Mobile T-Hunts for Beginners

Southern California has several mobile transmitter hunts every month, ranging from simple to very long and difficult.  For hunts where everyone starts at the same place such as the Fullerton Radio Club hunt described below, you can show up there just before the hunt starts and it's likely that someone will offer you a ride-along.

For general information about southern California mobile hunts and the types of RDF equipment that our hunters like to use, see the article "Let's Go T-Hunting" at this site.  Plans for building this equipment and mounting it on your vehicle are in my book.  If you don't want to build your own equipment, follow this link to sources of ready-made gear.

Once you have your RDF equipment and vehicle ready, here are three regularly-scheduled hunt opportunities in Los Angeles and Orange County that are suitable for first-timers:

Fullerton Radio Club (FRC) hunt.  Go to the top of Skyline Drive in Fullerton, just east of Acacia Avenue, and sign in at about 7:45 PM on the third Saturday of each month.  (Nowadays, you can only park on the north side of Skyline.)  The transmitter goes on the air at 8 PM on 146.565 MHz simplex. To win, your mission is to find the transmitter (there's supposed to be just one, transmitting continuously) with the shortest elapsed odometer mileage.  The transmitter is to be within these boundaries:

  Along 10 freeway from 605 freeway to 71 freeway

  Along 71 freeway from 10 freeway to 91 freeway

  Straight line from 91/71 intersection to Jamboree/Chapman intersection in Orange

  Along Jamboree Road from Chapman/Jamboree to Jamboree/PCH intersection in Newport Beach

  Along PCH between Jamboree Road and San Gabriel River

  Along San Gabriel River between PCH and 22 freeway

  Along 605 freeway from 22 freeway to 10 freeway

The FRC hidden transmitter must be within 100 feet of access by standard passenger car.  The hunt usually ends at 11 PM, unless the hider agrees to keep the T on the air for teams that haven't found it yet.  A restaurant for post-hunt gorging and story-swapping may be announced at the finish.

Pathfinder hunt.  Starts at Ronald Reagan Park at the intersection of Pathfinder Road and Peaceful Hills Road in the city of Diamond Bar.  Transmitter(s) go on the air at 7 PM on 146.565.  Transmissions may be short.  Lowest mileage determines the winner.  The transmitter is to be within these boundaries:

  10 Freeway and Pacific Ocean in Santa Monica

  East on 10 Freeway to 405 Freeway

  North on 405 Freeway to 101 Freeway

  East on 101 freeway to 134 Freeway

  East on 134 Freeway to 2 Freeway

  North on 2 freeway to 210 Freeway

  East on 210 to Hwy 2

  North on Highway 2 to National Forest Boundary

  East on National Forest Boundary to 215/15 Freeway Junction

  South on 215 Freeway to Highway 74

  South on Highway 74 to Orange County Line

  South on Orange County Line to Pacific Ocean in San Clemente

Expect this to be a more difficult hunt than the Fullerton Radio Club hunt.  There may be more than one transmitter to find.  The transmitters may be unattended with a sign-in sheet for you to write down your ending odometer mileage.  There is no set ending time but the hider will usually call for status of teams on the hunt frequency as midnight approaches.

South Orange Amateur Radio Association (SOARA) hunt.  Start from anywhere on the first Sunday of the month (except December) at 1:00 PM.  Listen and hunt for the hidden transmitter on 146.565 MHz simplex, but also listen to the SOARA repeaters on 447.18(-) PL131.8 and 147.645(-) PL110.9 for hunt coordination information.  First to find is the winner.

The transmitter will be south of the 55 freeway in Orange County.  To help beginners, the hider may give some hints after a while.  In recent months this hunt has not always been held, so check the SOARA Web site for more information and recent hunt results.

See you on the hunt!

Joe Moell KØOV
k0ov@homingin.com

You never know what you'll find at the end of a mobile T-hunt.  For the a Fullerton Radio Club hunt, I once used this motorized mount (originally made by the late Clarke Harris WB6ADC) to sweep the quad slowly back and forth.  It sprayed the signal up and down Pacific Coast Highway and across the buildings at Hoag Memorial Hospital in Newport Beach for lots of moving reflections.  To see a dozen night-vision photos of another typical FRC T-hunt, click here.

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This page updated 23 July 2025