2006 National Qualifier No. 5

02 July 2006

Thirteen teams started this year's event at the Salisbury race course on the hottest DF day so far with all teams prepared for this hot event. Two good signals were heard at the start. Station A, G4MDF/P, was operated by Steve Holley whose site was 13.5km south-west from the start, in Stonedean Wood. Steve had cleverly hid himself in a upright tree with his aerial linked into a long perimeter fence and along and down through brambles etc. First to find this station was Andy Collett who when arriving on site found a rucksack belonging to Steve and after searching more found Steve at 2:24. Not all the teams found this site as easy with most taking around a hour to find.

Station B was operated by G3UJO/P himself (Peter Bradley) who was made to climb from the bottom of the hill at Dean Hill, not knowing that a by-road was only 30 metres from his site. Unlike Steve, Peter was just lying on the ground in full view of anyone walking by. He had a dipole aerial running along the hill's edge. First to find this site was Andrew Mead at 2:38. Andrew and Bill Pechey were the only two teams to tackle the event this way round. With Andy Collett doing well at station A, it was not to be continued at Peter's site. Most teams who ran from the top thought Peter was further down and hidden away; to their surprise, Dick Brocks was taken back up the hill towards his car, when he actually stumbled over Peter thus giving the Torbay crew the win.

Tea was arranged at Harnham church hall by Allison and Shirley. Dick and Andy gave their accounts on how they achieved their success. Lady's prize went to Andy Collett's girlfriend Claire. Thanks to the Salisbury (SADGITS) for another excellent contest.

Brian Bristow

Position Competitor Finish Time A Time B
1 Dick Brocks 15:40:38 14:36:41 15:40:38
2 Andy Collett 15:40:55 14:24:10 15:40:55
3 Andrew Mead 15:52:22 15:52:22 14:38:12
4 Steve Stone 16:06:31 15:02:17 16:06:31
5 Colin Merry 16:10:14 15:02:25 16:10:14
6 Brian Bristow 16:11:01 15:12:02 16:11:01
7 George Whenham 16:18:04 15:13:40 16:18:04
8 Alan Simmons 16:18:25 15:13:24 16:18:25
9 Graham Nicholls 16:19:49 15:02:32 16:19:49
10 Bill Pechey 16:29:37 16:29:37 15:41:37
11 Min Standen 14:55:26 14:55:26 -
12 Graham Jones 15:14:07 15:14:07 -
13 Graham Phillips 16:27:37 16:27:37 -