antenna supported by a fishing pole and a matching network at the base.
Two of the Cincinnati group's two-meter transmitters. The turnstile antenna elements mount on the protruding screws.
David Williams M3WDD of the UK attended the USA championships for the first time with his unique 80-meter ARDF set.
Barry Fox W1HFN (left) of Sterling, MA dropped by the practice session. He has been promoting all kinds of transmitter hunting in his area for several years. He got pointers on ARDF from several attendees including Nikolay Ivanchichin UR8UA (right).
At the registration session in the headquarters hotel Friday evening, Marvin Johnston KE6HTS entered competitor information into the electronic scoring system computer as directed by championships organizer and host Vadim Afonkin KB1RLI.
On Saturday morning, everyone gathered in the parking lot by Houghton Pond in Blue Hills Reservation for the two-meter hunt. April Moell WA6OPS had plenty of sunscreen and bug repellant. Dale Hunt WB6BYU seemed to need a little help applying the repellant to his trouser cuffs.
After applying bug repellant and sunscreen, it was time for all competitors to take the 1.6-mile hike to the starting point. Many areas of the Reservation are thick with ferns of all kinds.
Poison Ivy is also abundant.
From the starting point atop Buck Hill at 480 feet elevation, there was a hazy view of downtown Boston.
Ten minutes before his or her start time, each competitor received a full-color orienteering map and could mount it to a map board if desired. This was also the time to mark start and finish on the map and exclusion circles around them. Marking their maps left to right are Mark Diggins VK3MD, Addison Bosley, Bill Smathers KG6HXX and Ken Harker WM5R.
