The GPS Challenge
Test your knowledge of satellite navigation systems and how they relate to ARDF. Take the quiz!
Q1. From the list below, select the answer that is most similar to: “A multi-billion dollar constellation of satellites, designed and deployed by armies of scientists and engineers, providing precise navigation data only to persons carrying GPS radio receivers.”
a) Local measurements of the Earth’s magnetic field taken with a compass device.
b) Noting the direction toward the rising sun.
c) Map-reading skills honed for determining one’s position on a map.
d) Collaborators outside an ARDF course during a competition communicating guidance information to competitors using out-of-band receivers.
Q2. Select the technology that is most likely to alter the nature of a sport that emphasizes reliance on individual navigation skills:
a) Metal cleats on orienteering shoes.
b) Lightweight equipment.
c) Improved battery technology.
d) A sophisticated navigation system capable of 10-meter position accuracy.
Q3. Complete the sentence: If someone is interested in sports that emphasize reliance on individual navigation skills, then they are most likely to be interested in a different sport that…
a) … includes unbridled use of satellite navigation devices.
b) … requires a $250 equipment purchase just to be competitive with other beginners.
c) … works more like geocaching and less like orienteering.
d) … emphasizes individual navigation skills just like their other sports interests.
Q4. Complete the sentence: Using satellite navigation to travel a straight line through a region of forest lacking many features…
a) … will always require swimming across a lake not shown on the map.
b) … is of no advantage since real orienteers don’t need no stinkin’ features.
c) … isn’t possible using current technology.
d) … can provide a significant advantage on some courses.
Q5. If you purchase an ARDF receiver with built-in GPS, but the receiver provides position information that compares unfavorably with your cell phone or wrist-mounted GPS device, the most reasonable conclusion is:
a) GPS has an allergy to ARDF.
b) Gravity waves from distant pulsars are attracted to fox transmitters.
c) Satellite navigation systems have a negligible impact on the sport of ARDF.
d) The manufacturer has failed to implement a Kalman filter in your receiver’s software. (Hint)
Q6. Choose the false statement regarding the use of GPS in orienteering:
a) The International Orienteering Federation’s (IOF) latest rules only allow competitors to carry GPS-enabled devices provided that they are not used for navigation purposes, and don’t have a map display. (Hint: this might not be false at all!)
b) Until recent changes to IARU Region I ARDF rules, ARDF had always adhered to IOF rules related to the use of GPS in sporting competitions.
c) The Region 1 ARDF Rules allowing the use of satellite-based systems for navigation is a divergence of ARDF away from orienteering, and toward geocaching.
d) ARDF competitions have never relied on the orienteering community for maps, participants, insurance, or any other resource; so ARDF stands to lose nothing by diverging from that sport.
Q7. Choose the wording that correctly completes the sentence: Technological improvements to ARDF receiver sensitivity, or compass accuracy…
a) … wouldn’t be fair in ARDF competitions because they would provide precise lat/lon position data to certain competitors.
b) … would allow collaborators outside a competition to provide navigation assistance to those competitors using that technology.
c) … would make it possible for an inkjet printer to precisely mark fox locations on an official course map.
d) … are in keeping with the spirit of innovation that has always been part of ARDF.
Q8. Which of the following statements about satellite-navigation receivers makes that technology inappropriate for integration into ARDF receivers?
a) Satellite-navigation receivers provide precise position information effortlessly, which is precisely the information that competitors in navigation sports are challenged to derive using their own personal navigational skills.
b) Without a terrain map or even a display, position data can be used to derive helpful navigational assistance such as waypoint distance, rhumb line following, and bearing convergence locations.
c) It is not fair to require humans to compete against machines.
d) All of the above.
Q9. Choose the wording that most truthfully completes the sentence: So long as superior navigation skills afford ARDF competitors some advantage…
a) … satellite-derived position data cannot possibly provide an unfair advantage to those who use it.
b) … the swallows will return to San Bernardino. (Hint: this answer might not be correct!)
c) … any type of technology can be permitted without any negative impacts to the sport.
d) … the sport will remain a navigation sport, but not necessarily a navigation sport that is fair to competitors who rely solely on their own navigation skills.
Q10. Choose the wording that most accurately completes the sentence: An inertial reference system, or a pedometer-based dead-reckoning navigation system…
a) … is no different from a GPS receiver.
b) … can easily provide 10m position accuracy over an entire ARDF course.
c) … is self-calibrating because it determines an initial position using cosmic background radiation.
d) … accumulates error over time much like a human navigator.
The remaining are BONUS QUESTIONS related to the administration of the sport of Amateur Radio Direction Finding.
Q11. Choose the only wording that truthfully completes the sentence: ARDF in IARU Region 2 …
a) … must by law always be conducted in accordance with the rules crafted by the IARU Region 1 ARDF Working Group.
b) … is promoted and administered by a democratically-elected board of directors representing all the participants in the Region.
c) … is organized in a transparent and accountable manner, with medium and long-term goals for ARDF that are documented and tracked to ensure progress toward those goals.
d) … has its own website. (Hint.)
Q12. Choose the wording that correctly completes the sentence: Since the IARU Region 2 Organization has not defined rules for use by Region 2 member societies…
a) … Region 1 rules must be enforced throughout Region 2.
b) … there are no rules in Region 2 and chaos reigns!
c) … foxhunting must be conducted from automobiles.
d) … IARU Region 2 member organizations are free to apply any rules set, constrained only by their Constitutions, Bylaws, internal policies, and by a desire to best serve their membership and cooperate with their fellow societies within and outside Region 2.
Q13. Complete the sentence: A bright future for ARDF in all IARU Regions…
a) … can be ensured by bringing home the most medals from World Championships competitions.
b) … demands maximum participation from competitors in the 50+ age groups.
c) … can’t be influenced by the competitors since they have no impact on the sport.
d) … requires youth participation, transparency and accountability in the sport’s administration, and a strategy with clear goals and support from the ARDF community.
Grade Yourself:
There are no wrong answers though, granted, some of the choices were a bit far-fetched. Well, OK, in most cases choices “a”, “b”, and “c” were just plain wrong, except for a few cases where those choices were dope-slap blow-me-down ding-dong crazy wrong. But we don’t want anyone to feel discouraged!
If after careful review you answer “d” to just about everything, then isn’t it about time to call for changes to how ARDF is administered in Region 2?