Thanks Ron-N7TVE, for a very enjoyable transmitter hunt. The lunch
and tour at the Jelly Belly Factory was great.
The TOPO maps to the left show my GPS track from the Pleasanton Start
Point to the Fox Transmitter and a terrain profile (elevation) relative
to the route I took.
Finally, I'm starting to put together my experiences
in mountainous transmitter hunting. Although this was a relatively
straight forward t-hunt, there were area's where my Doppler pointed at
reflections.
Every time I was in a low spot, between mountains, the
Doppler pointed at the tallest peak (reflection). I found switching my
Doppler to non-filtered, raw data, I was able to discern reflections
from true direction. As long as I was moving, a reflected direction
fluttered multiple Doppler LED's. True directions showed up on the
Doppler as a single or at most two lit LED's. (Keep in mind, the
AHHA Doppler has 50
LED's).
Also, take at least two beam bearings. Stay away from
the foothills, try for high points in the clear or at least flat spots
in the clear. The key here is "in the clear, away from foothills". Then
stay on your beam bearings, using the Doppler, only when the Doppler
stabilizes, displaying 1 or 2 LED's.
The U-R-Here radio is indispensable, I use an Icom R3
with it's four built-in attenuators. Attenuation 0 through 3 were used
to justify my belief I was traveling in the correct direction, towards
the Fox. Attenuation 4 meant, slow down and start deciding on which side
road to take.
