From: Adam Scammell a.scammell@rocketmail.com
Hello All,
I have access to internet now. This is from our host=E1s work email address. I may not be able to send another email for a week or so.
Yes it's that time of year again.
This time the trip will include: Hungarian National Championships 24th - 25th August. Training with two Hungarians Gyuri and Csaba and the American team, between 26th August - 1st September. World Championships in Slovakia 2nd - 7th September Following this we will have a leasurily train trip and stay in the Checz Republic.
Travel: Thursday 22nd August Borring stuff included a 22 Hr flight to Budapest via Kuala Lumpa and Austria.
Ground Travel: Friday 23rd August
We were met at the airport by Csaba (Hungarian) and Marvin (Yank) after a lengthy wait. Our trip took us through the outskirts of Budapest. The roads and buildings reminded me a lot of China. However with out all the people. We passed a building in progress that was likeable to a UFO. Csaba indicated that it was a new stadium. It was interesting to watch the workers carrying (yes by hand) large sheets of iron above their heads up onto the roof.
We travelled for about two hours to the HQ at Poradfurd (it's surposed to have a ' above the 2nd e and two dots above the u=85.. but=85 I am sure you get the idea). Here we found a summer camp that was to become our home for the next few days. Many competitors were staying in tents, however we had a cabin.
Although we arrived at about 6.30pm it was still light and would be till 8.30pm as it's summer and daylight savings is in effect. We ate diner straight away. Next was a equipment tryout. Gyuri translated all the important information for us. Frequencies etc. The equipment tryout began with initial confusion and concern. Both Bryan's and my receivers were acting very strange. We had low range even extremely close, and very confusing bearings from almost anywhere. We were soon put at rest when a wisper suggested that we had been given the wrong frequencies. All was now well.
2M competition: Saturday 24th August
We got up at 7am for a shower and breaky. Before leaving I mixed up some sports drink which Harley nicknamed the elixer of life. Final instructions were soon to follow. The bus soon arrived and the first group departed. I was starting later in the field and thus had to wait for the bus to make one drop off then return. It wasn't too long and we were also on our way. The trip only took 10 minutes. We arrived 5 minutes after the first group left. Bruce was starting 30 minutes after the first group, Bryan 10 minutes later. I was listed as 70 minutes after the first group, as was Harley Leach (Yank). I took plenty of photos at the start area. (See below)
The area like everywhere else here was very scenic. I had quite a wait but the time flew. After preparations and warm-up I was all set. The map for today was A4 in size and the scale 1;15000 with a landscape orientation.
The start was central at the top with the finish in the top right most corner. As has become standard for us I marked the start and finish transmitter exclusions on the map, then was soon off on my way. My initial plan was to collect any transmitters that were in the North East corner of the map. So off down the start corridore I went. I determined the direction of each transmitter during the first 5 minutes, quickly deciding that my initial plan was not necesicary. Insead I headed south finding Tx 1 after 16 minutes. Next I decided to grab Tx 2 as it was reasonably strong. Howver after 1 cycle I determined it was closer to the start than I initialy thought. Insead I headed yet further South to find TX 5 (31 minutes total), I droped a fair bit of time running around in circles though. I then with reasonable confidence headed north then latter west to find Tx 2 after 15 minutes. My next port of call was Tx 3 however after some confusion I headed further south and eventually found it. This was one of the harder transmitters as it was furthest from the start and a fair way down the wrong side of the hill. Once found I understood why I had only previously heard it a few times. Deyhydration started to kick in at this stage. I am yet to fully understand exactly where I went after this point. I eventually found myself back on the map. I had to travel via the finish to get to Tx 4. After running by the compass for 200M, I found the transmitter whilst it was off. I returned to the finnish about 1Km from there. My watch had stopped at 1Hr 16 minutes somewhere in the vacinity of Tx 3 so I am unsure of my time into Tx 3 or Tx 4. I finished in 128.02 this was just over double the fastest time.
I finished in 7th place with Bryan (4tx's) in 14th and Bruce (3tx's) after timing out in 16th.
After resting we walked back to the camp about 3Km away.
After lunch and showers we travelled to a high point nearby. This was the location of a TV tower \ lookout and also a ski resort. The views were a bit disappointing due to the haze that seems to ever present here (although worse in the afternoon).
On the way back to the camp we stopped for a ride on the go- carts.
