Training Log Archive: VectorIn the 7 days ending Aug 7, 2017:
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Saturday Aug 5, 2017 #
Orienteering race 2:38:52 [4] **** 8.5 km (18:41 / km) +300m 15:53 / km
spiked:3/5c shoes: X-Talon 212
US ARDF Championships - 2m Classic. Very similar to search & rescue DF'ing w/ the big antenna array and using combo of signal strength & bearings. I did very well considering it was my 1st-ever ARDF 2m race and also considering my antenna broke 1/2 way through, 2nd USA, 3rd overall, finished ahead of all the Chinese and I was only a few min's out of 1st USA. I definitely think all my DF experience from SAR translated over to competition pretty well, plus the orienteering experience really helps too. I was loving the race and definitely feel confident right out of the gate.
I picked out a really great initial location to listen to the cycles when I got clear of the exclusion zones. This is one place where map reading helps. I got some really good bearings and a good mental picture of 3 transmitters but was a little fuzzy on the other 2 but had general bearings. The route I chose turned out to be the optimal route! Not bad for a 1st try. Optimal was measured at 7.1km.
I spiked the first one, then spiked the next, and was feeling really confident by then. The 3rd in my series is where the trouble started. I was getting #3 showing a level-3 strength eastward across the lake. But when I got to other side of the lake the signal became really week, so I thought maybe I went past it running too fast and far. So I went back to west side of lake... which happens to be a tormenting area of thick green. But when I got to some high ground there it pointed me back to east side of lake. So then I went across lake again (muddy but crossable) and was welcomed to a hill climb through extremely thick green again. One of the measuring tape antennas (middle left) was already corroded a bit and the thick green finished the job, cracking it. Eventually it completely broke. This had me worried but I realized if I hold the antenna with good contact to the place where it broke I was still able to get a reliable directional. Of course this made things trickier than they're supposed to be but it worked. I ditched #3 for a while as #4 seemed closer and as I approached #4 I saw powerlines and really started worrying they were messing me up and that I may have only found the power lines. Thankfully that wasn't the case and I found #4. Then back to #3 through the open runnable woods, up the huge hill and thick veg to #2. So that was all 5 and just orienteering back to the finish.
Getting stuck in the thick green on 2 occasions cost me dearly...we're talking like at least 30 min's. So it would have been #1 USA and a really good finish time were it not for my failure to recognize that the reason my signal went weak when I first crossed the lake (which was exactly where I should have been going) was because the terrain was blocking the signal when I entered the hill's signal shadow. Had I kept going up the hill the signal would have strengthened and I never would have talked myself into going back to the lake area with all its tormenting green. Lesson learned.
Still, being my first 2m ARDF competition I'm pretty happy with how I did. 3 of the controls I nailed and I made an optimal route choice which is hard to do. I finished ahead of all the Chinese and the guys that finished ahead are experienced, and I had the broken antenna thing that slowed me down, so all in all it went super well. And very fun. Looking forward to fall when we hopefully do an RMOC ARDF event and also the US Championships in spring 2018.
Really thankful to the organizers and those who lent me their eqp't. Awesome event and had a great time.
CY17 control goal count = 783
I picked out a really great initial location to listen to the cycles when I got clear of the exclusion zones. This is one place where map reading helps. I got some really good bearings and a good mental picture of 3 transmitters but was a little fuzzy on the other 2 but had general bearings. The route I chose turned out to be the optimal route! Not bad for a 1st try. Optimal was measured at 7.1km.
I spiked the first one, then spiked the next, and was feeling really confident by then. The 3rd in my series is where the trouble started. I was getting #3 showing a level-3 strength eastward across the lake. But when I got to other side of the lake the signal became really week, so I thought maybe I went past it running too fast and far. So I went back to west side of lake... which happens to be a tormenting area of thick green. But when I got to some high ground there it pointed me back to east side of lake. So then I went across lake again (muddy but crossable) and was welcomed to a hill climb through extremely thick green again. One of the measuring tape antennas (middle left) was already corroded a bit and the thick green finished the job, cracking it. Eventually it completely broke. This had me worried but I realized if I hold the antenna with good contact to the place where it broke I was still able to get a reliable directional. Of course this made things trickier than they're supposed to be but it worked. I ditched #3 for a while as #4 seemed closer and as I approached #4 I saw powerlines and really started worrying they were messing me up and that I may have only found the power lines. Thankfully that wasn't the case and I found #4. Then back to #3 through the open runnable woods, up the huge hill and thick veg to #2. So that was all 5 and just orienteering back to the finish.
Getting stuck in the thick green on 2 occasions cost me dearly...we're talking like at least 30 min's. So it would have been #1 USA and a really good finish time were it not for my failure to recognize that the reason my signal went weak when I first crossed the lake (which was exactly where I should have been going) was because the terrain was blocking the signal when I entered the hill's signal shadow. Had I kept going up the hill the signal would have strengthened and I never would have talked myself into going back to the lake area with all its tormenting green. Lesson learned.
Still, being my first 2m ARDF competition I'm pretty happy with how I did. 3 of the controls I nailed and I made an optimal route choice which is hard to do. I finished ahead of all the Chinese and the guys that finished ahead are experienced, and I had the broken antenna thing that slowed me down, so all in all it went super well. And very fun. Looking forward to fall when we hopefully do an RMOC ARDF event and also the US Championships in spring 2018.
Really thankful to the organizers and those who lent me their eqp't. Awesome event and had a great time.
CY17 control goal count = 783
Friday Aug 4, 2017 #
Orienteering race 1:04:42 [3] *** 6.0 km (10:47 / km) +100m 9:57 / km
spiked:7/9c shoes: X-Talon 212
US ARDF Championships - Fox-O. My first ARDF race! Really enjoyed this format. Requires good orienteering and also DF'ing, sniffing out a 10 mW transmitter on 80m band with a small loop receiver from a control circle. I nailed the 1st one, but on the 2nd and 3rd I had tons of trouble interpreting what the receiver was doing... it kept sending me 180 degrees opposite of where I was supposed to be going and I just couldn't get a consistent reading. It was not behaving like the training on Monday when it seemed so clear and easy to use. So I spent 20 min's on controls 2 & 3 trying to troubleshoot and figure out what was going on. Ultimate what worked is I tuned the gain all the way down to <1m so I couldn't hear the signal and resolved to run to the control and once I hear the signal start homing in on it using the null... this would ensure that I am going the right direction... and that worked. Every split for the next 6 controls were only 2 to 3 min's, and had I run controls 2 & 3 like that I would have either won or at least came pretty close to ARDF extraordinaire Illia's finish. So I think I figured out a good procedure that works and that this is going to become my strongest ARDF event, but I will need to do some more practice w/ the 80m receiver so that I don't let controls 3 & 4 happen to me again. I was really energized by ARDF Orienteering and I definitely am hooked.
CY17 control goal count = 792
CY17 control goal count = 792