Paul Shinn hosted the 2003 National Fox Hunting Weekend Transmitter
Hunt. Hiding a 90-100 Watt transmitter, beamed through a 3-Element Yagi
(700-Watt ERP), up about 2,500 feet. The true initial bearing from the
Altamont start point to his location was 72 degrees and about 73.7 miles
(straight line). According to MapSource (routing map) the shortest
distance on the road would have been 86.1 miles and the shortest time
1-hour 55-minutes (not including stop lights).
As you can see on my GPS map 001, I traveled a
route pretty much along the true bearing line (black) of 72*.
On this hunt, I learned, I should have deliberately
divert about 20* off the direct path. The additional mileage would not
have adversely affected my overall mileage and the benefit of getting a
second bearing that crosses the initial bearing would have helped
immensely towards knowing how far out the Fox was located. I wasted a
some time and mileage looking around Copperopolis and Angels Camp, map
002.
As you can see on map 003,
my U-R-Here, Sniffer MK4, began to function, telling me I was getting
close to the Fox. Because of the mountains, my attenuation steps were
not very linear but, they did step, in the upward direction as I drove
closer.
Map 004, shows me driving
past the Fox (from the left) and around Telegraph Hill (on the right). I
was really dumb today. My U-R-Here radio went to attenuation level #7
when I was only 500 feet from it and I still drove past it.
As I drove East and around Telegraph Hill, my U-R-Here
radio consistently displayed level #3 to #4 and once #5. What a mistake.
Level #7 is about as high as you'll ever get. Even listed on my informal
U-R-Here chart, level #7
meant you were 30-feet from a 3-watt transmitter and only 100-feet from
a 300-watt transmitter. What was I thinking?
Finely arriving (5-hours later), Paul showed us around
his commercial FM radio site and his kluged Fox transmitter.
Side note. Paul's Fox transmitter failed at the very
beginning. He excellent radio knowledge saved the day. As you can see in
photo's 151437 and
151456, he kluged together his
handi-talkie, power supply, linear amplifier and open boxed Fox
controller, to make a working Fox transmitter.
