SMRC National Qualifier 2000

Manchester DF Qualifier
Hosted by South Manchester Radio Club on 10 Sep 2000

Event Details:
Map: OS Landranger 109 (Manchester and surrounding area)
Start Location: Sale Cricket Club, Clarendon Crescent, Sale, NGR 797923
Tea: The Railway Pub, Heatley, Near Lymm, NGR 702882
First Transmission: 13:20, Shutdown: 16:30
A Transmitter: G3FVA/P, 1843 KHZ, operated by John Heath, River Irwell near University of Salford
B Transmitter: G3UHF/P, 1910 KHZ, operated by Chris Heys, River Irwell near Radcliffe
The A station was about 5 miles down stream (south east) from the B station.

Report:
Both the A and B transmitters were heard loud and clear at the start, much to the relief of B station operator Chris Heys who blew 2 fuses the previous night as he finished preparing his site. Both transmitters were located in the Irwell Valley, north of the start location in Sale. This sent all five teams off up towards the Bury area for the second transmission, much to the amusement of the transmitter operators, informed on their mobiles by Ed Spark at the start! As Station B was furthest north, all the teams decided to go for this one first on their way back down having got the crosses at the 2pm second transmission. Station B proved a difficult site for a number of reasons. As well as having to decide which side of the Irwell to explore, the busy roads of Bolton and Radcliffe to the north and Salford to the south made progress and navigation difficult with no shortage of traffic lights to slow teams down. Steve Stone deserves credit for his solo effort on this difficult event.

2 hours and 18 minutes after the first transmission, George Whenham clocked in and was pleasantly surprised to be told he was the first. 12 minutes later, and in quick succession came Brian Bristow, Geoff Foster and poor Andy Collett, who had not only been on site a good 15 minutes before the other teams but had also already given a most thorough examination of the transmitter operator's rhododendron bush.

These 4 teams then went after John Heath's transmitter 5 miles further downstream, and came very close. However, all chose to explore the north side of the Irwell when John was in fact on the south (much to John's amusement). Although initially, they all had time to cross over to the south side using a nearby footbridge, all teams had difficulty convincing themselves that John was on the other side. With under 5 minutes to go, John made himself heard to the other teams over on the opposite bank. First over was George Whenham, but just too late as the strict transmitter clock passed the 16:30 deadline.

With most national DF competitors having already qualified and with Manchester being more than a fair journey for many, numbers were down on usual. Many of South Manchester's own competitors were also absent through work commitments away from home. Many thanks to all competitors who travelled up the country to make the event a success. Next year, as requested, we will host our qualifier on the map below (Stoke on Trent, OS 118), but beware, Chris Plummer lives on that map and will no doubt use his local knowledge to the full - you asked for it Brian!

SOUTH MANCHESTER DF QUALIFIER 10-SEP-2000 The contest finished at 16:30. Figures in brackets show how close George came to getting both transmitters.
PLACE	TEAM	NAME	FINISH	TIME A	TIME B	BETWEEN
	3	George Whenham	15:38:01 (16:30:48)	(16:30:48)	15:38:01	(00:52:47)
2	5	Brian Bristow	15:50:21		15:50:21
3	4	Geoff Foster	15:50:31		15:50:31
4	2	Andy Collett	15:50:58		15:50:58
5	1	Steve Stone	16:15:53		16:15:53