Few questions to Joe VE7BFK (by Amel VA7KBA)

When I arrived to Canada I was heading to Victoria to do practices with the group whose leader was and still is Joe (G.D. Young). Friendship Amateur Radio Society of Canada from Victoria has been for years a center of the ARDF in Canada. This great group has represented Canada in many regional, international and Friendship Radio Games events since beginning of 1990s. Joe with his enthusiasm and superb technical knowledge in the area has been Canadian ARDF coordinator for years. With his and FARS assistance ARDF in Canada has become a sport which has been gaining in popularity every day. I asked Joe the same questions:

 

When did you start doing ARDF? Who introduced you into ARDF?

My start in ARDF was participating in the 1993 Friendship Radio Games which were held in Victoria, hosted by the Friendship Amateur Radio Society Canada. These games had participants from other FARS members from Russia, USA, and Japan. I used an Altai receiver borrowed from the Russian team.

The Russians donated an Altai Receiver and a practice fox transmitter to FARSC after those games, and sold several Altai receivers to Victoria hams. With this startup gear, we embarked on a program of fairly regular 2m foxhunts and developing some of our own gear.

Why do you like doing ARDF?

I like doing ARDF for the health benefit accruing from outdoor activity tied to my interest in amateur radio. Also, it is an area of amateur radio where it's reasonable to build some of your own equipment which is one of

my main amateur radio interests.

As a team Canada member what  experience do you expect from

upcoming World ARDF Championship in Croatia?

Our ARDF activity has been rather isolated so far. Attending the world championships will be an opportunity to view performances at the highest level. Sometime in the future I hope to be involved with hosting a national

or regional level ARDF competition, so this attendance will help to understand what's involved.

 

 

Few links:

FRG - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friendship_Radiosport_Games

FARS - http://www.islandnet.com/~jyoung/FARSC/

RAC pages for ARDF - http://www.rac.ca/en/amateur-radio/operating-technical/ardf/