Championship Radio Foxhunting News
From USA and Around the World
The forests of North Carolina are beckoning. You should be in this picture in October!
The
thirteenth annual USA ARDF Championships will take place on the second week and
weekend of October 2013 in the North Carolina Piedmont. Radio-orienteers
from all over the country plus visitors from abroad are expected to
attend. This year's USA Championships are being combined with the biennial championships of International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) Region 2 (North and South America). The competitive courses will be open to anyone of any age, with
or without an Amateur Radio license. Medals will be awarded in six age categories for males and five for females, in accordance with rules of the International Amateur Radio Union. Registration is now open.
"Piedmont"
is a French word meaning "foot of the mountain." This region, in the
foothills of the Appalachians, features rolling hills and beautiful
forests. The 5025 acres of the Birkhead Wilderness Area are ideal for
orienteering of all kinds. This wilderness is in the Uwharrie National Forest, about twelve miles from Asheboro. Backwoods Orienteering Klub,
which claims to make the best O-maps in the world, will supply updated
course maps for all of the championship events.
Many of the participants will arrive Tuesday, October 8 to pick up their packets at the event hotel and check their RDF equipment. The Championships start on Wednesday with optional practice courses on two meters and 80 meters. Thursday morning activities are model events of sprints and foxoring, followed in the afternoon by the championship foxoring event. Friday morning will be the sprint championship event with awards presented thereaafter.
Competitors who cannot be present for all five days will arrive Friday for the classic championships. There will be model events on two meters and 80 meters Friday afternoon, followed in the evening by a briefing for everyone about procedures and safety. Saturday morning will be the full-course two-meter main event, followed in the evening by the official banquet and awards presentation. The full-course 80-meter main event will be on Sunday morning with awards presented afterwards in time for those who must hurry home.
Organizing these championships are Joseph Huberman K5JGH, the Event Director, and Ruth Bromer WB4QZG, the Registrar (pictured at right above). Setting the courses will be Nadia Scharlau with radio support by Charles Scharlau NZØI (pictured at left). All four have been consistent medal winners at previous USA Championships and have competed in the ARDF World Championships.
Winners of these championships will be under consideration for membership in ARDF Team USA, which will travel to the mountains of Kazakhstan for the 17th ARDF World Championships in September 2014. A maximum of three competitors in each age-gender category may be on a nation's team.
Additional volunteers are needed for start-finish and course monitor positions. If you wish to visit or volunteer at the competition sites, please send an inquiry directly to ARDF@BackwoodsOK.org. Note that an embargo of the competition area is in effect, meaning that persons competing in these championships must not enter the Birkhead Wilderness Area between now and the time of the events.
Latest event information, directions, rules and detailed schedule are in the official 2013 USA/R2 ARDF Championships Web site (www.ardf.us). Transmitter parameters and suggestions for nearby lodging and dining will be added soon. Online registrations are now being accepted.
Joe Moell K0OV
USA ARDF Coordinator
Team USA Competes in the 2012 ARDF World Championships
Kopaonik, Serbia, September 10 - 16, 2012
This report has been expanded and moved here.
The Twelfth USA National ARDF Championships
Mt. Laguna, California, June 1 - 3, 2012
This report has been expanded and moved here.
RSGB Open ARDF Competition, May 17 - 19, 2013 in Surrey, England.
Fourteenth European Youth ARDF Championships, June 12 - 16, 2013 in Tri Studne, Czech Republic, for persons with birthdays in 1997 and later.
Ninth IARU Region 3 ARDF Championships, September 1 - 6, 2013
at Hongcheon Gangwon Province, Korea.
Nineteenth IARU Region 1 ARDF Championships, September 9 - 15, 2013 at Kudowa Zdroj, Poland.
Thirteenth USA and 7th IARU Region 2 ARDF Championships, October 9 - 13, 2013 in North Carolina.
Seventeenth IARU ARDF World Championships, September 2014 in the mountains of Kazakhstan.
The first formal international-rules ARDF event in North America took place during the Second Friendship Radiosports Games in Portland back in 1991. Two years later, hams in Victoria, Canada hosted the Third Friendship Games, including that country's first radio-orienteering event. Those hams formed the nucleus of a group that continues to grow and promote ARDF throughout all of Canada. Joe Young VE7BFK, a participant in those 1993 games, is now the ARDF Coordinator for Radio Amateurs of Canada, the country's national Amateur Radio organization.
In 2010, Canada sent a team to the ARDF World Championships for the first time. Team Canada participated in the Sixth IARU Region 2 ARDF Championships in Albuquerque, New Mexico during 2011.
The ARDF in Canada Web site (www.ardf.ca) coordinates and announces ARDF events all over the country and provides all Canadian hams with information about the sport and about ARDF Team Canada. There is also another a Web site with a blog and announcements of ARDF events in British Columbia.
