Radio Society of Great Britain
Hartshill Hayes, Nuneaton
Sunday 3rd February 2019

Please check for updates before travelling to the event. Also check the website of the hosting orienteering club in case of last minute changes or cancellation
(http://www.octavian-droobers.org/index.php/events/events-calendar )

Summary
The event is being run on a Sunday and comprises a combined, sequential ‘classic’ 2m and 80m sprint competition. 5 standard ARDF transmitters on the 2m band and 6 sprint style transmitters on the 80m band. There will be short and long options.

Location
Hartshill Hayes is a small area of mature woodland, having an extensive path network, a number of stream valleys and sloping gently downward from West to East. Notwithstanding that the map appears to be ‘mostly green’ a site visit reveals that this might better represent the area in summer and currently the vegetation is well down and much of the woodland is pleasantly runnable.

Directions & Parking
The ARDF event is piggy-backed on an orienteering event that will take place at the same time.

Hartshill Hayes Country Park is approximately 3 miles north west of Nuneaton. Approach via the B4111 from Atherstone or the B4114 from Nuneaton.

Parking will be at: Michael Drayton Junior School, The Woodlands, Hartshill, Nuneaton, Warwickshire, CV10 0SZ.

Note that the above post code resolves either to the West Entrance of the school or somewhere in the middle of the woodland depending on SatNav brand. I suspect we may be accessing the parking from the Church Road at ~ CV10 0LU.

Follow orienteering signs and parking marshal directions and then look out for the ARDF/Radio Orienteering feather flag. We will have our own registration, signing in, start and finish. There is no need to register with the orienteers.

Format of the Event
The event will conform to the general principles of IARU events, but will be less formal than a Championship.
Start, Finish and the 2m Beacon will all be at the school, close to the ARDF registration.

Competitors will start on the 80m/3.5Mhz sprint at two minute intervals. There will be six transmitters each sounding for 20 seconds as part of a 120 second cycle. Long course will be all 6 transmitters and medium being any 4 from 6. The transmitters may be found in any order. The sprint transmitters will be marked only by the SI stake – no kite. On finding the required number of transmitters competitors will navigate back the start location, collect their 2m receiver and then immediately start on the 2m event.

For the 144MHz/2m event there will be a maximum of five transmitters and an MO beacon at the finish. Transmitters will sound for 60 seconds as part of a five minute cycle. Long and short course competitors will both seek all 5 transmitters but on the long only the first, third and fifth transmitter found must be an ODD number (so you will need to go ODD/EVEN/ODD/EVEN/ODD).

Transmitters will be marked by a 15cm training size orienteering ‘kite’. The orienteering courses will be be using standard (30cm) size kites.
For both 2m classic and 80m sprint sections there will be no minimum separation between hidden transmitters, nor between hidden transmitters and the start/finish/beacon.

Optimum route for the long course is ~5.6km and the short ~4.7km. The time limit will be three hours.
SI electronic punching will be used for both competitions.

In accordance with the informality of the event the organisers will not require you to deposit your receiver in a pound before the transmitters start sending. They do expect you to respect the spirit of this concession by refraining from using your receiver until reporting to officials in the start area and then only under their supervision.

Map
The map is 1:7,500. Size A4 landscape. Printed on waterproof paper.
The map may be trimmed to 170mm x 180mm

Timetable
Due to equipment logistics and short day length we will have a “late and compressed” start window.

10:30 Registration opens. Competitors will be issued with maps at registration
11:00-11:30 Sprint starts. Starts will be at two minute intervals
14:30 (or three hours after the last start) -Courses close.

Entries
Entry fee is £8. This will be donated to the orienteering club less an allowance for orienteering insurance levy - we organise under the RSGB insurance scheme.

Safety
Competitors are responsible for their own safety and take part at their own risk. No smoking in the forest. Whistles should be carried (the emergency signal is 6 blasts repeated at 1 minute intervals). Safety bearing is to head South until you reach the country park access road.

Orienteers and Public
There will be orienteers and members of the public in the woodland. We have no priority – please give way to other country park users. Continued access for orienteering and ARDF depends on our good and courteous behaviour. Note also that mountain bikers will not realise that you cannot hear their approach.

Loan Equipment
A limited number of loan receivers are available (for both 144MHz and 3.5MHz)
SI cards are available on loan (£1 to hire and £30 if it is not returned).

E-Mail the organiser (address below) to reserve a receiver or SI card before the event.

Enquiries
hartshill2019@ddwilliams.net