Training Log Archive: cedarcreek

Event: Radio Orienteering ARDF USA and IARU R2 Champs
 

Event: US/Region II ARDF Championships
 

Well, several hints about Saturday's 2m location were dropped at the competitor's meeting this morning: It's got a gun club, unexploded ordnance out-of-bounds areas, and environmentally-sensitive areas that are protected by big-time laws and $10,000 fines for trespassing.

Jay Hennigan noted that if we can't figure out where it is, we need to hang our heads in shame.

So...We think we found it. We're basically 100% sure we've got the spot and a reasonable estimate of the exact area of the map. We're expecting the map to be possibly expanded in one or more directions from what we know. However, it is completely unnecessary for their to be such expansions.

I spoke to Bob Cooley early, about just the size of the map that was stated, nearly a full 11x17 1:15000 map, at altitude (perhaps 7000 feet plus), and we believe the map might be that big, but if it actually uses that much, it will be a narrow sliver on the 17 inch dimension or an insanely long and difficult course. So we're trying to judge the sanity and orienteering skill of the setters. I'm going in assuming that they are both sane and have the necessary orienteering skill, but I'm preparing for the possibility one or both of those assumptions are incorrect.

More tomorrow, after the event. (We board a bus at 7:00-7:30, and it leaves at 7:30am.)

Looooong 80m Training Event. Basically a full-size ARDF.

Messed up the order. I had no early signals in the upper left part of the map, and when I realized I had gone by 1, I *knew* I wouldn't have any Ts in the upper left part, so I could easily pick it up on the way back. Unfortunately, there *was* a T up there. So I had some added distance.

Lots of bad choices today, although in my defense, the Ts seemed really messed up. 1 and 5 were both very faint, even though they were the closest to the start.

QuickRoute (2.92 MB)

Got wrangled into picking up Ts. I offered to help several months ago, so I felt obligated. It would have been a lot less of a hassle if the main course was shorter and I was completely exhausted.

And if I ever again go to get a transmitter placed in a vague spot on a vague map without taking a receiver, I've given people permission to smack me.

(Distance and time logged are correct---GPS shows part of route driving away.)

2m ARDF Training Camp. Oak Flat Picnic Area.

Picked up transmitters and flags, so probably 2.5min of delay for each control---total of 12.5 min or so.

Beautiful day, beautiful terrain.

The map was hard to read, and isn't the best anyway, so it was advantageous to stay on trails. I did, mostly, except for extended sections near the end.

Marvin did a great job setting this course. Very fun.)

QuickRoute (1.85 MB) The dark red spots are where I stopped to take down the transmitters, and the vague red spots are where I waited for the control to turn on (or where I was going through fight).

Setting an ARDF course at Mt Airy with Dick's micro-80m Ts. I let them take a bearing for T4 (the first transmitter they'd find) before they started and hoped they navigate along a road to that crossing. The problem was, the crossings were off up to a little more than 100m---more than I expected. Still findable in 1 minute, though. After that, the Ts were set so if they took decent bearings, they would have crossings and the order would be obvious. Both Dick and Brian took the same order (although another order was reasonable), and Marji got the "easy three". So---we're ready for Albuquerque. If I can pack in time.

k4bri's QuickRoute (The start is from the Loop north.)

My GPS track (blue globe) isn't accurate---I forgot to start my watch. The GPS only shows the very end of me picking up 2 woods controls, and 1 with the car, then leaving the park and driving down Colerain Ave to about the bottom of the hill.

Just a beautiful day to be outside. We had a few drops of rain, but the woods was so pretty.

2 movies:

The Adjustment Bureau (1). I'm a sucker for Philip K. Dick novels and for Emily Blunt. Matt Damon continues to pick smart movies. I especially loved the way this movie shows New York City. Wow. This is a solid movie and I liked it, but it wasn't awesome.

Contagion (2011) (1). About a bigger-than-SARS, bigger-than-pig-flu pandemic. Interesting and fun to watch, but the story didn't move along very well. I've been thinking of a way to explain this: If this were a real-life story, Ira Glass would reject it for This American Life because it didn't have the little elements that make it a great story. A few years ago there was another epidemic movie called Outbreak. Contagion seemed more realistic with the technical details, but it wasn't as fun to watch as Outbreak. It seems too subtle. To steal a line from Ebert: This is a good example of a movie of this type.