Anyone who is willing to participate in 2009 US ARDF Championship required to complete registration form (Download in PDF) and can register here for website access. After registering you will be able to post comments and share your information with other competitors on this website. You will need to provide valid email address in order to get access to comments section.
Expect hilly terrain with mix vegetation and rocky ground. Since this is a public park area map has good set of trails. More information and sample map will be posted later.
Blue Hills Reservation located on south side of Greater Boston area and only 15 minutes away from downtown Boston, and about 20 minutes from Logan International airport. There are plenty of hotels available and here are some withing 5 -10 minutes drive from competition area.
Logan International airport has great number of rental car companies an anyone should be able to get one with reasonably low price.
As alternative there are two more airports withing driving range from competition area - Manchester, NH(about 70 miles) and Providence, RI(about 60 miles). It will take you about hour and half to get to Boston.
Manchester International has flights to Europe.
Please note - accommodation and transportations to and from competition area is sole responsibility of competitors and NOT part of $50 start fee.
Planning continues for the next USA and International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) Region 2 ARDF Championships. Radio-orienteers of all skill levels will gather in Boston, Massachusetts on the first weekend of June 2009 for two days of intense competition, first on two meters and then on 80 meters. The events are open to any fan of on-foot hidden transmitter hunting, with or without a ham license. Besides IARU Region 2, which encompasses North and South America, visiting competitors are welcome from any continent.
Site of the contests will be the Blue Hills Reservation, a 7000-acre open space about ten miles south of downtown Boston. To keep participant costs to a minimum, these ARDF championships will be combined with a local meet of the New England Orienteering Club and use NEOC’s excellent maps of the site. The concurrent ARDF and classic orienteering competitions will have separate electronic scoring systems. Distinctive flags will mark the hidden transmitters to avoid confusion with the regular orienteering controls.
Effective immediately, the Blue Hills Reservation area is off limits for anyone who will be competing in the 2009 USA ARDF Championships. To avoid any unfair advantage, potential competitors may not go to this site until competition time.
Organizing and hosting the 2009 championships is Vadim Afonkin KB1RLI, one of USA’s most accomplished radio-orienteers. As a youth, he learned ARDF and won awards for it in his native Russia. After coming to America, he first participated in USA’s national championships in 2003, where he won silver and bronze medals in the five-fox M21 category. He has competed in M21 at every USA championships since then and has had the best five-fox time of all stateside participants every time. As a member of ARDF Team USA, he has been to the 2004, 2006 and 2008 World Championships. This year, he finished in fifth place worldwide in the M40 category on 80 meters.
To encourage first-timers and foreign visitors, the competition fee will be waived for persons who have never participated in the USA ARDF Championships(yes no fees for first-timers and for foreigners) , and for persons coming from outside North America. Those persons will have the option of purchasing event T-shirts. The competition fee for all others will be $50 per person, including T-shirt.
Now accepting pre-registrations and inquiries by e-mail to vadim.afonkin [at] comcast.net