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Winter 2004 Issue |
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Homing In Championship Foxhunters Gather in The Buckeye State By Joe Moell,* KØOV |
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Photo A. Bob
Frey, WA6EZV (left), and Dick Arnett, WB4SUV, were OH-KY-IN Amateur Radio
Club’s Event Co-Chairs, leading the team of volunteers who put on the
Third USA ARDF Championships. |
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For many years, weekend television featured a sports program that celebrated the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. It covered prominent and obscure sports of every kind, from arm-wrestling to Zamboni-racing. However, there is one sport I never saw on this or any other show, despite the fact that thousands engage in it every year in dozens of countries around the world. Most of those who participate are hams, but a ham license is not required in order to compete. The sport I’m referring to has a number of names, including foxhunting, foxtailing, radio-orienteering, and ARDF. The “foxes” being hunted aren’t animals. They are low-power radio transmitters. The competitor who uses his or her personal radio-direction-finding (RDF) equipment to locate the most foxes in the shortest amount of time wins. Foxhunting contests take place all over the world, sanctioned by the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU). Local, regional, national, and international champions are chosen in separate rounds on 2 meters and 80 meters. Hunters are scored individually and as national teams in five age categories for males and four for females. The USA ARDF Championships have been staged annually since 2001. IARU Region 2 (North and South America) Championships first took place in Portland, Oregon in 1999. For 2003, the Third USA Championships and the Second IARU R2 Championships were combined under the organization and sponsorship of the OH-KY-IN Amateur Radio Club. The club enlisted support from Orienteering Cincinnati (OCIN) plus several local sponsors and benefactors.
The result was a top-notch event with
excellent food, lodging, courses, maps, medals, and almost everything
else. Committee Co-Chairs were Bob Frey, WA6EZV, of Cincinnati, Ohio and
Dick Arnett, WB4SUV, of Erlanger, Kentucky (photo A). Both took advantage
of their experience in the sport, having competed at the first two USA
national Championships, the 1999 IARU Region 2 Championships, and the 2000
World Championships. Besides overseeing everything else, they set the
courses and even test-ran them. Oxford, Ohio is a quiet community of 22,000 people about 30 miles northwest of downtown Cincinnati. Nine months a year its population jumps by 16,300, the number of students at Miami University. Founded in 1809, it is one of the eight original “Public Ivy” schools. Students must live on campus for at least the first year, so there’s plenty of extra dormitory space in the summer months. Most of the 40 foxtailers who came to Oxford seeking medals in the 2003 event stayed at Havighurst Hall and ate with the summer students in the dining halls. For many, it brought back memories of their own college days.
A true cross-section of ham radio, the
competitors ranged in age from 11 to 70 and came from 14 states, plus
Hungary. Some had run in the ARDF World Championships more than once,
while a few had never been on a full-size radio-orienteering course
before. One had received a kidney transplant within the past year, and
another had had heart bypass surgery. All were stalwart contesters in
every sense of the word. Click here to return to this month's highlights Click here to subscribe to VHF and read more about Homing In _________________ © Copyright 2004, CQ Communications, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced or republished, including posting to a website, in part or in whole, by any means, without the express written permission of the publisher, CQ Communications, Inc. Hyperlinks to this page are permitted.
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