The 2024 ARRL USA Radio Orienteering Championship is coming to our local area 5-13 October 2024!
“Radio Orienteering” is the term ARRL is now using to describe on-foot radio transmitter hunting competition. It is also commonly known in the amateur radio community as “foxhunting” and “Amateur Radio Direction Finding (ARDF)”.
The event will be held in the areas of Chelsea, Dexter, Pinckney, and Brighton. And it will be full week of radio transmitter hunting excitement on the 2m and 80m bands for beginners, experts, and everyone in between!
There will be beginner instruction and practice sessions leading up to the competition days, and then the week will wrap up with the competition events. If you don’t have your own equipment for either band we will have equipment you can loan/rent. And some of the best radio transmitter hunters in the world will be present to help you improve your skills at the training camp and practice days, and also during the competition days as well.
You can walk or run, just give it a try or compete to win, all ages and abilities are welcome! The main requirement is to just have fun!
We will also have several social gatherings and already have radio operators from all over the USA as well as Australia and Canada signed up, so there will be great opportunities to associate w/ radio friends from all over. The competition will also serve as the Int’l Amateur Radio Union (IARU) Region 2 Championship.
This is a very rare and great opportunity for our local radio clubs to participate in and host a major radio sport event right in our own backyard, and to warmly welcome all the visitors who are coming to compete. Hopefully it also generates some more interest in the public about amateur radio and our local radio clubs.
Here is a brief overview of the schedule of events:
5-6 Oct: Training coached by world class radio transmitter hunters Charles & Nadia Scharlau at Pinckney State Rec Area
7 Oct: Out-of-town visitors cultural outing to Henry Ford Museum and Rouge F150 factory (locals also welcome to join)
8 Oct: Practice at Park Lyndon (for Sprint and Foxoring)
9 Oct day: Practice at Peach Mountain in Dexter (for 2m and 80m Classics)
9 Oct eve: Campfire, casual dinner, competition information meeting, opening ceremony, guest speaker, and other events at Cavanaugh Lake American Legion Post 31
10 Oct: Sprint competition at Hudson Mills Metropark in Dexter + cider mill & dinner outings
11 Oct: Foxoring competition at Waterloo State Rec Area near Winnewana / DTE trail
12 Oct day: 2m Classic competition + an optional search and rescue competition
12 Oct eve: Awards dinner and ceremony at night at Cavanaugh Lake
13 Oct: 80m Classic competition at Brighton State Rec Area
More info including an intro video and a wealth of details are available at the event website: https://radioorienteeringchamps.us
Regular registration is open until Aug 14th, after which point the prices increase to late registration prices. Final registration closes Sept 15th.
I am also looking for volunteer assistance for running the event. Southern Michigan Orienteering Club (SMOC), Chelsea Amateur Radio Club (CARC) and the ARRL are organizing and hosting the event, but we are also bringing in volunteer help from LARK (Livingston County), W8UM (Univ of Mich), Cascades, and hopefully some other local radio clubs to make this event possible.
Help from Cascades is requested on 11 Oct, but those who would like to help on other days are also welcome and appreciated.
If you have any questions, wish to volunteer, etc feel free to reach out to me anytime. But above all, I hope to see some of you out there competing showing us how it is done and finding the hidden TXs (aka “foxes”) in record time!
UPDATE!
Update on the radio transmitter hunting (radio orienteering / ARDF) champs – we are having our 1st volunteer meeting this Sunday, 8pm over video conference for hosting the ARRL USA Radio Orienteering (ARDF) Champs. Anyone who is interested in volunteering or just getting an update on our preparations is welcome to join the video meeting. As a reminder, we could use help from CARS members on 11 Oct 2024, plus any other day during the championship week 5-13 Oct 2024. For those who would like to compete, be aware the regular registration deadline is fast approaching on Aug 14th, after which the prices will increase. Here is the video meeting link for the volunteer / update meeting on Sunday at 8pm: Video Meeting Invite: Joseph Burkhead is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: 2024 USA Radio-O Champs Volunteers & Updates Meeting
Time: Aug 4, 2024 08:00 PM America/Detroit
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us05web.zoom.us/j/83444795230
Meeting ID: 834 4479 5230
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