The start at Woodbury Common saw seven teams assemble for the first qualifier of the year.

Luckily after a wet and cold Saturday (when putting up aerials) the Sunday start saw sunshine and the prospect of a good afternoon's fun.

Unfortunately only one signal boomed into the start (B station, G0BTH only 8km away) while the distant site (A station, G4XWP at 21km) did not get a readable signal in despite having the high-output Mid-Thames transmitter and a lot of high antenna out (maybe the 700-foot hill in the way had something to do with it).

So, the approximate bearing and distance were given out which meant that the A station could only be in the bottom, left 1km square near the Newton Abbot race course.

Needless to say the teams going for that station made quick work of it even with the long lengths of antenna put out the day before.

But that's where their luck ran out.

The B station was sited on the Countess Wear sewage works island where three power lines come together on a river and canal. So hunters had the top, middle and bottom paths of the river, island and canal to choose from. And some teams tried top, middle, top and middle to use up all the available time.

All teams had bearings that pulled them to the path and cover on the north bank of the river and the pylon on that side, whereas, as they later found out, the pylon nearest the transmitter was on the island.

The overhead power lines did their work much more than ever expected and so the results show the frantic race to get into the second transmitter.

After the hard exercise, a good tea and chat was held at the Maltsters Arms, Woodbury