Photos of the 2016 USA ARDF Championships

by Joe Moell KØOV

Page 3 of 5

Punching in at the mindpoint spectator corridor of the sprint event is Matthew Robbins AA9YH.  He is halfway to a bronze medal in M50.

Racing each other to the midpoint control are Norbert Linke (M21), followed by Charlie Xu (M19).  Each will capture gold.

Alla Mezhevaya finishes the course and punches in at the finish.  She has just won bronze in W35.

Alla took a fall on the course and got immediate help from the medical team at the finish.

After the sprints, lunch was provided by the camp staff in one of the camp classrooms. 

After lunch, Ken Harker WM5R gave a short PowerPoint presentation to explain the classic events to come and caution participants about hazards in the woods.

Saturday morning dawned with a heavy overcast and rain in the forecast as everyone gathered in the northern half of the Youth Ranch for the classic two-meter comptition.

The was plenty of equestrian activity there as groups of riders headed out for a trip through Fort Hood.

Two-meter ARDF sets are larger than 80-meter sets, so a larger impound area was necessary.  Some competitors put plastic bags over their receivers to prepare for rain.

These two meter transmitters send MCW on AM, not FM, in accordance with European standards.  They have a "turnstile" omnidirectional horizontally-polarized antenna built in.

The two-meter transmitters were built by the radio-orienteers in the Cincinnati area.  Brian DeYoung K4BRI works on one of the spare transmitters.

The starting order was posted in the assembly area, along with transmitter frequencies and the transmitters to be skipped by category.  No more than three persons started at once.  Those in each group were unrelated and in different categories.

David Gent W5QZ (at left) was in charge of starting line operations for every event of these championships.  The first starting group is studying and mounting their maps, ten minutes before their start.  They are Sara Teel (W21), Nicolai Mejevoi (M50) and Norbert Linke (M21).

The two-meter starting line was near the entrance to the equestrian area and the corridor zigged and zagged downward from there.  Carefully leaving the line is Richard Metcalf AG1B in M70 category.

Expert two-mter radio-orienteers say that they get the best bearings when they hold their antennas overhead.  Doing that as they leave the start are Alla Mezhevaya (W35), followed by Vadim Afonkin KB2RLI (M40).  Both are about to capture gold.

Also holding his antenna high is Joseph Huberman K5JGH, who will win M60 gold.