Five teams assembled at Cowleaze Wood for Round 5 of the Collier Cup. Mark Coventry was on the transmitter as Brian was recovering from a bout of Swine 'Flu. A weakish signal was heard at the start but this was interrupted by a Morse QSO taking place on the same frequency. In my case, I wasn't sure if my bearing was Mark's transmitter or one of the QSO transmitters. Most teams had a similar problem and waited for an approximate bearing which was given as 55 degrees. This was in the direction of Wendover and Tring.

All contestants set off towards Chinnor and Princes Risborough along the B4009. For the 8:00pm bearing I pulled off the B4009 onto a minor road for a few hundred yards where I found a suitable spot with no power lines or telephone cables. A good signal was heard with a fairly sharp null at 85 degrees which pointed south of Wendover. There was no direct route towards Wendover so I carried on along the B4009 to the north of Wendover and then headed south along the Wendover by-pass. As the time for the 8:15pm transmission approached I was still on the Wendover by-pass with a railway line on one side and huge power lines on the other side. I passed a sign saying lay-by in half a mile so I pulled in there only to discover I was exactly on the line of my 8:00pm bearing. I almost thought about skipping the transmission but I'm glad I didn't. The signal was very strong at this point and I guessed the transmitter was less than a mile away and to the east.

As I was preparing to leave the lay-by, Graham's car sped past and gave a loud hoot. The map showed a small road turning to the left which I took with the intention of finding a suitable spot along the road to take a bearing on the 8:30pm transmission. I assumed that Graham would have turned left as well but there was no sign of his car in front. It would seem that they missed the turning as they were going too fast! A good place to stop seemed to be by a track leading into Lording Wood. When I got there I saw a small red car parked there - could this be the operator's car? As I parked up, Graham arrived and also decided it was a good place to stop and run in from. We didn't wait for the 8:30pm transmission but set off up the track into the woods. When the transmission came on it indicated further into the woods and a bit to the left of the track. Another track led off to the left which we took and the signal got stronger. Unfortunately it then went off so we were left to start searching the undergrowth until the next transmission.

The 8:40pm transmission came and went and we still hadn't got a good fix on the location. We then went into the field alongside the wood and met Peter Lisle coming the other way. Damn! He had parked miles away. Peter also started searching the undergrowth and with the skill of a bloodhound he discovered Mark. I followed him in while Justin went in search of Graham who was looking elsewhere. 3 teams in before 8:50pm - not bad! As we left the area, Steve Stone arrived and as we walked back along the track to the car, Doreen and Bill were heading towards the transmitter. All teams found Mark before the close. We then adjourned to The Old Swan at Swan Bottom which some of us found more difficult to find than the transmitter.

Well done Mark for setting a good contest - even better as he was driven from his first choice site by a herd of cows - and for finding a pub that served real beer!

John Mullins