Radio Society of Great Britain
Farley Mount - Winner's Blog

2m competition
As an M60 I had to find transmitters 2, 3 and 5 and so I was half way out towards the 400m circle when #2 came up. The bearing was just south of west. #3 followed and that was away to the south east, the other side of the start. As such it was likely to be on its own in the small area between the 400m circle and the SE corner of the map.
While #4 was transmitting I moved out to the 400m circle to await the appearance of #5. With #3 out to the SE all I had to do was to decide whether to go 5-2-3 or 2-5-3 (thanks Mr Planner). In the event #5 came up east of north and the decision was pretty finely balanced. I decided to go 5-2-3 mostly on the basis of the forest motorway route from #2 to #3 past the start 400m circle.
The bearings I took are marked on the map and I plotted just two for TX #5. The second one was only 300m from the edge of the map. My range estimation was consistently over throughout the day and had it not been for the proximity of the edge of the wood, I am sure I would have ventured 2-3 minutes beyond #5 and then not been able to get back to it before it went off the air. Again I mentally thanked the planner for his kindness. When #5 fired up I was able to run it down just as it went QRT.
Then the flog across towards #2 which turned out to be over 2km straight line distance. All of the four bearings I plotted were exceptionaly accurate and I put this down to the fact that the TX was on top of a hill and three of my bearings were taken on a forward slope facing the TX. I positioned myself at the track junction just east of TX #2 and when it came up it was simple to run it down. Again the planner had helped me by placing the TX so close to the edge of the map and tempered my tendency to over-run.
My initial bearing for #3 had it tucked in between the start circle and the road but in reality it was further east. After flogging just under 2km across to the area of 3, it then took me two more transmissions to hunt it down in some grot.
Finally it was a matter of following the tracks back to the finish.
Bob G3ORY

80m competition
Heading off down the start corridor, I got a bearing for #1, but after it turned off realised that I hadn’t used the sense to see if it was in front of me or behind.
#2 was heard with a similar bearing, remembered to use the sense this time.
#3 was then heard and it was behind me, in a similar direction to #3 from the 2m course. This effectively clarified the direction of #1 as there wasn’t enough area around #3 for another Tx.
Bearings for #4 and #5 were noted as they went through their transmission cycle.
I had overshot #4 when it next came on but was able to retrace my steps to get a reasonable swing of the bearing before it finished and once in the forest soon caught sight of the kite.
With #1 and #2 to the north of me and the not required #5 to the south, I decided to head off to get #1 and #2.
I was lucky to be on the wide ride near #1 when it was transmitting, and caught site of the kite just before if finished. Before plunging into the fight, and it was tough from the ride, I took a bearing for #2. I came out from #1 a different way.
It took me a few cycles of #2 to locate it as the map was very wrong in that area. There is now a large fenced enclosure of rough open, that doesn’t correspond to anything on the map and I was concerned about running off the map.
After locating #2 I then looked at the fastest route to the vicinity of #3. This included seeing how much further it would be to collect #5 on the way. In then end I decided on the more direct route that had the advantage of potentially a better cross bearing for #3 on the way.
I managed to be in the straight track by the fence to the north west of the tx when #3 came on and was able to get a little way down the north south path before it turned off. I then just followed my instinct scanning the forest to no avail. When it came on next I was able to retrace my steps till I had a 90 degree bearing from the track an started to follow it during the transmission, then continued in that direction until I located the control.
I noticed that the controls were a little more hidden than have been in the past, not making any judgement either way but it was noticeable that all the txs on the 80m and the 2m were located either during or in the minute following their transmission cycle.
I would just like to thank the organisers for their hard work in putting on the event on a day of glorious weather.
Michael Dunbar