2009 Collier Cup Round 2

08 May 2009

Confucius said, "He who cannot read crystal frequency needs glasses"

Eight teams arrived at Cowleaze Wood to hear Peter Bradley's transmission on 1960 kHz, but at the given time NO signal was received. Concerned at this very rare problem the contest manager contacted Peter to enquire if there was a problem, "No", Peter reported, so he was asked to read the frequency on the crystal which read 1850 kHz (well, it looked like 1960 when squinting) so with retuning our dials we all heard Peter OK.

The bearing I had taken was 270 and others varied up to 280 which went towards Abingdon. As it was a slightly later start, some teams elected to go towards Stadhampton with a hope that Peter was near to his use-all river hides.

The 8 pm signal was still not strong, but still putting Peter near to Abingdon. I managed to get to the bridge at Abingdon for the third transmission which gave me a bearing back up the map to Radley, a well known P Bradley Tx spot. But, unknown to me, that was a reverse sense and it took three more transmissions for me to work that out! In the meantime, Peter Lisle, Steve Stone and Andy Collett (yes, it was nice for Andy to come with his father to compete) were homing in on Peter who was situated on the banks of the River Ock near to the village of Garford.

The station was around 30k from the start which was a terrific job by Peter to get a signal to the start. After a frantic run down the footpath towards the river Peter Lisle once again pipped Steve Stone into second place, with new competitor Andy third.

Five teams managed to find Peter's site before close down, with Mr.Y (John Mullins) actually getting on site but failing to find Peter. Alas, I arrived at Garford but decided to drive away as there were no DF cars there (They had all gone to pub). The National Champion was stuck on the wrong side of the River Thames.

A fair bit of ribbing was made back at the pub at Gozzards Ford.

Brian Bristow

Position Competitor Finish
1 Peter Lisle 20:30:53
2 Steve Stone 20:32:14
3 Andy Collett 20:42:51
4 Graham Phillips 20:44:03
5 Bill Pechey 20:50:13
6 Mark Coventry NF
7 John Mullins NF
8 Brian Bristow NF