Have You Read These Articles?

Homing In, CQ Magazine, August 2021 -- "International ARDF Event Update and a New 80-Meter Set"

• "Unless you are standing right under a long power line or within inches of a big metal fence, the bearing you get on 80 meters is almost always accurate."

• "Besides providing consistent bearing accuracy, eighty-meter ARDF equipment is smaller and easier for young people to tote around, compared to two-meter gear."

• "A more compact magnetic antenna for 80 has multiple turns of wire on a small rod of ferrite material.  There is a null when either end of the rod 'points' toward the signal source."

• "Entry-level 80-meter ARDF sets have direct-conversion receivers.  Incoming signals pass through a stage of tuned RF amplification to a diode mixer.  The mixer output is at baseband."

• "Since the local oscillator (LO) in a direct-conversion receiver is very close to the signal frequency, radiation from the local oscillator can interfere with the fox signal on nearby receivers."

Homing In, CQ Magazine, May 2021 -- "ARDF Makes a Comeback in 2021"

• "In places where traveling was permitted, there were restrictions against gatherings that kept hunters quarantined in their cars, unable to mingle at the hidden transmitter site or go to a restaurant afterward."

• "Many parks were closed last year and permits for events were unavailable in the ones that were open."

• "Vaccines are making it safer to gather and restrictions are now being loosened."

• "Large, heavily wooded sites with clear running spaces among the trees are ideal for ARDF.  There should be some trails, but competitors need to be able to go cross-country as well."

• "In years when the ARDF World Championships take place in the fall, USA's national championships are normally in the spring to facilitate selection of ARDF Team USA and provide time for training.  Anticipated COVID travel restrictions will prevent that sequence this year."

CQ Magazine, February 2021 -- "Navy Scientists Learn RF Technology by Foxhunting"

• "We got to experience signal bounce off rocks and other surfaces, which is the bread and butter of what we do in electronic warfare."

• "Not only are there restrictions about where you can transmit, but also how much power you can run.  The base has RF authorities who must give you permission to transmit."

• "What I hadn't figured on was the effect of a chain-link fence that was right next to the transmitter.  When they were walking along it, they got strange readings."

• "These are really bright guys and gals who had paid close attention in class.  From beginning to end of the foxhunting, they were competitive."

• "For the second hunt, I put the fox in a coffee creamer bottle with a tiny antenna and no ground plane.  The signal was barely copyable at the starting point."

Homing In appeared monthly in 73 Magazine from November 1988 until the magazine ceased publication with the September 2003 issue.  My column then appeared in CQ VHF magazine, a quarterly publication, from 2004 through Fall 2013 and CQ-Plus Digital Magazine during 2014.  Now it appears four times per year in CQ Magazine, which is available in print by subscription and in Amateur Radio Stores. You can also subscribe to CQ in digital form, viewable on PC, Mac, iPad, iPhone and Android.  I welcome your input for future articles, so please continue to send me your news of mobile and on-foot transmitter hunt activities.

The Fine Print: This is the official Web site for Homing In and other KØOV articles about RDF, but not for any magazine. Homing In articles are produced independently in southern California.  Text and artwork of all articles Copyright © Joseph D. Moell. All rights reserved.

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This page updated 6 August 2021