14th ARDF WC in Hwaseong City, South Korea

Having been in South Korea and seen the 14th WORLD ARDF (Amateur Radio Direction Finding)CHAMPIONSHIPS, there is now a time to drop a few lines after having reconsidered the impressions. Firstly, the participation was initially sparked off by the fact that Asia is an exotic place for our ‘fox hunters’ that is worth visiting just for the sake of exploring the world. Secondly, Olav’s (ES6RGY) reminder on history also added fuel to the fire: we had missed last year the 50 years’ (1957) anniversary of the birth of Estonian fox hunting as a sport (ARDF), when the first Estonians went to the East – to the Soviet Union championships in Izmailovo park, Moscow. This historical event had to be celebrated somehow in a sporting manner, and what could better make for it than another campaign towards the East. Besides, all the fox hunters remember Margus Meitus’s 3rd place of socialist countries cup, achieved on the soil of North Korea, that encouraged us because the soil of South Korea doesn’t differ much from that of North Korea and it also suits the Nordic men. So there was enough of motivation and reason to go there. But in reality, things went their own way.

The arrival there took place in two groups. Me as the representative of the team departed Estonia on Sunday, Andres and Kalle came on Monday by the same plane. It remained my task to control, that everything would be ready for the arrival of our forces and to test by using a human experiment, whether one allows to enter the plane with the gadgets or not, as theory and talk are one thing and reality always something other. Well, it worked out. No-one said anything, and nothing was to be demonstrated either. The gadgets did not pose a security threat.