Championship Radio Foxhunting News
From USA and Around the World
The Tenth USA ARDF Championships will take place near Cincinnati, Ohio on the weekend of May 21-23, 2010. This is one week after the Dayton Hamvention.
As in recent years, there will be a practice and equipment testing day on Friday, followed the next day by the two-meter competition and an evening banquet. On Sunday, the 80-meter competition and medal award ceremony will take place in a different location.
Organizers of these championships are members of OH-KY-IN Amateur Radio Club, Orienteering Cincinnati (OCIN), and the Butler County VHF Association. These are the same folks who put on the very successful 2003 USA and IARU Region 2 Championships, but the 2010 competitions will take place in different forests.
USA's ARDF Championships are open to all, regardless of radio-orienteering skill level or ham radio licensing status. Category winners may earn positions on ARDF Team USA, which will travel to Croatia for the Fifteenth ARDF World Championships in September, 2010 (see story below).
Registration for the championships is now open. For the second year, there is no entry fee for first-time participants and for participants coming from outside North America. The form is available for download at the official championships Web site, (www.usardf2010.com). Room reservations are also available at the Country Hearth Inn and Suites in Franklin, Ohio, which is the headquarters hotel.
A pre-championship ARDF "training camp" on May 19 and 20 is also being planned by the organizers. If you are interested, send e-mail as directed in the NEWS section on the front page of the championships site.
Individual and corporate sponsors are being sought to provide additional funding for the championships. Read this letter from the organizers for more details.
Joe Moell KØOV
ARRL ARDF Coordinator
Team USA Forming for 2010 ARDF World Championships
Opatija, Croatia, September 13 - 18
Every two years, hams from around the world gather to see who is best at on-foot hidden transmitter hunting. USA has been represented at every one of these ARDF World Championships since 1988, and 2010 will be no exception. Team USA is now forming for the 15th World Championships, which take place September 13 through 18. The headquarters site will be a hotel in the resort city of Opatija on the Adriatic Sea coast.
As always, there will be separate events for each competitor on eighty meters and two meters, each with up to five transmitters scattered in a forest that might encompass 1000 acres or more. Medals await the top three individual competitors in each category, as well as the top three nations' teams. Team scores are based on aggregation of individual performances. Team members may not assist one another on the courses.
If being a part of the World ARDF Championships appeals to you, now is the time to plan and train. Each country may send up to three competitors in each of eleven age categories, six for males and five for females, in accordance with rules of the International Amateur Radio Union. Team members are responsible for their own event registration fees (estimated at 320 Euros including room and board), as well as transportation expenses to and from Croatia.
This spring, I will submit USA's Letter of Intent to Participate to the event organizers with an estimated "head count." Team USA selection in the contested categories will be based on performances and standings in the Ninth USA ARDF Championships (Boston, June 2009) and the Tenth USA ARDF Championships (Ohio, May 2010, see story above). The categories for males under 20, for males over 70, and for all females are expected to have some uncontested openings, so it will be possible for inexperienced radio-orienteers in these ranges to join the team. It is also possible to attend as a non-competing visitor, but all visitors must be registered and listed as such on the national team roster.
If you are interested in traveling to the 2010 ARDF World Championships as a member of Team USA or a USA visitor, please let me know by e-mail to k0ov@homingin.com. Do not contact the Croatian organizers directly. If you have not been on Team USA before, include your full name, call sign, mailing address, home phone number, and date of birth.
If you wish to participate as a citizen or resident of another North or South American country (non-USA), contact Dale Hunt WB6BYU by e-mail to wb6byu@arrl.net. Canadians should also contact Joe Young VE7BFK by e-mail to ve7bfk@rac.ca.
For a more preliminary information about the 2010 World Championships, visit the Croatian Amateur Radio Association's World Championships Web site and download Bulletin #0. More bulletins with information about transportation, housing, meals, special events station and tours will be issued in the coming weeks.
Joe Moell KØOV
USA ARDF Coordinator
This report has been updated and moved to a separate page.
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!
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.
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 -- How we're getting the ball rolling
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 27 January 2010