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Fox Hunt Hunt Masters - Mel M6MCM and Dave W6DES Page Revised: 5/16/13 |
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| This Hunt is open to ANYONE. |
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Hunt History: 5/12/12 - Mileage Based Hunt Masters: Dave W6DES / Tom N6GVZ / John W6YEA Place Miles Team 1st 10 Jeremiah K6JRN / Kirby AF6OP 2nd 10.6 Jordan KJ6NHF and son Joel 3rd 10.9 Harry W6HFM / Ken K6KRD 4th 12.9 John N7HUE / Wyatt KJ6VTD / Floyd KD6MYQ 5th 14.6 Jay KE6GLA / Nancy KG6PNP / Natalie KJ6NLD 6th 19.0 Bob W1RH and wife Karen 7th 19.6 Bill W6LSW / Loretta N6NQH / Jerry K6GER / Donna K6DLR 8th 33.5 Jim K6LOY / Hal N6VIB 9th 35.9 Rick WA6NHC / Ken KJ6VEB and son Jonathan 10/22/11 - Time Based Hunt Masters: Bob Hess W1RH and wife Karen 1st Dave W6DES / Rich AD6AE / Tom N6GVZ 2nd Rick WA6NHC 3rd Bill W6LSW / Loretta N6NQH 8/13/11 - Time Based Hunt Masters: Harry W6HFM / Ken K6KRD / Mel N6MCM 1st Bob W1RH and wife Karen 2nd Jordan KJ6NHF and son Joel 3rd Frank W6DHN / Greg KJ6GHL
Transmitter Hunting: Radio Direction Finding Simplified |
Amazon used copies as low as $11.60 
This is a great book by Joe Moell K0OV. It covers many aspects of direction finding and has details for hands-on projects. Many hams have a well-worn copy of this book. If you're into direction finding or T-Hunts, this is the reference / project / design / instruction book for you.He has lots of practical information on his web site, "Homing In". Especially worth reading are his articles "RDF Equipment Ideas for Radio-Orienteering" Another place to look for ideas is the Direction Finding Equipment Reviews on eHam.net.
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Tape Measure Beam Less than $10.00 for parts  Optimized for radio direction finding, Joe Leggio WB2HOL presents his classic, detailed construction article about building two meter yagis out of steel tape measure material and PVC tubing. These yagis are inexpensive, and rugged enough to handle wooded terrain. Read the reviews at eHam.net for helpful construction tips.
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Arrow FHL-VHF Loop Antenna $59  Unlike some other directional antennas like a Yagi, the loop antenna is used in the null mode (minimum signal). The null mode can provide a very sharp bearing, readable to plus or minus 5 degrees. Arrow II Handheld Portable Yagi Antenna $49  Cubical Quad Antenna Theory
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4 Element Cubical Quad Plans Based on a design by K6OPS and K0OV modified by N6ZAV for 147 MHz vertical polarization.
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Arrow Offset Attenuator $59   Ideal for the T-Hunt Loop and Arrow II Antennas. This could very well be the best Offset Attenuator ever made. It uses a 4 MHz. sine wave instead of a square wave used in most Offset Attenuators. This reduces the interference from pagers and other radio services. This offset attenuator can be used with any VHF transceiver or scanner radio that has a removable antenna. The receiver must have sufficient frequency coverage to permit tuning it 4 MHz away from the hunt frequency. An offset attenuator, sometimes called an active attenuator, is used in transmitter hunting to shift the receiver frequency 2 MHz or 4 MHz up or down from the transmitted frequency. This solves the problem of the main frequency leakage into the receiver that essentially renders a standard attenuator useless when getting close to the transmitter. It is good for getting close (within a foot) to perhaps a watt or two. An RF attenuator is a device that goes between antenna and receiver to reduce the signal strength down to within the range that the receiver S-meter can handle. Without one, you may think you're close to the fox transmitter when you're still far away. You won't be able to get close enough to a camouflaged hidden T to identify it. The amount of attenuation should be adjustable so that you can add just a little when your S-meter first pins, up to a lot as you get within a few feet. Special ARDF receivers used by champion fox hunters have electronic attenuation built in, but ordinary handi-talkies don't. Adding it would require major micro-surgery in the HT.
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Mk 4 Sniffer Receiver $295 Mk 4 Manual Mk 4 Suggestions   The most popular one-piece set among ARDF Team USA members is the frequency-synthesized Sniffer 4 from Bryan Ackerly VK3YNG in Australia. It covers both the full two-meter band and the 120-123 MHz aircraft band with selectable AM, FM or audio S-meter tone output to the loudspeaker. You can listen to both the receiver audio and S-meter tone at the same time with stereo earphones. It includes automatic-ranging attenuation in 15 dB steps. For multiple-frequency hunts, there are six programmable memories. Sniffer 4 is lightweight and easily attached to the RGE VHF-144 antenna or a home-built measuring-tape beam. A detailed product review by KØOV is in Homing In for Fall 2007 issue of CQ-VHF Magazine. Sniffer4 is available directly from Bryan Ackerly in Australia and is also sold by Bob Miller Enterprises in California. User Feedback eHam.net reviews PicCon Fox Transmitter Controller Built & Tested with Case $66 PicCon Manual   PicCon is a small, inexpensive radio controller designed for hidden transmitter hunting. When combined with a radio transmitter, it will produce tone sequences and Morse code messages at user-programmed times. It is completely field programmable via DTMF tones, utilizes EEPROM for all programmed options so they are remembered when power is removed, and is quite compact. PicCon interfaces to a radio transceiver like a packet radio TNC does. It is controlled by the audio it receives from the radio, in the form of DTMF tones, and operates the radio by controlling the Push To Talk (PTT) while sending audio in the form of tones and modulated CW Morse code. PicCon includes an LED, to show which state the device is in, and a push-button switch, to allow the starting and stopping of a transmission without requiring a DTMF receiver. There is a jumper option on the board to activate PTT via the microphone line as is required by most hand-held radios. PicCon draws only a few milliamps, and runs off any 7-35VDC source, including a standard 9-volt battery. PicCon was created by Byron Garrabrant, N6BG. | Website Suggestions |