Eight teams started this Friday DF, delayed because of the bank holidays. With normal chatter going on before the first signal at 7:30, Alan Simmons decided to tune his Rx on 1960 kHz only to shout out that Peter, G3UJO/P, was already transmitting (five minutes early!). Luckily, all teams managed to take a bearing of circa 285 degrees, which pointed towards Abingdon.
Teams took various routes towards the Abingdon area. I decided to travel via Stadhampton, where the 8:00 signal gave me a bearing towards Boar's Hill. On arriving in Abingdon I missed the Wooton Road (just like most other teams) and had to take the next bearing in a built-up area, still in Abingdon.
I quickly drove through to Wooton village where a strong smell appeared inside my vehicle. If I had looked in my rear view mirror I would have seen clouds of smoke coming out of a shorted battery. A small electrical screwdriver had fallen across its terminals. Sorry, back to DF. The next signal above Wooton was very strong indeed and it took me into a small car park east of Wooton village. Stopping to look at the map, I spotted Peter Lisle and team running back to his car shouting, "It's further on!". Like a b----y fool, guess who believed him! I eventually returned to said car park and spotted Bill Pechey's car parked up.
With the next signal on, I ran around a small field into a double barbed-wire fence which was radiating like mad. Alan Simmons then arrived and we both spent most of the evening running up and down this fence, only to find Peter was a good 80 metres further down a footpath on the opposite side to where we were.
Peter Lisle found UJO in a very fast time; he or his team spotted the aerial.
Oh well, it's only the first event...
Brian Bristow.
Position | Competitor | Finish |
---|---|---|
1 | Peter Lisle | 20:33:24 |
2 | Bill Pechey | 20:53:21 |
3 | Steve Stone | 21:25:25 |
4 | Brian Bristow | 21:26:36 |
5 | Alan Simmons | 21:27:27 |
6= | Graham Phillips | NF |
6= | Mark Coventry | NF |
6= | Chris Friel | NF |