Fox hunt report, 4-15-00
Our hunt started Saturday morning, very close to
10:00 am. Paul, kb8yqw did the honors of hiding, and
did them very well I might add. We had three teams of hunters.
Team one consisted of Scott, wd8sdw and his son Steven, and
Rod, kc8hgf. Team two was John, AA8lf and daughter Lisa, kc8fdp,
and the third hunter was Steve, kb8ukc.
The fox transmitter was weak but audible at the
starting point,
and we spent a considerable amount of time getting that
all important 1st bearing, then one team at time headed off
more or less in the correct direction.
Paul had hidden in the city park, just north east
of
Waverly and Willow. Lots of reflections from the river banks and
trees I might add, thanks Paul.
The winner of the driving hunt is determined solely by lowest mileage
as indicated:
AA8LF 7.5
WD8SDW 8.6
KB8UKC 10.0
Its worth mentioning that the wd8sdw team got to the park
first by about 20 min,
though they came in 2nd in mileage.
Upon arriving at the park, we realized that Paul had hidden the main
fox
transmitter, and an on foot hunt ensued. Approximate times
follow for finding the main xmtr:
kc8fdp 4 min
aa8lf 5 min
wd8sdw 10 min
Paul had also set up 2 low power foxes on separate
frequencies, and
started them as we were ready. Times were not kept on
the
low power ones, but the finding order also reflects the
fastest times.
fox #2 fox#3
kb8ukc
aa8lf kc8fdp
kc8fdp aa8lf
wd8sdw wd8sdw
Paul had brought along a car battery to power the
mobile rig
for the main xmtr, and hauled the whole set up out to
the back
of the park by a chain link fence ball field back stop,
and had
climbed the 9' fence, putting the 5/8ths wave magmount
at the
top, quite ingenious.
The 2nd fox was hidden at the top of a dead tree stump,
again
about 12 foot high, and the 3rd fox was sticking out of
the end
of a log, near but not in the woods.
I've long maintained that the first rule of fox hunting
is: "go where
the rf is strongest, and there shall ye find the
bunny". With that
in mind, it was comical to see hunters walk near the
fox, not see it,
and head off for what seemed like hours into the woods
to chase
reflections, which couldn't have been as strong as the
near
readings. We've all done it, myself included.
Equipment used for the hunt included:
wd8sdw Marine Doppler on truck and ht and attenuator
tube
on foot.
aa8lf 4 el yagi through the roof on car with
attenuator.
4. el tape measure yagi and mini attenuator
on
foot.
kc8fdp ht and attenuator tube only
kb8ukc dual band yagi on back of van with tv antenna
rotator.
Steve also had some fancy looking electronic stuff inside
that I meant to ask about.
On foot he used a double dipole 'nulling'
unit.
I think we all learned a bit from this hunt, and all of the
mileages were very low. Kudos again to Paul for hiding.
I'd originally suggested the first Sat. in May for our
next fox
hunt, but now realize I'm not available. Would Sunday May 7th
at 1:00pm work for you? Please let me know.
73 John AA8LF
Rabbit hunt
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