the sport originated in northern europe and eastern europe in the late 1950s. amateur radio was widely promoted in the schools of northern and eastern europe as a modern scientific and technical activity. most medium to large cities hosted one or more amateur radio clubs at which members could congregate and learn about the technology and operation of radio equipment. one of the activities that schools and radio clubs promoted was radio direction finding, an activity that had important civil defense applications during the cold war. as few individuals in europe had personal automobiles at the time, most of this radio direction finding activity took place on foot, in parks, natural areas, or school campuses. the sport of orienteering, popular in its native scandinavia, had begun to spread to more and more countries throughout europe, including the nations of the eastern bloc. as orienteering became more popular and orienteering maps became more widely available, it was only natural to combine the two activities and hold radio direction finding events on orienteering maps.