The rain didn't materialize and temperatures remained cool, making it a perfect day for ARDF at Bonelli Park. Two families and some individuals arrived early to obtain and build antenna and attenuator kits. Then they tried them out on my practice transmitters nearby.
Marvin Johnston set an intermediate-level two-meter ARDF course, which proved to be more difficult than expected, perhaps because of reflections from the hills. Everyone found all five transmitters, with these times:
TWO-METER COURSE RESULTS -- 5 FOXES
Name and call Time Foxes
Dean Dods KD6I 1:06:15 5
Rob Brigham W6ZH 1:10:56 5
Eduard Nasybulin 1:11:03 5
Bill Wright WB6CMD 1:12:33 5
Bob Houghton AD6QF 1:35:14 5
Scott Moore KF6IKO 2:00:01 5
My plan was to have two 80-meter transmitters on separate frequencies, one 640 meters away and the other 1.06 km away. This would provide a good test for those trying out the new 80m ARDF receivers by KB1RLI and RigExpert. Unfortunately, the distant transmitter had a keyer problem and couldn't be heard at the start. So here are the results for the closer transmitter:
EIGHTY-METER TRANSMITTER RESULTS
Name and call Time
Eduard Nasybulin 9:14
Bill Wright WB6CMD 14:00
Scott Moore KF6IKO 17:30
Bob Houghton AD6QF 18:13
Dean Dods KD6I 20:20
Robert Haggard AD6XJ 27:36
Thanks to everyone who helped make it a great day!
Joe Moell KØOV
While most southern California residents were sweltering in triple-digit heat, some ARDF enthusiasts were enjoying a beautiful weekend in the mountains.
There was plenty of sunshine when the two-meter classic hunt began on Saturday morning. Scott Moore KF6IKO was the course-setter. Everyone began from our usual starting location up the trail from the Nordic ski base. Here are the results:
TWO-METER CLASSIC COURSE RESULTS -- 5 FOXES
Name and call Foxes Time
Bill Wright WB6CMD 5 1:46:51
201(1) 203(1) 202(1) 205(1) 204(1) F
13:06 29:32 51:19 1:20:42 1:33:47 1:46:51
13:06 16:26 21:47 29:23 13:05 13:04
Bob Cooley KF6VSE 5 2:12:54
201(1) 203(1) 202(1) 205(1) 204(1) F
16:12 40:53 1:03:03 1:32:15 1:50:26 2:12:54
16:12 24:41 22:10 29:12 18:11 22:28
Jay Hennigan WB6RDV 5 2:26:07
201(1) 203(1) 202(1) 205(1) 204(1) F
21:07 48:19 1:12:12 1:46:01 2:06:30 2:26:07
21:07 27:12 23:53 33:49 20:29 19:37
Eduard Nasybulin 5 3:09:02
203(1) 201(1) 202(1) 205(1) 204(1) F
14:35 36:52 1:02:32 1:55:05 2:10:41 3:09:02
14:35 22:17 25:40 52:33 15:36 58:21
Bill Smathers KG6HXX 2 2:25:52
201(1) 203(1) F
31:35 1:11:02 2:25:52
31:35 39:27 1:14:50
Saturday evening, Marvin Johnston KE6HTS got the fire going at the camp and cooked tri-tips to perfection as always. Then after a good night's sleep, everyone was ready for a sprint event on the 80-meter band, with transmitter set by Bill Wright WB6CMD. Everyone finished, the transmitters were picked up, and all headed off to their homes or to lunch in Gorman. Here are the sprint results:
EIGHTY-METER SPRINT COURSE RESULTS -- 10 FOXES
Name and call Foxes Time
Scott Moore KF6IKO 10 0:28:12
205(1) 202(1) 203(1) 201(1) 204(1) 209(1) 210(1) 208(1) 207(1) 206(1) F
4:13 7:50 12:59 15:30 19:55 24:36 25:27 30:06 32:56 36:15 28:12
4:13 3:37 5:09 2:31 4:25 4:41 0:51 4:39 2:50 3:19
Eduard Nasybulin 10 0:30:08
201(1) 202(1) 203(1) 204(1) 205(1) 207(1) 206(1) 208(1) 209(1) 210(1) F
3:59 8:29 14:37 16:42 21:02 25:40 31:15 35:05 37:01 39:02 30:08
3:59 4:30 6:08 2:05 4:20 4:38 5:35 3:50 1:56 2:01
Jay Hennigan WB6RDV 10 0:41:00
201(1) 203(1) 202(1) 205(1) 204(1) 206(1) 207(1) 208(1) 209(1) 210(1) F
6:36 11:50 14:35 19:29 22:12 27:53 30:46 34:12 37:06 39:33 41:00
6:36 5:14 2:45 4:54 2:43 5:41 2:53 3:26 2:54 2:27 1:27
Les Benson W6CGE 5 1:24:04
201(1) 202(1) 203(1) 205(1) 206(1) F
8:34 17:11 24:08 50:37 1:04:07 1:24:04
8:34 8:37 6:57 26:29 13:30 19:57
Bill Smathers KG6HXX 2 0:54:30
(E-punch error)
Thanks as always to Marvin for organizing the event, plus the gourmet cooking on Saturday evening. Thanks also to Scott and Bob for setting out transmitters.
