This was an unusual event with only one competitor finding the hidden station. Brian was hidden near the River Thame in Wheatley but, because the antenna was close to a power line, some strange effects were noticed.

Most people plotted around 300 degrees from the start, which was pretty accurate. The signal was weakish but with no noticeable skywave. Several competitors travelled a long way past Wheatley thinking the station was further away than it actually was. I went down the M40 to Little Milton and found that the signal was strong but the bearing was the same as I had at the start. I couldn't work this out and was forced to assume that my start bearing was poor (it wasn't). I intended to travel to somewhere south of Wheatley to get a cross but got lost and ended up just west of the village. This gave me much the same bearing again but, this time, pointing back to the start. For the next bearing I went roughly halfway between the two last points and then went south. I ended up at the same place as Graham. As I discovered later, we both got the same bearing but it was about 50 degrees in error even though we were only a couple of km from the tx. Neither of us could think of an explanation for this. I thought that he was probably on the disused railway line and went there. The signal was no stronger and now pointed south west. I reckoned that the only likely place on this bearing was the bank of the river so went there. I was lucky that the transmitter was not on as I ran down the bank, otherwise I would probably have been dragged towards the old railway again.

I emerged into a field next to a water-pipe bridge and the signal was very strong. It led me along the footpath and peaked up underneath a power cable. I muttered a rude word and started running along the power line. The signal came up and then faded again. The station was not at the location of the peak. Another rude word. I then decided to go into the field and try to get a clearer bearing. This sent me a lot further down the power line but away from the path. Even more rude words.

I reckoned that he must be close to the path because of the access rules, so decided to follow the hedge and power line examining every peak of signal. At the second one (I think) there was a small gap in the base of the hedge which had a few brambles growing across it somewhat artificially. I shone my torch in and there was Brian. Another rude word, this time directed at the operator. As so often happens, I had been close by about twenty minutes earlier.

I stayed around to help Brian, expecting others to come in but there was no sign of anyone. It turned out that Graham and Peter were not far away but had no bearings pointing towards the site.

Afterwards, we all met up at a nearby Harvester establishment where I ordered a pint and a packet of crisps. I was told that they don't sell crisps. Having asked what sort of pub doesn't sell crisps I was told that it was not a pub but a restaurant and that I could have bowl of nachos instead. I declined.

Thanks to Brian for what was a difficult event in that it was hard to locate the site and then hard to locate the transmitter. I realise I was lucky rather than skilled in finding him.

Bill Pechey