Radio-Orienteering News and Results

For Southern California

Hidden transmitter hunting under international rules (also called radio-orienteering, fox-tailing, foxhunting and ARDF) now takes place regularly in southern California.  Some participants are training for upcoming national and international competitions, but most are just out there for fun and exercise.  Here's the latest information on these informal sessions, with the most recent first.

Results and photos from the session in San Diego on May 16, 2026 will be available here soon.

Next Event:  To be announced.  For e-mail notification of these sessions, you can join the southern California ARDF mailing list.

 

Hillcrest Park ARDF
Hillcrest Park ARDF on 5/9/2026
Photos above and report below by Joe Moell KØOV

The weather was excellent for the Fullerton Radio Club's 29th annual Antennas In The Park and barbecue event.  Compared to a high of 98 degrees last year, the thermometer only reached 81 this time.  Marvin Johnston KE6HTS arrived early from Santa Barbara with his measuring-tape two-meter antenna and offset attenuator kits.  Three two-meter practice transmitters on separate frequencies called out to encourage newcomers to try to find them.  Yvette Weilacker KD6ESZ, Ellen Cole KN6YVG, Greg Hastings KO6DOM and Blaise Prymmer were among the newcomers who tracked them down.

The advanced course followed the classic radio-orienteering format.  There were five two-meter transmitters, transmitting one after another on the same frequency for sixty seconds each in numbered sequence and then repeating.  They awaited the hunters near the trails in the far reaches of the park.  I wanted to time everyone who went out on that course but I wasn't successful.  As usual, champion William Wright WB6CMD set the pace.  Joe Corones N6SZO and Joe Loughlin KE6PHB came up from San Diego to try Orange County style ARDF and to promote the on-foot hunt that they would put on the following weekend.  Jenna Canillis WWØMAN and Tianxing Guo KO6NKL independently found the practice transmitters and then tried the main course, each finding two transmitters.

     TWO-METER COURSE RESULTS -- 5 FOXES
      Name and call            Time H:MM:SS    Foxes

     William Wright WB6CMD        0:34:00        5

     Michael Hart KC6MEH          1:40:00        5

     Joe Corones N6SZO            1:59:00        4
        with Joe Loughlin KE6PHB 

     Jenna Canillis WWØMAN           ?           2

     Tianxing Guo KO6NKL             ?           2

Band conditions did not favor the two HF stations on 40 and 20 meters, but the operators had fun trying to make contacts. 

Thanks to FRC president Ray Rounds K6RAX for for procuring all of the food and Bob Houghton AD6QF for lots of ice-cold bottled water.  As usual, our master of the grill was Albert Solomon AG6OF.  Gene Thorpe KB6CMO made it possible to enjoy the Izaac Walton League cabin.

Joe Moell KØOV

Yuma Hamfest ARDF
Yuma Hamfest ARDF on 2/28/2026
Photos above and report below by Joe Corones N6SZO

What looked promising this year turned into a very low key and hot event.  Joe Loughlin KE6PHB had planned to ride out to Yuma with Robert Dexter N9SCD and me, but he had to abort at the last minute.  Marvin Johnston KE6HTS, who was bringing the antenna kits from Santa Barbara, had a car breakdown in the Los Angeles area and also had to abort, leaving Robert and me to entertain any T-Hunt "groupies" on Saturday afternoon when the Antenna Clinic and T-Hunt were scheduled to occur.

There was confusion because the printed schedule of talks/events did not match the website schedule locations.  Finally, we determined that our location was to be in the 4-H building.  We unloaded our equipment into a dimly lit room with eight tables and chairs.  Only five other people signed up for the hunt.  Two were San Diego T-Hunters, Greg Gibbs KI6RXX and Dennis Baca KD6TUJ.  Michael Hart KC6MEH came from Chatsworth.  The other two were Mike Carter N7GNX and Dan Conway NØLNT, who had been in contact with Marvin regarding the tape measure beam antennas.

Greg and Dennis were tasked with holding down the fort while Robert and I went out to hide the transmitters.  See photo of map showing location of hidden T's for this hunt.  Around 2:00 PM we went through our PowerPoint presentation of T-Hunting in San Diego.

Greg was the first to go out hunting.  Later, when Robert was assisting Mike and Luna, he encountered an unregistered hunter from Colorado in the vicinity of T-1.  He was a previous Antenna Clinic attendee from several years ago and he didn't think he needed to let anyone know he was hunting.

Meanwhile, back at the 4-H building, two other unregistered hunters walked in and wanted to know the frequency and area of the fairgrounds that the transmitters were hidden in.  They apparently had been trying to find them on another frequency.  Where did they get that information?  Trying to be as polite as possible, I told them that if they would have come in and let us know they were hunting, they would have received a map of the fairgrounds and some useful instructions.  They looked at the map, said they did not need it, left it on one of the tables and walked out.  Twenty minutes later, they came back and got the map.

Michael KC6MEH found all five T's in 31 minutes.  Greg KI6RXX found all five in 39 minutes.  Of the other three teams, one found two, the other found one and the third never came back to report in.  We have no idea what the three unregistered hunters did or did not find.  We need to make a request on the website next year for anyone hunting to check in, for quality assurance.

Even though it was hot, it was an exciting weekend with all of the talks, tailgating, swap meeting and vendors that were in attendance.  See everyone next year!

Joe Corones N6SZO

Results and Photos of ARDF Events in Recent Years

SoCal 2025 -- Southern California practice/demonstration events of 2025, including Veteran's Memorial Park, Ocean Beach, Hillcrest Park and Yuma Hamfest.

SoCal 2024 -- Southern California practice/demonstration events of 2024, including Hillcrest Park and Mission Bay Park.

SoCal 2023 -- Southern California practice/demonstration events of 2023, including Hillcrest Park and Balboa Park.

SoCal 2022 -- Southern California practice/demonstration events of 2022, including Hillcrest Park, Felicita Park and Yuma Hamfest.

SoCal 2021 -- Southern California practice/demonstration events of 2021, including Lake Los Carneros, Hillcrest Park and Bonelli Regional Park.  (No events in 2020 due to COVID-19)

June 19 - 22, 2025 -- 24th USA Radio-Orienteering Championships near Albemarle, NC.

October 9 - 13, 2024 -- 23rd USA ARDF Championships near Chelsea, MI.

April 19 - 23, 2023 -- 22nd USA Radio-Orienteering Championships near Sulfur Springs, TX.

April 7 - 10, 2022 -- 21st USA ARDF Championships near Triangle, VA.

October 14 - 17, 2021 -- Twentieth USA ARDF Championships in North Carolina.

For results and stories of events before 2021, see this site's Table of Contents

THRDFS cover Go to Championship Foxhunting News -- Results of recent international competitions and announcements of upcoming ones.

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 Electronic Scoring for ARDF -- What it is, how it works, and why it's gaining popularity.

Go to Extenders Aid Handicapped Foxhunters -- A novel way to include persons with disabilities

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 22 May 2026