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Radio Society of Great Britain
It was immediately obvious that there was no point trying to get any bearings from the start because the nasty planner had put it at the bottom of a big hill, thus shielding it from all possible transmitter sites. It was therefore a matter of struggling up to the top as quickly as possible, when there was a good take-off from the ridge.
I got up there in time for the second cycle of transmissions, and got a sharp bearing on Fox 1; a massive signal practically due north. Due to the start and finish exclusion circles, I could see that there was very little scope for it to be south of the road and calculated that it was on the big spur to the north of the finish, and (knowing the deviousness of the planner) probably on the west side, so that it would be "over the brow" when approached in the latter stages of the competition. These deductions were confirmed on subsequent transmissions and eventually proved to be totally correct.
Initial bearings on Foxes 2 and 4 suggested that they were probably south of the road, but Fox 3 sounded peculiar and I reckoned it was most likely a good distance north east. Again, I calculated that there was really space for only two foxes south of the road and I would proceed on that assumption - but remaining alert to the possibility that I might be wrong and therefore in a position to change my plans if things didn't work out. Fox 5, however, was producing weak multipath reflections in all directions and I felt very grateful that this was the one I didn't need to find.
As I ran further east along the ridge and began descending, Fox 4 came up significantly stronger than Fox 2 and became the focus of my attention. On its 4th transmission I was heading close to it through some slow, pitted terrain but just failed to get to it before it went off. Mike Dunbar had caught up 5 minutes on me here, and was in a similar situation. A "headless chicken" search failed to reveal the marker, so I had to go well beyond it and attack from the other side on the next transmission. Mike then similarly approached from the opposite direction, and we got to it at almost the same time.
I had no further information to suggest that my initial assumptions were incorrect: indeed, Fox 1 was now a lot weaker than before, and if it had been south of the road after all, that would not have been the case. So it was now obvious which general block of forest concealed Fox 2, and 9 minutes later I had found its lair.
The site of fox 3 was still pretty vague, but I banked on getting across the main road and heading north, getting as high up as I could. This plan worked, and I was relieved when at last I got a clean, strong bearing. Just as with my first transmitter, it went off the air as I made my final approach but this time there was less ground cover and I was delighted to spot the flag within a short period of searching.
Although I was pretty confident where Fox 1 was sited, it was difficult to work out how to get there without too much climbing - for us M60 hunters, it is the climb which takes the toll. As it was, the route I chose probably started by taking me higher than I should have gone, but when I eventually crested the spur the signal came up beautifully and I was in just the right position to make my final attack.
All that now remained was to make my way down a very rough and steep ridge path, followed by a crucifying sharp climb up to the finish.
Unusually for me, once I had got over the wasted transmission cycle at my first fox, everything clicked into place just as it should - giving me the rare satisfaction of an event which went well.
Altogether a splendid weekend of competition, and thanks to Bob for a Championships worthy of that title.
Robert Vickers
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