A good turnout of eight teams assembled at Pinkneys Green for the contest with Steve Stone on the transmitter. A weak signal was heard at the start with mainly skywave so an approximate bearing of 305 degrees was given to the teams. This suggested that the operator was towards the edge of the map in the Watlington area. I decided to head for Stokenchurch and entered this into my SatNav. It reported a delay of 20 minutes on the selected route and would I like an alternative! Yes please! The SatNav took me via Marlow Bottom to Handy Cross and then the M40 to Stokenchurch.
At 8:00pm I was on the A40 near to the BT Tower. A much stronger signal gave a bearing of 220 degrees with a likely location of somewhere near Christmas Common. I followed the road past Cowleaze Wood, towards Christmas Common. I stopped at 8:15pm about half a mile north of Christmas Common and an even stronger signal gave a cross on Queen Wood, south of Christmas Common. A narrow road which served a few houses led down to Queen Wood from Christmas Common but there didn't seem to be anywhere to park so I turned round and parked at the top of the road. Big mistake, as both Andy and Alan drove down the road and I subsequently realised that a car parked on the verge was Peter's.
I walked down the road and at 8:30 was close to the wood and the signal indicated straight down the road into the wood. Alan had parked on the verge next to Peter but Andy had carried on driving down a very narrow unmade track and as I passed his car he came walking back towards it. I hadn't realised at the time that Andy had found the operator on the 8:30 transmission. I had to wait until the 8:40 transmission at which point, team Lisle, followed by Alan were all making a bee-line for the transmitter. Three teams found Steve soon after 8:40 and then Roger appeared and clocked in. The remaining teams all found the operator before the close. Notes were compared and ale was drunk in the Fox and Hounds at Christmas Common.
Thanks to Steve Stone for organising a good event.
John Mullins
| Competitor | Time | Adj. Time | Time Diff. | Score | Bill North |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Andy Collett | 20:31:00 | 20:31:00 | 00:00:00 | -5 | 10 |
| Peter Lisle | 20:41:40 | 20:41:40 | 00:10:40 | 12 | 6 |
| Alan Simmons | 20:41:51 | 20:41:51 | 00:10:51 | 13 | 4 |
| John Mullins | 20:42:16 | 20:42:16 | 00:11:16 | 15 | 3 |
| Roger Shepherd | 20:44:51 | 20:44:51 | 00:13:51 | 18 | 2 |
| Mark Coventry | 20:52:18 | 20:52:18 | 00:21:18 | 27 | 1 |
| Ray Goodearl | 20:52:27 | 20:52:27 | 00:21:27 | 28 | 0 |
| Bill Pechey | 21:07:48 | 21:07:48 | 00:36:48 | 44 | 0 |
| Steve Stone | op | - | - | - | 4 |