Radio Society of Great Britain
Hermitage Woods - Winners' Blog

2m competition
As soon as I walked through the gate and switched on my receiver, I almost immediately had a bearing on Tx 1 straight down the path, North of the start. With the map boundary only 100's of metres away, Tx 1 was the obvious first transmitter to go for. When Tx 2 came on air, the bearing was East(ish) towards the hill in the North East part of the map. It was now clear that Tx 2 was to be found straight after Tx 1. It was looking like the other 3 transmitters would be located in the Southern part of the map, and sure enough the subsequent bearings were roughly South. However, by the time I took bearings on Tx's 3, 4 and 5, I had already proceeded North and had a hill between me and the South of the Map. This meant bearings on Tx's 3, 4 and 5 were unreliable, so I decided to ignore them and concentrate on Tx's 1 and 2. ( I don't bother plotting bearings anymore, especially when they appear weak and on the other side of hills ).

Tx 1 was located reasonably easily. However, I did overshoot the transmitter and then go around it to avoid all the dense undergrowth; taking a bearing while running on the path and noting the rapid change of direction indicating the transmitter was very close.

After punching Tx 1, I navigated my way to the top of the hill where I previously had an approximate bearing on Tx 2. A further bearing indicated it was more to the East, so I decided to head to the Eastern edge of the map to get a cross bearing. The next transmission told me which section of woodland it was in, but the bearing seemed very broad with multiple peaks, so I was obviously not getting a 'line of sight' bearing. I therefore decided to go further up a path and then into the woodland via a shallow valley which could be responsible for the bouncing signals, and there was the control flag for Tx 2!

I now had to orienteer my way to the road separating the North and South areas of the map and find somewhere to take bearings on Tx's 3, 4 and 5 to try and determine which order to get them in. I didn't have a clue where they were, since I had previously ignored them. There was a nice open hill in the middle of the map (Eastern side) where I got good bearings and Tx 4 seemed very close and towards the edge of the map. I estimated roughly where I needed to leave the path and start searching the woodland and then I noticed Robert Vickers walking at a 90 degree bearing relative to me and looked ahead to where we were both heading and there was Tx 4!

While on my way to Tx 4, bearings showed Tx 3 was close to the finish, while Tx 5 was in the far South. I decided to leave Tx 3 until the end and concentrate on Tx 5 and took a bearing on it at a path junction. This bearing was very sharp and precise so I decided to walk down a couple of paths that went in the same direction of the bearing ( I didn't want to run as the signal was strong and I thought I'd overshoot the Tx ). When the next carrier for Tx 5 came on air, I was standing only a few metres away from the control flag!

I now only had Tx 3 to get, so I followed a wide ride that arced around the map and that took me into the approximate area where I thought it was. When it was time for the next carrier, I stood on a path junction, ready to run off in the right direction, but to my surprise, it seemed quite close by in runnable woodland. As I ran towards the transmitter during the transmission, the signal increased enormously, indicating it was very close. It was therefore easy to locate even after the transmission ended. After punching, I switched off my receiver and orienteered my way back to the finish, crossing the remains of Grimsbury Castle on the way.

Phil Smith