Overall GPS track map	GPS track, fox-1 & 2	Would you like to know what a Challenge hunt is like? Well Dave-KG6ACD hosted a duzzy of a Challenge hunt today. He set up three transmitters, fox-1 KG6AOH and fox-2 KG6ACD were to be found first, transmitting on the same frequency (146.565MHz at the same time) and sounded the same (same tones), with the exception of the Morse code identifier. These two transmitters were intermittent and close together. If you know anything about FM transmitters, unless you can block out the stronger of the two transmitters, you'll never hear the other. Fox-3 was EASY and to be found last. It was on a different frequency, sounded different and could be heard most of the time. As you can see from my initial bearings, I was way off on all three foxes. Lucky me, since I was after the Fox that was furthest away from fox-3, I drove north, trying to stay on my bearing of 53*. Take a look at my "Overall GPS track map" and see me (GPS track in red) driving around trying to stay near my initial bearing. By the way, I never heard either fox-1 or fox-2 for the first 59-minutes and 21.7-miles of my drive. Fox-3 could be heard (Doppler display) coming from the South/East.
GPS track, fox-3	Don-KD6IRE loop antenna
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20030118_171638.jpg	AOH fox-1_18:41	As Johnathan-AE6HO, Nicholas-KG6MYQ and myself drove the mountainous roads East. We began weakly hearing fox-2 (Doppler pointing East) when we were near Manning Rd. and Morgan Territory Rd. We only heard it for a minute. Luckily, Johnathan can read Morse code (GPS track, fox-1 & 2) or we would not have known it was fox-2. Suddenly we heard fox-1 (Doppler pointed South and very strong), I ran a bearing across Hartman Rd. and followed the Doppler, along with my GPS StreetPilot-III to fox-1. This is where I say we were very lucky. At this point we couldn't hear anything other than fox-1 but, since we previously heard fox-2 coming from the East, we headed East, towards Vasco Rd. It wasn't until we arrived at Vasco Rd. that we began hearing fox-2 instead of fox-1 (Doppler display East), lucky thing too, I didn't know where to go from here. Seeing Laughlin Rd. on my GPS StreetPilot-III we diverted around some residential streets until we were on Laughlin Rd. and found fox-2 transmitting away. Finding fox-3 was not a problem, we just headed South, towards our initial bearing and began hearing it when we were near Hw-580. Following our Doppler and projecting a bearing on the GPS StreetPilot-III we found a pretty straight route to the fox. (See GPS track, fox-3).
ACD fox-2_18:57	ACD fox-2_18:57
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20030118_192043.jpg	20030118_192235.jpg	EQUIPMENT I USED 1) Arrow 146-3-II, Three element yagi. I'm not very good at getting initial bearings (I can't easily find the center), so I'm going back to my four element yagi, Arrow 146-4-II. 2) VK3YNG Sniffer MK4, Transmitter hunting receiver. It worked on the strong Fox-3 signal but, I must admit I had to use my discontinued Standard C558A amateur dual band radio to hear Fox-1 and Fox-2. Additionally, we used the MK4 as our U-R-Here radio (once we could hear the fox) and it displayed our progress towards them exceptionally well. From attenuation level 1 through 7 on all three foxes. We also used the MK4 as our close-in sniffer with just a HT antenna and body-fade. Worked great. 3) Arrow Attenuator, Since I had to use a real radio, I also had to use an attenuator on my yagi. 4) Compass, Protractor and Map. I plotted my initial bearings on a laminated (printed) TOPO map. This helped me get an overall idea of my hunt area 5) AHHA MicroFinder Doppler, This came in very handy. Since we initially only heard fox-2 for a short time and the Doppler pointed towards it, we had the only possible information to find fox-2. No one else in this hunt had any information to locate fox-2. And another thing, once we could hear the foxes, the Doppler allowed us to just drive up to them. 6) Standard C5900DA, Mobile tri-band radio. Your radio doesn't have to be the C5900DA, any mobile radio will do, as long as you can scan or receive all the FOX channels and the talk-in frequency. I use my mobile radio as a distant U-R-Here radio. At S-1 you are probably 10-miles away, at half scale S-5 your around 4-miles and at full scale your probably only 1-mile away. At this point the Sniffer MK4 took over the U-R-Here duties, progressing its display from #2 to #7 as you got closer, around 30 feet away. 7) Garmin StreetPilot-III. Street level mapping. I used this to navigate around the mountains, locating street that got me where I needed to go and helped me plot routes where the Doppler pointed. 8) Laptop Computer. Running Delorme TOPO. TOPO allows me to plot and save all my bearings, as well as see the terrain such as mountains that may cause radio signal obstructions. Well, that's it. See you at the NEXT HUNT. Jim Sakane KD6DX
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20030118_194503.jpg	Andy_19:45
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