Radio Society of Great Britain
Sutton Park - 2m Winner's Blog

2m Competition
I had been warned that Tx's 1 and 5 were inaudible from the start so I started heading SSE towards the middle of the map, but I got what turned out to be accurate bearings on 2 and 3, indicated by blue lines on the map. (The red line, of course, is the approx route I took.) I carried on running south thru the area and as I did, the anticipated location of 1 moved southwards, I had heard a faint signal for 1 at the start that seemed to come from somewhere south of the largest pond but decided to ignore this until I got a better signal. I recall getting a strong signal for 3 and stopped to have a look in a small wood where I indicate a ?. 4 seemed in the same direction as 3 but further away so I headed S, through the prominent circular white area and was close to 3 when it came on air again 7 minutes after I started. I ran towards it and got close enough to punch 49 seconds after it went off air.
I continued S for 4, and it came on air again when I reached point A. I headed W in the direction of the strongest signal but at the time it went off I was still getting a signal just to the edge of another prominent circular white area of pine trees. I hunted round to the W of the pine plantation for a few minutes and returned to the edge of it in time for the next transmission from Tx4. Again I missed it but hunted and punched 1:27 after it had gone off.
At this time 1 was transmitting but being on the western slope of the area there was not a good indication of direction and I just ran E knowing the remaining Txs were somewhere on the E side of the map. I reached point B 25 mins after starting, and 1 was transmitting and the signal appeared to come from the SE. I ran along the path leading ESE and after a while the signal appeared to come from the SSE then it went off. I headed into the light green thinking I was close to it and had a good chance of finding it but when it became apparent I was wrong I ran to the junction C for the next transmission.
I was close to Tx5 at point C, and I have no idea why I did not realise this at the time. It should have been deafening, I'm lost for an explanation here, could I have removed my earphone when running through the green? Clearly I lost a lot of time here.
I was annoyed when 1 started transmitting again, I had expected to be close to it but clearly it was to the W, back towards 4, and as I ran W along the grotty muddy path I realised that the chance of finding it on this transmission was fading. Another 4 minutes searching in the light green, and I made sure I was standing at the road at the W end of the grotty path in time for the next transmission, 35 minutes after starting. This time I finally found it, punching 16 seconds after it went off.
I still had no idea where 5 was so I went to junction D and got a good signal on 2. I headed N a while but thought better of it and had a vague recollection of hearing 5 from somewhere when I had been hunting 1, so ran to junction E to catch the next transmission. A good signal and it took me along the road to the S, but then seemed to move to the SW. The transmission stopped but I headed in the direction firmly believing myself to be close. I removed my gear to make it easier to search in the green and found it 1:25 after it went off.
As usual, by the time I'm hunting the last Tx, I had a good idea of where it was, and managed to get to the junction 100m N of the triangular pond when it started transmitting 51 mins after I started. (But really I should have been at this point 10 mins sooner if I'd found 5 when I was hunting 1. I still have no idea what went wrong there. I recall adjusting the tuning button at one point wondering whether Tx5 was on a slightly different f, as this has been rumoured to happen in the past. Quite a cockup really and I'm rather surprised I won.) Tx2 was clearly along the path to the NW and by the time it went off it was clearly down to the R, and not very far away. Again I removed my gear to search and found it 22 seconds after it went off.
Thanks to David for organising it and not making it too easy, remember we are all getting better at this.

Simon Beck