After Dinner we chatted with some local competitors before heading off to bed.
80M Competition: Sunday 25th August
This morning was an earlier start than yesterday. After breaky I prepared all my gear and fluids. This time I decided to run with a bum-bag containing a water bottle. I was glad of this latter.
I was again on the second bus, and again listed as starting with Harley. We used the same map and so were able to follow our location all the way to the start. We arrived after just 10 minutes, and just before the first group left. Bryan was in the first group, Bruce 25 minutes latter, I was 20 minutes after that. My start again creaped up on me.
Todays start was shifted to the centre of the map to the South. The finish remained the same.
Csaba, Harley, Marvin and myself all discussed strategies at the beginning and it worked well for me. I headed west only stopping occasionly for bearings. After 9 minutes I was where I should have been, however I didnt move quick enough and failed to find Tx 4 on its first cycle. 5 minutes latter and I discovered it only 50 meters away. I then made route choice error by running above the start to Tx 1. I should have ran along the road below the start. This cost me alot of time. Bruce ran this leg in 14 minutes, whereas it took me 28 minutes. Some time after this I had equipment problems, I was unable to change the range control. This severley limited directionality of the receiver. It wasn't too bad though, I discovered I could hunt in audio mode, sniffing peak until it overloaded then reverse the antenna and hunt null. I was lucky to be able to follow others at times also. I found Tx 5 after some initial messing around. From here I headed southwest to Tx 3. My bearings for this transmitter crossed about 400M east of where it was. This was surprising as the transmitter was atop of a large hill. I then headed east to Tx 3 before sprinting for home.
My time was better today, however still maintained midfield status with 7th place 2 behind Bruce (5Tx's) and 6 ahead of Bryan (5Tx's).
Food, Shower, packing, awards and departure all followed.
We are now travelling in convoy 3 car's 9 people to Pecs (again there shold be a ' above the e) Once there we will be training several times each day. We are all really looking forward to it.
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We arrived at "the lodge" at about 8.30pm. After unloading the car we headed straight down to the home style resturunt. Dinner included soup, chicken, pasta and salad, desert was biscuit's and fruit. We latter found out that Lunch and dinner would be here most days.
Everybody was nursing injuries and or general aches and pains. A few of us decided to walk back. This helped with the stiffness.
Gyuri arrived with his wife Suzi, and son's Danny and Thomas. We were informed that we would have the following morning off. Lunch would be at 1pm followed by training at 3pm. A short 2M course would be set on a nearby map. Many maps around this area would be used over the next week, all are within 25 minutes of here.
2M Training Monday 26th August
We used most of the morning preparing our equipment and studying the map's that were dropped off earlier. We were transported to the start in two trips, as Csaba's car was being repaired. The trip only took 10 minutes.
At the start we were informed that we had an 80 minute time limit, also that Tx 5 was broken and should be treated as an orienteering control. Ie it was marked on our map, and we should simply navigate to it.
The map for today was littered with strange sink holes that varied between 1 and 20 metres deep, and 3-50 metres in diamter.
Since I was still very sore I had planned to walk / jog. I was the last starter, I chose the same tactic as Bruce, heading back down the map to the edge and then following the road to TX 5. This control in it's self proved to be a challenge, all of us assumed it was on the side of a hill, however as I soon discovered, it was actually a depression. It had tag's on the centre and a horseshoe shaped contour nearby.
After leaving here I found a marked track that was very overgrown with blackberries. My second and third attempts on both sides of the track was fruitless. I headed further south and found a good route via an open forest. I was not too far from Tx 2 when a deer ran past. I stopped and watched it disapere into the distance. This was a buzz for me, I have only seen one other deer in the wild, that was on an ARDF course in Canada. After this short distraction I headed off and found Tx 2, then headed west on a fast road. (I latter found out that I ran straight past Tx 4 on this road) My plan of not running kinda fell apart here when I decided if I did walk I wouldn't find too many.
I headed yet further east collecting Tx 1 just after Bruce and before Harley. I then headed north, then west for several cycles finding Tx 3 just after Bruce. I then headed for the finish, waiting at a clearing just long enough to check Tx 4 location. It was still quite week, and with only 6 minutes left I decided to head for the finish. My finish time was quickest for 4 Tx, although it was only a training exercise. I found out over diner that Tx 4 was 20KHz off frequency. I found out also that Tx 4 was 20KHz high This explains why when passing within 100M of it I decided it was too far away.
