Colchester Multi-Tx DF 29/07/11
| Start Fordham Heath
7:30 pm Operator Ian G4HKC Chalkney Wood, White Colne. Maxi, 5 Minis and 3 Micros |
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| Ten
of us
gathered at the start. Tim conducted the Joker draw, while I carried
out some last minute reminders of set operation for our two beginners
Nigel and Joe. At 7.30 the first one minute transmission was heard from
station A and we were all off..... Graham, Nigel, Joe and I were all in one car. With spare clothes and four sets of DF gear the Meriva had plenty of down force. Ian had provided an envelope with mystery information for our two beginners to open once we had left them on site. Unusually no one had their camera with them on this event. In the absence of pictures please excuse the map overload. (P.S. a comment like this was bound to bring something crawling from the digital undergrowth, but by the time it did the maps were in place. Read on safe in the knowledge you will get your picture fix!) Right is the GPS trace from my mobile phone. As you can see our quartet arrived and parked on the left of the wood. The new map above shows that this is now the official car park. This trace may help those of you who wish to match my high level of performance. The first rule is always follow your bearings never the available paths; the second is never concentrate on one station, you get far more exercise if you attempt two at once ...... better still three. At least I didn't get tempted 'over the hills and far away to H and Z'. (See below). Thanks to Ian for the map below, I will leave our winner to explain how it should have been done - note the tension build, who was it??? |
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While
we are waiting
to hear who won, how did our beginners Joe and Nigel get on? It looked good when they opened the 'secret envelope', inside was a map with some of the stations marked on it. "This should be easy" ........ Their previous experience had only been with Micros which are on continuously and they had been told not to worry about the difficult Minis. Unfortunately we had parked at the farthest point from them! Graham had been heard to say that he could hear one so Joe and Nigel started to walk tuning and expecting to hear it. Unfortunately their sets were not as sensitive as Graham's and they could hear nothing (the set Graham was using is unusually sensitive). They continued to walk for sometime scanning 1843 and 1901 hoping to hear some bleeps but nothing. Now there are some paths shown on the map but there were others and it soon began to dawn on them that a map is of little use if you don't know where you are! Sensibly they decided to see if their navigational skills were up to finding the car again. ........ Yes..... phew! At this point they tuned to 1960 and found that they could hear all the Minis chirping away. Thanks to 80 year old Joe's military training they picked out J in the sequence and started to head for that. |
| Coincidentally by this time, 8.50, I
was on my circuit from Mini I heading towards J, we met in undergrowth.
I explained there would be
no
A4 sheet just a
dreaded triffid to look for. At 8:52 J came on and we crashed through
two
muddy trenches and over a fallen tree ... off .... b..b...other
but it
was extremely strong, it must be here somewhere. 8:57 more
frantic set and leg flailing we are so close the sets are screaming but
where is the f...f.......airly well hidden triffid? Seeing
that we are near 9:00 pm I suggest that they retune to 1930 to
hear the Maxi which should now be on continuously until 9:15 -
I knew it was quite away off but not quite how far! I hung around for
the 9.02 transmission but by then panic and triffid blindness had set
in. Time for me to run for A. As I crashed through
the undergrowth I began to doubt if I could make it, let alone our two
beginners. Fortunately for me I did .... just, but sadly for them,
trying to
follow the paths, it was just too far. Sorry guys - at least you showed
your DFing skills by getting close to J, which is as much as anyone
did!" Your experiences can help us to give novices a better chance in
the future. We have sussed teaching novices when arrangements are made
for them to go directly to the site and meet the operator but
clearly those being dumped by an 'experienced DFer' need a more reliable way of finding the operator or being led to an area where they can hear Micros - (thoughts
to go here). On a positive note my navigator of many years, Graham, is going from strength to strength when competing in Multi-DFs. I must remind him that beating your leader is extremely non PC! I am still not sure if it was my skill or the large amount of cash that changed hands that allowed me to inch ahead of him as Ian's calculations developed in the pub. Thanks Ian for providing us with a serious challenge (and the pics), more than we could do but that's the idea, no one was sitting around idle at 9:15 - he who wins sets the standard. So who was that standard bearer?. . . . . . Tension building pictures ...... . . |
Gary in Lamberts Lane, close to entrance into Chalkney Wood and the "A" TX |
 Rosy and Timbo about 5 yards from "A" |
 Larby looking for L |
 Colin looking for A |
| . . . . Fanfare ......... . . . . The winner just has to play poker ........... . . he knows he has 40s in his pocket but no trace of a smile.............. . . . ............................. of course he could just be knackered! |
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| Results Well done Larby, winner of many a trad event but until last night a Multi-virgin. I am sure like all ex v's he will now be keen to make up for lost time. Philip only second, reckon you lost the dot over the i in invincible there ......... seriously, well done, especially for running faster than those dogs (real, with teeth!) In the table yellow are jokers, there are two of each in the pack. Green are wild jokers for the less experienced. Coincidence - Colin and Rosie both got the infernal J - hard luck. |
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OK Larby,
glory time, how should we have done it? With a bearing of 290 degrees I guessed Chalkney Wood. I drove south of the main road taking the bearing by the railway bridge just before Great Tey. Bearings crossed on the wood! I decided to use Lamberts Lane because that’s what Ian would do? I found his car at 7:45. I decided to get to the micros as they were continuous. I found” X” ok, “Y” was close I thought, so off I go but it was further than I thought. As I approached it, Phil passed me, he took the ticket and I got just 26 points. Ah yes, Graham was nearby. When “I” came on Phil and I ran to it but we both overshot it, I got my 40 and left Phil hunting. As “L” was my joker I set off for that having a quick look for “K” on the way but leaving it to Roy. Ian was intercepted on the way to “L”. By the time I got to “L” the Merry’s had left me 26 points. (I had passed it on the way to “X” when I arrived). New tactics required, I went for “H” and the micro “Z”. After being reminded of “over the hills and far away” “Z” got louder and was found quickly. Then “H” fired up but went off just as I approached but I looked around and found it. As I did part 2 of 'over the hills ... ' I had 30 minutes to find “A” and “K”. When I went to post my tickets someone had already made a contribution in my box (thanks Phil). To avoid conflict I gave them to Ian and set off for “K”. It took several transmissions to get through those ferns but I was rewarded with 32 points. I then tried to get to “A” as the crow flies but tripped over fallen logs (twice) in the 5 ft ferns only to lose the ticket! I was too late by 2 minutes anyway. Thanks for the event Ian. Just about right. Amazing how it became dark at close of play. |
Here's that map
again so you can follow his progress: The Colchester League table is here. |
| Thanks
Peter ... So another event completed, only two more this
year.
The next is being hosted by Colin and Rosie somewhere in Kent on Sunday August 21st. Although the this will generate points for the Colchester DFers it will be very much a standalone event with serious DFing for a full three hours so distant friends would be very welcome. Watch dates for details. Hope to see you there with a car full of DFers. Roy |