page_title: Amateur radio direction finding
section_title: Map and course details
hierarchical_section_title: Amateur radio direction finding / Map and course details
context_page_description: Amateur radio direction finding is an amateur racing sport that combines radio direction finding with the map and compass skills of orienteering. It is a timed race in which individual competitors use a topographic map, a magnetic compass and radio direction finding apparatus to navigate through diverse wooded terrain while searching for radio transmitters. The rules of the sport and international competitions are organized by the International Amateur Radio Union. The sport has been most popular in Eastern Europe, Russia, and China, where it was often used in the physical education programs in schools.
  ARDF events use radio frequencies on either the two-meter or eighty-meter amateur radio bands. These two bands were chosen because of their universal availability to amateur radio licensees in all countries. The radio equipment carried by competitors on a course must be capable of receiving the signal being transmitted by the five transmitters and useful for radio direction finding, including a radio receiver, attenuator, and directional antenna. Most equipment designs integrate all three components into one handheld device.
context_section_description: Ideally, the topographic maps used in ARDF competitions are created using the International Specification for Orienteering Maps 2000 (ISOM)  set by the International Orienteering Federation and used for orienteering competitions. In fact, many ARDF competitions use existing orienteering maps, in collaboration with the orienteering clubs that created those maps.
  Course design is an important element of a successful competition. The international rules adopted by the IARU include both requirements and recommendations for basic course design. Important requirements are that no transmitter may be within 750 meters of the start, no transmitter may be within 400 meters of the finish or any other transmitter on course, and that there is no more than 200 meters elevation change between the start, finish, and all transmitters. The IARU rules for international competitions recommend that courses be designed for six to ten kilometers of total travel distance through the terrain. A well-designed course will present the competitors with an athletic challenge in addition to the challenges of land navigation and radio direction finding. Depending on the course design and competition, winning times at World Championship events are often less than 90 minutes for two meter courses, and can be under 60 minutes for eighty meter courses.
caption: A portion of an orienteering map marked for an ARDF competition. Here, labeled circles indicate the locations of two of the five transmitters, but these do not appear on the maps given to competitors.
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