Post Fox Hunt Report:
It was a mad scramble at the end, but Congratulations to Vinnie (N4NYY), first to find the fox!
Matt (N2EEE), who had been first to find the fox during the last hunt, had the honors of hiding the transmitter this time. He ended up selecting a hiding place for it up on a tree branch in the Dr. Robert N Renlund Memorial Park in Glassboro, not far from Rowan University. With snow on the ground, to hide their tracks, he and his father had spent some time before the hunt started making "false footprint trails" all over the snow, to help throw off the hunters. After Vinnie found the transmitter, he ran around and helped make some more!
Some tried some "new tech" this time, but not all of it worked out. With the signals able to bounce off of a near by water tower, and with the antenna being flush against a tree branch, some could hear the signal faintly when they started out, but weren't sure which way to go to get it. Al had a new attenuator in-line between his radio and his hand-held directional beam, but had trouble knocking down the signal in close to get a good fix.
Jim tried out an SDR receiver plugged into a laptop with a small antenna inside an open-ended metallic coffee can, but had trouble holding all that gear, giving up and just going back to using an HT with no antenna, until he was close enough to tune with a beam to the third harmonic. Vinnie came to the hunt with a brand new home-made tape measure beam antenna, and that worked great for him.
In the end, it really was a lot of fun! We posed for a group picture, and then had a great time hanging out afterwards exchanging hunt stories.
So, when's the next one? Probably around Thomas Jefferson's birthday (Saturday April 13), when it is a little warmer! Look for emails and a mention in Crosstalk when it gets a little closer. Everyone is invited to join in the fun!
Matt (N2EEE), who had been first to find the fox during the last hunt, had the honors of hiding the transmitter this time. He ended up selecting a hiding place for it up on a tree branch in the Dr. Robert N Renlund Memorial Park in Glassboro, not far from Rowan University. With snow on the ground, to hide their tracks, he and his father had spent some time before the hunt started making "false footprint trails" all over the snow, to help throw off the hunters. After Vinnie found the transmitter, he ran around and helped make some more!
Some tried some "new tech" this time, but not all of it worked out. With the signals able to bounce off of a near by water tower, and with the antenna being flush against a tree branch, some could hear the signal faintly when they started out, but weren't sure which way to go to get it. Al had a new attenuator in-line between his radio and his hand-held directional beam, but had trouble knocking down the signal in close to get a good fix.
Jim tried out an SDR receiver plugged into a laptop with a small antenna inside an open-ended metallic coffee can, but had trouble holding all that gear, giving up and just going back to using an HT with no antenna, until he was close enough to tune with a beam to the third harmonic. Vinnie came to the hunt with a brand new home-made tape measure beam antenna, and that worked great for him.
In the end, it really was a lot of fun! We posed for a group picture, and then had a great time hanging out afterwards exchanging hunt stories.
So, when's the next one? Probably around Thomas Jefferson's birthday (Saturday April 13), when it is a little warmer! Look for emails and a mention in Crosstalk when it gets a little closer. Everyone is invited to join in the fun!
Fox Hunt Location Information:
The transmitter will be somewhere in Gloucester county. Well, not just anywhere. It is limited to the following area
- North of Route 322 (Glassboro Road).
- South of Route 654 (Hurffville-CrossKeys Road).
- East of Route 47 (Delsea Drive).
- West of Route 655 (Fries Mill Road).
The fox hunt will start at 13:00 and lasts until the last person finds the transmitter. Be sure to check in the repeater just before the hunt so we know who's hunting It looks like there will be a high of 39F, so we will finally get away from this freezing weather.
- North of Route 322 (Glassboro Road).
- South of Route 654 (Hurffville-CrossKeys Road).
- East of Route 47 (Delsea Drive).
- West of Route 655 (Fries Mill Road).
The fox hunt will start at 13:00 and lasts until the last person finds the transmitter. Be sure to check in the repeater just before the hunt so we know who's hunting It looks like there will be a high of 39F, so we will finally get away from this freezing weather.
What’s a ham radio fox hunt, you ask? In short, it’s a radio version of “hide and seek”, and is great fun for the whole family, hams and non-hams alike! A copy of a slide show detailing the answer from a presentation given at an earlier GCARC Club meeting can be found on the GCARC Fox Hunts page. Check out smiling faces from the past Fox Hunts that are linked on that page. So what if you’ve never tried doing something like this before. Part of the fun is meeting new people and trying new things! Here’s a quick run-down on the basics, and some hints for what to expect. There’s stuff you can do in advance, and then there is the hunt! In advance:
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Transmitter Frequency 146.565 MHz Transmitter
Range 1+ Mile Radius |