Discussion: Yes! You will own this sport and bring back spoils to CSU.

I mean, there are spoils to be had, correct? That's why we sent you out there, after all.

Nice racing!

Thanks for all the encouragement. It's unfortunate that the field wasn't deeper - there was only one other American in M21. It is nice to finally get some hardware; I won two gold medals for US M21 Champ in the US in the two bands, and a gold and a silver for overall champ. Lori, Ruth, and Les all had similar hauls, though because of medal shortages (apparently), Lori's were consolidated from four golds to two.

Hopefully, I will be able to go to the world championships in Croatia; I have met the enemy, and he is I.

On to Croatia! And may no one stand before you.

Well done!

Now someone is going to have to explain to me how this shit works.

You listen for a beeping sound and then run.

Nice job this weekend Ian!

Your commentary makes it sound fun and challenging.
Do I dare try it?

ARDF is an interesting challenge; it's a classic incomplete information optimization problem. You're forced to make plans and decisions with very sketchy information about the control locations. It uses a very different skill set than orienteering, but is enjoyable once you overcome the knowledge barrier for the radio equipment.

If you do try the sport (and I encourage you to experience it, at least), run on the 80m band. It uses the small loop receivers rather than the large arrays made from measuring tape.

The water crossing at the finish was primarily an attempt to make the last leg (the non-radio navigation-only leg) non-trivial. There was a bridge nearby, but with the huge field next to it---this was convenient for people coming from 4. People coming from 3 had an easy approach without crossing the stream. The MO (GO) control location was picked to bring the two finish streams together and give a single finish corridor. And, yes, photos were a part of that decision.

The water was much lower when we scouted, and the stream was still up from the rain on Friday, but not enough to get us to change the plan. We had the option of using the bridge if the water were too high. We also stomped around in it and moved the bigger rocks out of the traffic path to give better footing.

And, I should admit that the only radio that I saw get dunked was my own (that I had loaned). So---it serves me right. No apparent damage---I took out the battery and put in on my car dash in the sun. It was freakin' hot an hour later---I'm hopeful all the water got baked out and that there's no permanent damage.

Woo! Good job Ian! Neat to kinda hear how it works!

Wait, I'm confused. According to your optimal numbers, you would seem to have found 5 off-cycle?

Were the controls quite hidden, or why did you decide to wait at the junction on 5? In my limited ARDF experience, slowing to a walk is generally not a winning strategy; you need to learn Vadim's spiral-search technique.

In any case, well done pwning the competition. You are a worthy successor to the 80m crown. I am inspired.

Re: bshields - I projected that running optimally, I would have arrived at control 5 at 20 minutes; for simplicity, I assumed I would get to each control at the end of its cycle.

During my run, when 5 went off cycle as I was closing, I slowed to a walk because I was in thick vegetation on the slope of a hillside; I wanted to aim precisely. Given its high visibility location - the other controls were hidden much better - it would have been better to keep going. However, I traveled about 250 meters toward 5, and when I reached the junction, I only had about a minute to wait. I figured that the probability of finding it was sufficiently small that mentally preparing to go for control 4 was a better investment of my time.

Thanks for all the encouragement. I am curious how you would have fared at the race; it would have been a much more interesting competition.