In the photo at right above: Three ARDF Team Canada members examine a miniature transmitter at the ARDF World Championships in Croatia during 2010. They are Les Tocko VA7OM, Joe Young VE7BFK and John MacConnachie VE7GED. (Photo by Ken Harker WM5R)
The ARRL Fund for the Development of Amateur Radio Direction Finding is now accepting monetary donations to support deserving groups and individuals as they expand international-rules ARDF activities in the USA.
This fund was first established in year 2000 with "seed money" from the Colvin Award, the ARRL Foundation and the ARRL General Fund. In its first five years, payments from the fund were made on behalf of 18 individuals to help defray the cost of their participation in three ARDF World Championships. Grants from the fund have also been made to the organizers of two USA ARDF Championships.
No further contributions are anticipated from the original sources, so the fund has been opened to contributions from individuals and clubs. All contributions are tax deductible to the extent allowed by law and will be acknowledged by ARRL, a registered 501(c)(3) organization. Contributions may not be designated by donors to be granted to any specific recipient, individual or group.
Grants from the fund may be requested by groups sponsoring ARDF events in the USA and by individuals who have qualified to represent the USA in ARDF competitions sanctioned by the ARRL or the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU). Requests for grants should be submitted electronically at least 60 days in advance of need to Mary Hobart K1MMH at ARRL Headquarters (mhobart@arrl.org). They will be reviewed by a committee that includes ARRL's Chief Executive Officer, Chief Development Officer and ARDF Coordinator.
You can help support ARDF in the USA by sending a donation to ARDF Development Fund, c/o ARRL, 225 East Main Street, Newington, CT 06111. Checks should be made out to ARRL with "ARDF Development Fund" on the memo line.
The not-for-profit American Radio Relay League (ARRL) is the national association of Amateur Radio operators, founded in 1914. ARRL is a member society of the IARU.
Joe Moell KØOV
ARRL ARDF Coordinator
Local ARDF sessions for training and practice are sometimes held in the areas listed below. If you are close to any of them, get involved! If you're not, the task of developing ARDF locally is yours. With the help of other hams in your town, it can be relatively easy and fun. This may be just the activity to shake the doldrums out of your club. Start planning now!
Current -- Year 2012 and 2013 events in southern California.
All 2011 -- Southern California practice/demonstration events of 2011, including Lake Los Carneros (2), Bonelli Regional Park, Angel's Gate Park, Topanga State Park, Mt. Pinos, Schabarum Regional Park, Tri-City Park, Santa Fe Dam, Yuma Hamfest and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.
All 2010 -- Southern California practice/demonstration events of 2010, including Santa Fe Dam, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Schabarum Regional Park, Griffith Park, Mt. Laguna, Topanga State Park, and Tri-City Park.
All 2009 -- Southern California practice/demonstration events of 2009, including Bonelli Regional Park, Topanga State Park, Tri-City Park, Schabarum Regional Park, Craig Regional Park, Santa Fe Dam and Lake Los Carneros.
June 5 - 7, 2009 -- Ninth USA ARDF Championships near Boston, Massachusetts.
All 2008 -- Southern California practice/demonstration events of 2008, including Hillcrest Park, Schabarum Regional Park, Tri-City Park, Heartwell Park, Fairway Village, Mt. Pinos (2), Irvine Park, Lake Los Carneros (2), Topanga State Park, Huntington Central Park, Balboa Park and Bonelli Regional Park.
May 8 - 10, 2008 -- Eighth USA ARDF Championships near Bastrop, Texas.
All 2007 -- Southern California practice/demonstration events of 2007, including Hillcrest Park, Travel Town, Tri-City Park, Heartwell Park, Craig Regional Park, Lake Los Carneros (2), Topanga State Park, Angel's Gate Park and Bonelli Regional Park.
September 14 - 16, 2007 -- Seventh USA ARDF Championships near South Lake Tahoe, California.
All 2006 -- Southern California practice/demonstration events of 2006, including O'Neill Regional Park, Topanga State Park, Lake Los Carneros, Tri-City Park, Heartwell Park, Bonelli Regional Park and Huntington Central Park.
April 7 - 9, 2006 -- Sixth USA ARDF Championships near Raleigh, North Carolina.
Go to International-Style Foxhunting Comes To The Americas -- An introduction to the sport with the history of its development in the Western Hemisphere
Go to Equipment Ideas for Radio-Orienteering -- Simple and inexpensive receiving and transmitting solutions
Go to Radio-Orienteering News for Southern California -- Results and stories of recent radio-orienteering events in southern California, plus announcements of upcoming ones.
Go to Foxhunting for Scouts -- Let's get the kids involved
Go to Extenders Aid Handicapped Foxhunters -- A novel way to include persons with disabilities
Back to the Homing In home page
This page updated 10 May 2013