Joe Moell KØOV
Each spring, the Amateur Radio Club at Calfornia Polytechnic Univerisy in San Luis Obispo holds an on-foot transmitter hunting session with an antenna building workshop, led by Marvin Johnston KE6HTS. Transmitters this year were hidden by Stanton Wu KK6AEE. Here are the results:
"Antennas in the Park" (AITP) has become the biggest annual activity of the Fullerton Radio Club. Transmitters and receivers from the HF through microwave bands are set up, contacts are made and good food is eaten. There are also some transmitters hidden away for fans of radio direction finding to seek.
I have learned that it's important to start the tranmitter hunts early, before everyone chows down on the hamburgers, chicken and sausages that Albert Solomon AG6OF cooks up. Otherwise, they will be too stuffed to search.
There were four practice transmitters close by on different frequencies in the two-meter band. Several novice foxhunters sought them out, including Tom Smith KB6A, Linda Endsley KJ6IHB and Mike Sussman. That was a prelude to the ARDF course, with five two-meter transmitters on the same frequency, each transmitting for sixty seconds in sequence. Each competitor is started separately, as the first transmitter comes on the air. Here are the results of that hunt:
TWO-METER COURSE RESULTS -- 5 FOXES
Name and call Time Foxes
Bill Wright WB6CMD 0:43 5
Eduard Nasybulin 0:59 4
Bob Houghton AD6QF 1:10 4
Rick Stutsman N6IET 1:19 2
The 80-meter band is also very important in the world of ARDF, although fewer hams have equipment for tracking on that band. I had plenty of equipment to loan, so anyone could try if they wished. Here are the 80m results:
EIGHTY-METER TRANSMITTER RESULTS
Name and call Time
Bill Wright WB6CMD 0:10
Eduard Nasybulin 0:16
Wil Anderson AA6DD 0:48
with Robert Haggard AD6XJ
Justin Miller KI6AFZ DNF
After running (or walking) up and down the hills of Hillcrest, hunters enjoyed a slice of the traditional Foxhunting Weekend cake, courtesy of April Moell WA6OPS.
Thanks to everyone who helped make it a great day!
Joe Moell KØOV
It was a cold and miserable day at Lindo Lake Park in Lakeside, California, where the San Diego T-hunt Group held its annual international-style on-foot transmitter hunt. Tony Boegeman WA6ZMZ, Joe Loughlin KE6PHB and Joe Corones N6SZO converged on the park at 7:30 AM to occupy a few tables in one of the picnic areas. The threat of rain was looming in all the weather reports, so we did not unload any of the items we needed for the BBQ. Tony was left guarding the ice chests while Joe and Joe set off to plant the 5 hidden T's. This was the first time we used the Marvin Johnston tiny T's so we were anxious to see how they performed.
Returning about 9:20, we began organizing our paperwork and setting up a practice T on 144.100 MHz. It was misting/drizzling during this time, but we were under some trees so it was not to bad. People started showing up and several started hunting before 10:30. The drizzle became heavier and many just hovered around until about 11:30 when we started a few more. The last start was at 12:50 and weather was pretty decent, so we decided to BBQ earlier than the 3:00 PM time stated in our flyer. As we were wrapping up the BBQ about 3:30, it was starting to get pretty wet again, so we kind of threw things in the vehicles, picked up the T's and headed home.
We had a total of 21 people on site, nineteen of whom were licensed hams. Only one new person was present this year, Fredric Raab KK6NOW. He was interested in tracking the rockets that his club launches in the desert. We loaned him one of Marvin's tape-measure beams with a 4 MHz offset attenuator and guided him through finding the practice T. Then we set him loose. He managed to find two of the T's before running out of time and having to leave. We think he had a good time.
TWO-METER COURSE RESULTS -- 5 FOXES
Name and call Time Foxes
Bill Wright WB6CMD 0:39 5
Bill Elkerton W6ZM 0:44 5
with Robin Elkerton KM6HKS, Bryan Elkerton KI6DUR, Bryan Kukuk KG6SMT and Niki
Marvin Johnston KE6HTS 0:59 5
Dick Foran WB6ZAM 1:04 5
with Mark Ording K6MHO
Matt Tucker N6EAJ 1:15 5
with Ed Hall KI6JMK
Greg Spaulding W6BAF 1:55 5
Robert Dexter N9SCD 0:52 3
Fredric Raab KK6NOW 1:01 2
Other hams present who may or may not have hunted a little include: Tom Sneden K6VCR, Karen Spaulding KI6FON and Brian McDaniel WB2JCG. Also present were Jim and Kaila, helping with the BBQ.
See everyone next year!
Joe Corones N6SZO and Joe Loughlin KE6PHB
Go to Southern California ARDF -- Current radio-orienteering news and results
Go to International-Style Foxhunting Comes To The Americas -- How we're getting the ball rolling
Go to Equipment Ideas for Radio-Orienteering -- Simple and inexpensive receiving and transmitting solutions
Go to Foxhunting for Scouts -- Let's get the kids involved
Go to Local ARDF Contacts -- Links to hams and groups that are doing international-style foxhunting in North America and around the world.
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This page updated 8 April 2018