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Radio Society of Great Britain
Uffmoor Woods, Halesowen
Sun 1 March

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

Location
Uffmoor Woods is a Woodland Trust Property located at the foot of Clent Hills some 5km west of the M5 Junction 3. Formerly managed for the production of brooms, the forest is gradually being converted from coniferous and birch plantation to native oak, ash, alder woodland. The bluebells are just poking through the leaf litter and the signs are there will be a good crop of ramsons. It seems that 2014 was a bad year for brambles as the woodland is currently the most runnable I have ever seen it. There are still some areas of slow going however. A number small streams with narrow and deep valleys cross the area. Major rides and paths may be very muddy and slow going. Smaller paths tend to be faster.
click here for a map of the area.

Directions and Parking
The assembly point is on Uffmoor Lane at SO952811 / B62 0NW (ish). Parking will be in roadside lay-bys and is very limited indeed. Please park close. The organiser will soon be in receipt of a gate key which should permit us to get a couple of cars just into the woods. We are not permitted to use the Woodland Trust public car park – this is often full to overflowing. Please share transport. You may wish to park up further away from the event and squeeze in one car for the last couple of km – David can suggest suitable parking spots.

From the North and East leave the M5 at Junction 3 and head west on the A456, pass over one roundabout and head along the Halesowen bypass until you reach the first public road on the left (about 2km from the roundabout). Follow this (Uffmoor) lane for 400m to the assembly point.

From the South leave the M5 at Junction 4, head west on the the A491 and then, after 800m turn North on the B4551. You are probably going to want to check www.streetmap.co.uk for the rest of the route.

From the West there is no right turn off the A456 at the Uffmoor Lane junction – the best route will be to turn off the A456 at Hagley Wood and travel via St Kenelm's Pass.

Format of Event
The event will conform to the general principles of IARU events, but will be less formal than a Championship. For the 144MHz event there will be a maximum of five transmitters and an MO beacon at the finish. 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).

On finding and then punching at the beacon competitors will collect their 80m receiver and then immediately start on the sprint – long being all 5 transmitters and medium being any 4 from 5. These transmitters may be found in any order. There will be a beacon and this will mark the finish of the course.

SI electronic punching will be used for both competitions.
For the 144MHz event, the hidden transmitters will be separated by at least 300m. There is no minimum separation between the transmitters and the Start or Beacon.

The afternoon Sprint competition will effectively be half of a full sprint event. The transmitters will send for 12 seconds each in a 1 minute cycle. No minimum separations between transmitters, start or beacon/finish

Map
Scale is 1:10,000. Size A4 landscape. Printed in four colours on waterproof paper.

Timetable
1000 Registration opens. Information sheets issued to ALL entrants.
1025 Map issue to the first starter in the 144 MHz competition.
1030-1130 144 MHz Starts
1430 (or three hours after the last start)- Courses close

Entries

  • Entry fee is £5.
  • The results will be posted on this web site as soon as possible after the event.

    Procedures

    Registration, Start and Finish for the ARDF event will be at the gated entrance to the forest (grid reference as given under directions)
    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.
    The 'flags' for the morning competition will be 15cm side length. For the sprint competition, the only indicator will be an SI box on a stand.

    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 West to Uffmoor Lane and then North along the lane.

    Loan Equipment

    Receivers for both 144MHz and 3.5MHz and 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

    uffmoor2015@ddwilliams.net