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

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