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Fox Hunt XVIIStay In Your Car
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Somewhere in Gloucester County
Radio Foxhunt XVII - Results
By Jim Wright, N2GXJ
On Sunday August 30, your Club had a great hidden transmitter fox hunt here in Gloucester County, NJ. It was a beautiful day. What a great excuse to get out of the house for an hour of mobile radio fun!
As a reward for being one of the first to find the transmitter last time, Al, KB2AYU had the honors of hiding the transmitter this time. He cleverly selected a little known park called “Rotary Park” in Woodbury, attaching the transmitter to a telescoping pole that he then attached to the backboard support of a basketball hoop in the back of this park.
Participants included Frank N3PUU and family, Missy and Bruce KD2LBU, Karl W2KBF, Al KB2AYU, Matt N2EEE, new member Marc KC2VAR and his father, and my wife and I, N2GXJ, who were lucky enough to be first to the transmitter this time. Pictures are up on the w2mmd.org website. See the fox hunts tab on the left, and then look under Foxhunt XVII. Check out the one of Bruce and Missy pulling up in a convertible. What fun!
Already have a hand-held radio and are interested in giving this a try? If you’re looking for something new and fun to try with your HT, why not give fox hunting a try? For our “Fall Foxhunt XVIII”, I’m looking at 1pm on the first Saturday in November (Nov 7). What do you think? You in?
By Jim Wright, N2GXJ
On Sunday August 30, your Club had a great hidden transmitter fox hunt here in Gloucester County, NJ. It was a beautiful day. What a great excuse to get out of the house for an hour of mobile radio fun!
As a reward for being one of the first to find the transmitter last time, Al, KB2AYU had the honors of hiding the transmitter this time. He cleverly selected a little known park called “Rotary Park” in Woodbury, attaching the transmitter to a telescoping pole that he then attached to the backboard support of a basketball hoop in the back of this park.
Participants included Frank N3PUU and family, Missy and Bruce KD2LBU, Karl W2KBF, Al KB2AYU, Matt N2EEE, new member Marc KC2VAR and his father, and my wife and I, N2GXJ, who were lucky enough to be first to the transmitter this time. Pictures are up on the w2mmd.org website. See the fox hunts tab on the left, and then look under Foxhunt XVII. Check out the one of Bruce and Missy pulling up in a convertible. What fun!
Already have a hand-held radio and are interested in giving this a try? If you’re looking for something new and fun to try with your HT, why not give fox hunting a try? For our “Fall Foxhunt XVIII”, I’m looking at 1pm on the first Saturday in November (Nov 7). What do you think? You in?
We are going to try to get the Fox hunt in on the 30th. We will check the weather and make a final determination at 12:30 pm and announce it on the Club repeater. Since this is a "Stay in your car" event, I feel that it will end up being too easy. I think you would have to get out of your car at some point to get beam headings.
The search boundaries are :
- Route 45 to the West.
- Route 47 to the East.
- Route 295 to the North.
- Since there is no single road for the South border, it will be no further south than Ogden Road and Cattell Road.
The transmitter will have a code number attached and be visible from your vehicle. Call in on the repeater with the number when you find it. You can park in the area and await other hunters.
Happy Hunting, Al KB2AYU
Fox Hunt border based on KB2AYU instructions
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The basic idea of The Stay In Your Car Fox Hunt is to simply putting the micro-fox transmitter on the roof of a nice air conditioned car, and let people find it in whatever parking lot the FOX is in. This way everyone can participate, simply by stronger/weaker homing in without having to exit their car. And we can laugh at and taunt each other through our repeater, as the hunt progresses. Maybe it's a nice way to break up the stuck-at-home monotony. For those that have not tried one of these fox hunts before, the idea is simple, and is quite fun. You can even bring the whole family along. It goes something like this. A day before the hunt, the FOX will send an email to the Club reflector. In it, he will give directions that will narrow down search area we have to hunt in to something no larger than approximately 4 square miles, here in southern NJ. Then, by 1 pm on August 30th, we drive into that area, and wait to hear from him on the W2MMD 2 Meter repeater (147.180 MHz PL Tone 131.8 Hz) asking for check-ins. You can also check-in using EchoLink : W2MMD-R. Each car full of us will check in with him on the repeater, so that he’ll know who all is hunting, and can give clues if anyone gets lost. Then the transmitter is turned on, and the hunt begins! By using a “warmer / colder” technique, where the signal is strongest when you are closer, and weaker when further away, or any technique of your choosing, the idea is to find the transmitter within an hour. If anyone is still searching after an hour, he’ll talk us all in using the Club’s repeater, so that all hunters will have the chance to meet up with him and laugh about our adventures! The transmitter is a Byonics MicroFox 15. It has an approximate transmitting range of 1 mile radius. The hunt frequency is 146.565 MHz. The transmission mode is FM simplex. When you are getting close to the transmitter, you can switch to 439.695 MHz, which is the third harmonic, to get a better read on its location. Hunters are encouraged to team up together, as it is a great event to partner up with non-ham family members who can help drive while you home-in on the signal using your radio. So, who’s ready for a fun fall fox hunt! See you out there! |
Transmitter
Frequency 146.565 MHz (3rd harmonic 439.695 MHz) 
Transmitter
Range +/- 1 Mile Radius |