Fox Hunt III - February 10, 2013 |
On February 10th, 2013 the Gloucester County ARC held a "winter classic" radio direction finding fox hunt here in Gloucester county. We were treated to a wonderful afternoon of brisk blue skies and sunshine - a great day to get out of the house! Couldn't ask for much better after the snowfall earlier in the weekend!
Starting from a locations near Glassboro, the hunt teams set out to find Jim (N2GXJ), the radio fox, by homing in on the input frequency to his transmissions to our club's 2 meter repeater. Though some club members followed the afternoon's hunt from their home stations, we ended up with three vehicules out in pursuit of the fox.
Congratulations to Al, KB2AYU, who was the first to find the fox hiding in a park near the town of Aura, in Elk Township. Congratulations also to our second place team of Jim KC2SNI and Dan N2TXG who pulled in about an hour later with Tom KE2ES close on their heels.
When all teams had made it to the finish, Al demonstrated his custom all electric vehicule; a truck that he had built and was driving for the fox hunt today. Talk about "going green"! Very cool, Al!
In the end, it was a great afternoon that all the participants will fondly remember.
Starting from a locations near Glassboro, the hunt teams set out to find Jim (N2GXJ), the radio fox, by homing in on the input frequency to his transmissions to our club's 2 meter repeater. Though some club members followed the afternoon's hunt from their home stations, we ended up with three vehicules out in pursuit of the fox.
Congratulations to Al, KB2AYU, who was the first to find the fox hiding in a park near the town of Aura, in Elk Township. Congratulations also to our second place team of Jim KC2SNI and Dan N2TXG who pulled in about an hour later with Tom KE2ES close on their heels.
When all teams had made it to the finish, Al demonstrated his custom all electric vehicule; a truck that he had built and was driving for the fox hunt today. Talk about "going green"! Very cool, Al!
In the end, it was a great afternoon that all the participants will fondly remember.
“Winter Classic” Fox Hunt – Sunday Feb 10 starting at 1pm, for about an hour and a half
Have some radio fun this Sunday afternoon, February 10! Never tried a radio fox hunt before? Well this is the weekend to give it a try!
All South Jersey amateur radio operators, club members and visitors, are invited to hop in a car with your friends, neighbors, and/or family members as passengers, navigators, and/or designated drivers, and have some radiosport fun in a radio direction finding driving adventure here in Gloucester County this Sunday afternoon.
How it works:
Jim (N2GXJ) will be the radio fox that you, as radio hunters, will be trying to find. He will hiding with his 2 Meter hand-held transceiver somewhere in central Gloucester County, and your mission is to find him by using your radio receiver to home in on his location via the signal strength you are receiving of his periodic transmissions. It’s as easy as that. The first team to find him wins a nominal prize, bragging rights, and the honor of first choice to be the fox that everyone will look for on our next hunt!
Details:
Start time: 1pm, Sunday Feb 10
Recommended start location: a small park called Renlund Park, in Glassboro (location 39.713096, -75.108247), near the base of a water tower near the intersection of Route 47 (Delsea Dr) and Greentree Rd in central Gloucester County. From Route 47, there is a small parking lot off of Market Pl on the south side of the park, if you want to set up for the start (and eyeball your competition) a few minutes early.
At the designated 1pm start time, Al (KB2AYU) our hunt coordinator for this event, will ask for all hunt teams to check in with him on the radio via our club’s 2 meter repeater (147.180+, with PL tone 131.8). If there are any questions, they can be answered on the air at that time. Once all hunt teams have been identified, Al will ask for the fox to transmit and identify himself on the repeater frequency, and then the hunt is on!
To mix things up a bit for this hunt, the fox will be using our repeater’s input frequency as his transmission frequency, and, instead of the fox sticking to a fixed transmission schedule, you are encouraged and welcome to call the fox during the hunt to try and elicit a transmission from him at any time that is convenient for you! (hint: The repeater input frequency that the fox will be using for his transmissions is 147.780 Mhz. Don’t get confused and try and home in on our repeater’s output frequency – else you’ll end up finding the location of our repeater instead!)
After an hour (2pm), if there are any teams still hunting, the fox will start to give out clues related to his hiding location. After an hour and a half (2:30pm), if there are still any teams left hunting, they will be talked in to the finish. When all teams have checked in at the finish, we’ll have some time to exchange hunt stories and pose for a group picture of all the participants to post to the web site.
Sound fun? Why not give it a try? Hope to see you Sunday!
Good luck and happy hunting!
Jim N2GXJ
Have some radio fun this Sunday afternoon, February 10! Never tried a radio fox hunt before? Well this is the weekend to give it a try!
All South Jersey amateur radio operators, club members and visitors, are invited to hop in a car with your friends, neighbors, and/or family members as passengers, navigators, and/or designated drivers, and have some radiosport fun in a radio direction finding driving adventure here in Gloucester County this Sunday afternoon.
How it works:
Jim (N2GXJ) will be the radio fox that you, as radio hunters, will be trying to find. He will hiding with his 2 Meter hand-held transceiver somewhere in central Gloucester County, and your mission is to find him by using your radio receiver to home in on his location via the signal strength you are receiving of his periodic transmissions. It’s as easy as that. The first team to find him wins a nominal prize, bragging rights, and the honor of first choice to be the fox that everyone will look for on our next hunt!
Details:
Start time: 1pm, Sunday Feb 10
Recommended start location: a small park called Renlund Park, in Glassboro (location 39.713096, -75.108247), near the base of a water tower near the intersection of Route 47 (Delsea Dr) and Greentree Rd in central Gloucester County. From Route 47, there is a small parking lot off of Market Pl on the south side of the park, if you want to set up for the start (and eyeball your competition) a few minutes early.
At the designated 1pm start time, Al (KB2AYU) our hunt coordinator for this event, will ask for all hunt teams to check in with him on the radio via our club’s 2 meter repeater (147.180+, with PL tone 131.8). If there are any questions, they can be answered on the air at that time. Once all hunt teams have been identified, Al will ask for the fox to transmit and identify himself on the repeater frequency, and then the hunt is on!
To mix things up a bit for this hunt, the fox will be using our repeater’s input frequency as his transmission frequency, and, instead of the fox sticking to a fixed transmission schedule, you are encouraged and welcome to call the fox during the hunt to try and elicit a transmission from him at any time that is convenient for you! (hint: The repeater input frequency that the fox will be using for his transmissions is 147.780 Mhz. Don’t get confused and try and home in on our repeater’s output frequency – else you’ll end up finding the location of our repeater instead!)
After an hour (2pm), if there are any teams still hunting, the fox will start to give out clues related to his hiding location. After an hour and a half (2:30pm), if there are still any teams left hunting, they will be talked in to the finish. When all teams have checked in at the finish, we’ll have some time to exchange hunt stories and pose for a group picture of all the participants to post to the web site.
Sound fun? Why not give it a try? Hope to see you Sunday!
Good luck and happy hunting!
Jim N2GXJ