Gyuri gave us the run down on tomorrow: It will be a slightly longer course on the 80M band. We would begin at 9am.
Diner was very nice, however there were some time constraints in place so there were only 3 of us ate at the restraunt. We collected the food for everyone else and headed back to the house to wait for them. Gyuri collect two more americans from the train station, Bob Frey and Dick Arnett soon to join us. Gyuri headed off again to pick up the remaining competitors. They soon returned here for a re-heated meal. Course discussions occured soon after and many ideas were thrown around.
We eventually retired to bed at 11pm, Bruce was still writing his report.
80M Training, and Fox Oring: Tuesday 27th August
We woke early this morning, and were collected at 9am, Csaba's car was still being repaired so we again made the trip in two groups. I was in the second group, this afforded me sometime to nock together a receiver mount for a compass. We arrived at the start location in about 15 minutes. Today's map was new, however it still had the weird sinkholes. The start was in the bottom right corner of the map, and the finish in the top left corner. My order was Tx 2 at 18 minutes Tx 3 at 26 minutes Tx 5 at 51 minutes Tx 4 at 71 minutes Tx 1 at 79 minutes and the finish at 82 minutes.
Optimum order was 3,2,1,4,5 Bob Frey ran this order in 88 minutes, Bruce finished fastest in 66 minutes with a different course.
Lunch was soon to follow, here it is the largest meal of the day and today was no exception. We had Soup, then a platter of fried rice, fried eggs, beef and chips, desert was chocolate covered ginger bread.
At 3.30 we were picked up for Fox Oring training, our first. I was on the first trip, and left as the fourth competitor. Those that are unfamiliar may be interested in a description. Fox Oring is very similar to Orienteering. Control locations are shown on the map, they represent 50M diameter on the ground, somewhere in the circle competitors will find a low (1nW EIRP) power transmitter. Our course was about 4Km in length, included 10 Control's and was a scatter course. This means that we must choose the order to visit the 10 controls. This was tricky as the controls were placed in a circular shape, with the deciding control being in the centre of the circle.
I found out very quickly that my receiver was not as sensitive as my eyes. I saw most transmitters well before I heard them on the receiver. I wasn't able to receive the transmitter form any great distance, so I for the most part treated it like an orienteering course. Gyuri has indicated that he will extent the antenna length. Hopefully also extending the range to perhaps 40M distance.
I chose to go to the outside, then return via the control near the start to the centre control, then to all the outside ones. This was to my advantage, as when I returned to the outside circle I found Bruce and 3 other people walking around in circles, doing the hard work of finding the transmitters. Here I wasted 7 minutes before Bryan led us all into it. I found this one, my fourth transmitter after 21 minutes total, and remaining 6 in a further 20 minutes.
I finished first and in the best time, and lucky for me it was just before the storm came. We then piled into the cars and returned for showers and preparation for dinner.
Dinner included a real yummy fruit soup. I couldn't work out if it was a soup or a desert.. so I had it as both...
After dinner we discussed tomorrows plans. We would be running on todays map, a longer 2M course. After Lunch we would have an inside discussion of orienteering navigation and tactics.
We were collected early. The start and finish were in new locations. I had quite a few reflections in close today. I found Tx 5, Tx3, Tx1, Tx4, then Tx2 (behind the finish). I had reflection problems on Tx 5, I navigated well to Tx 3 and Tx 1. Tx 4 was difficult for me as I didn't see it from within 10M and spent a further 3 minutes looking, finding it just before it turned on again. I found Tx 2 quickly and finished with the quickest time.
We returned for another nice meal at the restaurant. After lunch we had a discussion on tactics and ways of minimising reflections.
Dinner was also great .. (Editors note: find a better way of saying food here is good)
I found out today how hanging bowling works. The pins (9) are line up are lined up (like a 9 on a dice) on the ground. The ball is hanging by a string from a pole 2M above the ground. You pull the ball back and release it. The plan is to knock all balls over in the fewest shots.
I spent most of the evening modifying the images and preparing them for publishing.
Tomorrow we will be sightseeing in Pecs and also getting access to internet.
***** Remember, an out of tune piano makes noise, not music! *****
***** E-MAIL: dennis@rain.org . ***** http://www.rain.org/~dennis
*** Dennis Schwendtner *** WB6OBB ***