2017-05-13 4:40 AM update:  The event is on!  The NWS hourly forecast looks good.  See you all out there.

Get ready for the first open BOK Radio “O” ARDF event of 2017! Everyone is welcome. We will be hosting the meet at Carolina North Forest on May 13. Starts 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM. Course closes at 3:00 PM. We will meet at the East Entrance to Carolina North Forest. Take Municipal Drive off of MLK Jr. BLVD. (Parking lot GPS: 35.936168, -79.065907, enter this in the search field of maps.google.com).

What to bring:
We will provide all the equipment. But bring a whistle (for safety) and a compass if you have them. We will provide ARDF receivers (registration required). You may bring your own if you have one.

Pre-registration is required and is now open:
You can register on the registration page. Even though this is an open event, everyone wishing to attend needs to pre-register. We have a limited number of receivers to loan. Soon after registering, we will send you an e-mail letting you know that we have reserved a receiver for you. When we run out, we’ll post an announcement on the BOK website and any subsequent registrations will be put on a wait list in case someone cancels. Groups of 5 or more separate entries may register using the group registration procedure.

There will be a class at 12:00.
Following this, Patrick will take beginners as a group out on the course to hunt for the foxes. Anyone in the group who feels confident can go on ahead whenever they wish.

What’s  Radio “O” known world wide as ARDF?
Amateur Radio Direction Finding. For more information, see the BOK ARDF page. At this event, we will have one 3.5MHz (80m band) course. It will have 5 regular controls (foxes) plus one homing beacon to get back to the start.

Several levels will be provided.
You can search for just one fox or more. You will be told which ones to search for. If you’re searching for more than one, you can search in a known easy order, or search without knowing the best order. Everyone gets to look for the homing beacon. There may be other options.

Course lengths:
– 1 fox: 1.8 km
– 2 foxes: 2.4 km
– 3 foxes: 3.0 km
– 4 foxes: 4.0 km
– 5 foxes: 4.8 km

Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools:
Everyone from the CHCCS ARDF community is welcome. Note that this is not a school event. BOK fees apply. Free for BOK members. All others $10 ($5 for entry + $5 for finger stick rental). Several people going together count as one entry (just $10) and includes one map. Extra maps are $2 each. For more info, see What will it cost?. Also, you must register with BOK, not on the usual registration page for CHCCS events. Students in middle school will need to go with a parent if they want to search for all five foxes.

Rain:
Unlike regular orienteering meets, we may cancel this event if the rain is too heavy. If we cancel, we’ll post it on the BOK website and try to reschedule.

Filed under: Radio Orienteering by Patrick Sears