Initial bearing	2nd Bearing	EQUIPMENT I USED 1) Arrow 146-4-II, Four element yagi. 2) VK3YNG Sniffer MK4, I used it for all my bearings. Additionally, I used the MK4 as my U-R-Here radio which displayed my progress towards the fox exceptionally well. The MK4 was used as a close-in sniffer as well. 4) Compass. Magnetic compass was used to take bearings. 5) Laptop Computer. Used to plot all my bearing onto a TOPO map. 5) AHHA MicroFinder Doppler, Worked okay. 6) Standard C5900DA, Mobile tri-band radio. Any mobile radio will do, as long as you can listen to the FOX and TALK-IN frequency. I use my mobile radio as a distant U-R-Here radio and switched to my Sniffer MK4 when I got close. The MK4, attenuation level-6 seems to be the magic number this time, to stop and walk. 7) Garmin StreetPilot-III. Street level mapping helped me find streets I was not familiar with, as well as the plot the shortest distance to the Fox
Close-in bearings	The Fox
20030329_095632.jpg	20030329_100120.jpg
20030329_100134.jpg	20030329_100140.jpg	STORY As you can see from my maps pictured above, I read an initial bearing of 45*, only 5* off from the actual bearing of 40*. My second bearing was still 5* off but, north of the actual transmitter. Sometime during the hunt, Rich-KD6VCQ had lowered the 40-watt transmitter to 4-watts to save on battery power. As I arrived to within 1/2 mile of the FOX (1:20 PM), I read my 3rd bearing almost over the transmitter. I started to drive towards the Fox when Rich-KD6VCQ raised the transmitter power back to 40-watts to help the others who were still pretty far away. I suddenly realized that power can really really raise havoc with reflections. I drove all around the place, looking for the Fox, getting bearing from all directions. Around 3:30 PM, two tow truck that had been hiding the entrance to a small driveway moved away. As I drove up the driveway, my MK4 climbed up to level-6 (it never reached above level-5). I read these signs "No Trespassing, KEEP OUT" and decided to keep looking elsewhere. Kathleen told me to drive up the small driveway because of the high readings on my MK4 but, I didn't listen to her. What a mistake. If you own one of these Sniffer MK4's, you better start walking and looking when it display's level 6 (your 110 feet from the transmitter) or higher. After exhausting my options, looking for the transmitter in different area's, I headed back to the area where my MK4 read level-6 and crossed the signage barrier. I should have done this 1/2 hour ago. Rich-KD6VCQ, Bob-KF6VSE, Henry-KF6PCE, Joan-KF6QGJ and Bill-KF6QGK were all sitting around, waiting for the hunters.
20030329_160510.jpg	20030329_160511.jpg
20030329_160512.jpg	20030329_160513.jpg
20030329_160515.jpg	20030329_160531.jpg
20030329_160558.jpg	20030329_170917.jpg	If you look at the close-up photograph of the water tower, you will see a red 2-meter beam pointing straight at the metallic water container. Rich-KD6VCQ effectively bounced all the transmitters signal in all directions, hiding the main signal source behind the water tower. What a good hunt. The longer we hunt, the harder they get. I relearned, rule #3, "Trust your Equipment".
20030329_171233.jpg	20030329_171256.jpg	Rich-KD6VCQ lowered the power again to 4-watts and later moved the transmitter to the driveway entrance helping hunters find the Fox.
20030329_171316.jpg	20030329_171401.jpg	EQUIPMENT LINKS to the MANUFACTURE I think the best piece of equipment I own, is the Sniffer MK4. I use it to get quick and accurate bearings (with my 4-element Arrow beam), as well as my U-R-Here radio to determine how close I'm getting to the transmitter. Click here, for the SNIFFER MK4 web site.
20030329_171701.jpg	20030329_172711.jpg
20030329_173106.jpg