RADIO CORONA

BRUCE PATERSON (ARDF)

So what if?

It was the beginning of the first lockdown in Victoria ‑ April 2020. How can we keep some sort of COVID‑safe RadiO activities going? Something like MapLink for RadiO events. One attempt was made by Ewen to do a long distance direction finding activity entirely from home, with a single strong transmitter. Winner was whoever guessed the closest to the actual location. Previously I’d made a set of mini VHF Sprint RadiO transmitters. Traditional Bush RadiO (ARDF) has 5 transmitters taking turns transmitting for 1 minute each, spread over a typical Bush‑O map, so a full cycle takes 5 minutes. Sprint RadiO, however, is more suited to a smaller area with smaller, lower powered transmitters with cycles of only 12sec each, forming a much quicker 1 minute full cycle. These transmitters had a new facility to be set to turn on at a future date, so they could be deployed a day or two before the actual event, without depleting their batteries beforehand. I wondered, what if I could modify the software, so that instead of turning on only on a preset future date, they could instead turn on every day at a preset time, run for a few hours, and then turn off ready for the next day? The lockdown rules then changed again, and with travel not recommended for sporting activities, even that sort of self‑serve event wasn’t possible, but during lockdown I took the opportunity to add the every day ability to the code. Just put a * in instead of a date!

Off and Running!

Next was Geoff Hudson’s event at Wattle Park which also ran for a couple of weeks. This was properly uploaded to MapRun as a normal event (but again with a purple map). Kristian Ruuska’s Yarran Dheran event had to be cut a bit short as Melbourne entered deeper distance restrictions in the second lockdown, delaying a proposed schedule of new events which members were keen to set. However, the new try‑whenever format was working well, and some of these events have had some of the highest turnouts we’ve seen at RadiO events. We also got to the bottom of a software bug, where some of the transmitters were running for 6 rather

ARDF Training Activity –

Deakin University

Trial Event

It turned out appropriate to test the idea after the first lockdown. The test event was held along Gardiners Creek near Deakin Uni. MapRunF was used for control punching, just like for Park‑ Street‑O, with a 15m range set around the actual transmitter location. This also allowed the little transmitter to be well hidden, as it was going to be out in public for up to 2 or 3 weeks. The first event used the MapRun TestSites facility, which worked fine, but did mean MapRun didn’t record the results, so I had to rely on honesty feedback. The other complication was we had to try to obscure the transmitter locations on the MapRun map screen. A completely purple map, other than just around the Start triangle, imperfectly hid the controls, but was better than nothing, and we also asked competitors not to use the map screen – just use the printed map. Competitors could turn up and self‑start any time within the 3‑hour window, but leaving enough time to find them all before they turned off at 7pm. The Deakin event was declared a success, and it looked like MapRun was going to work well for this style of RadiO Sprint event.

Five Transmitters set up and ready to deploy and a sniffer.

than 3 hours, and Kristian figured out a clever workaround. The bug was then fixed during the 2nd lockdown. Tests during lockdown showed that the transmitters should be able to run for over 3 weeks at 4 hours a day, which was very encouraging.

Post Lockdown

Keen to try out the fixed software, my next post‑lockdown Ashwood South event did end up running for just over 3 weeks. One of the transmitters was besieged by both ants and earwigs, but kept bravely transmitting. On opening up after pickup, the ‘waterproof’ box was filled with little ants. Again, competitors seemed to like turning up whichever day suited them. Jack Bramham then set a fun event in Vermont South in a new (long grassy!) area around the Motocross track and Dandenong Creek. This event ran from Dec 13, 2020 till well into 2021, but alas a couple of transmitters had stopped by the time Mark tried the event in the final days, which was well into the 4th week. This may be the longest RadiO event we’ve ever run.

MapRunV6

We’re excited to see, based on various feedbacks to Peter Effeney, VK4FNE, that the upcoming V6 release of MapRun will optionally allow control circles to be turned off on the map screen, so this will improve the MapRun utility for this style of Sprint event. No more blocks‑of‑purple maps! MapRun could even be used to easily score a traditional full sized ARDF event.

ARDF Training Activity –

Wattle Park