LARS FOXHUNT on 21 September 2002

		The day dawned cloudy and wet, thunderstorms 
were forecast and it was drizzling off and on.  One is wondering 
how many hunters would turn out to hear a wet fox barking?  As 
I drove into London, some more ideas for hiding the fox were 
formulated!





		Jim, N4ICU, Fox put together some two-volt, four amp-hour 
gel-cells and obtained some seriously long run time for the FOX.  
The packaging this month for the Icom IC-2AT, FOX Controller, dynamite 
wire antenna and batteries consisted of a foam hamburger box, three 
compartment foam plate box and a genuine Cap'n D's plastic bag.  





		The radio, 9-volt battery and controller went into the 
divided box and the gel-cells went into the hamburger box.  These 
heavy boxes were gently placed into the bag.  
		The FOX's den was between Doug's Reliable Motors and 
AutoZone and in front of Dollar General in north London.  There is 
this telephone pole with guy wires and two posts and a storm 
drain in the middle.  The grass, twigs and other detritus collect in 
a pile, so into this trash pile the loudly barking FOX filled bag is 
gently laid.  





		Time was 10AM, location was N 37 degrees and 8.391 minutes, 
W 84 degrees and 5.902 minutes, altitude was 1222 feet amsl.  
Jim announced on 147.18 that the FOX part of the foxhunt is active; 
then heard nothing for ten minutes.  Ah-ha, last time they used 
147.285 to co-ordinate, tuning there I heard some familiar call signs.

		10:00	FOX started barking
		10:11	Heard Rodney KG4LKY tell someone to head 
			to Wal-Mart




		10:12	Leland KE4FGL announced he was heading out
		10:16	Rodney called Steven KG4LLB





		10:39	Peewee KF4ZUX called Christy KG4PIJ and/or 
			Jessica KG4KBW,	 informing her that he was 
			still at work and wondering if IT was found yet.
		10:52	Leland was just seen going north on Main Street
		10:53	Peter KJ4ND was just seen going north on Main Street
		10:54	Leland and Peter pulled into the shopping center 
			across the street
		10:56	Rodney and Peter are still trying to cross the 
			street to get to this side.
		10:57	Peter just drove all the way around me and 
			didn't see me!
		10:58	Peter getting out with DF gear, Leland parks 
			and sees me.
		10:59	Stanley KD4ERF shows up with his camera! 
			Parks beside me.




		11:00	Peter taking readings
		11:04	Eddie KG4LFZ is walking around searching 
			for the FOX



		11:05	Eddie looking hard at the dynamite wire sticking 
			out of the bag, FOUND FOX!
		11:06	Leland Found FOX, Brian KG4DIO shows here
		11:07	Peter Found FOX, Brian Found FOX



		11:08	Rodney is in front of Radio World, we hide 
			behind cars
		11:09	Rodney and Jessica have shown up here
		11:11	Rodney and Jessica in DF'ing front of 
			AutoZone going toward Food Fair.



		11:16	Rodney and Jessica walked within 20 feet 	
			of FOX and kept on going.
		11:20	Rodney walking around a truck, getting closer



		11:21	Jessica walked within 3 feet of FOX and 
			continued on
		11:22	Jessica Found FOX



		11:24	Steven and Christy just showed up
		11:28	Steven and Christy walked within 20 feet of FOX
		11:29	Steven and Christy are hunting between cars 
			in Doug's lot



		11:30	Rodney almost stepped on the FOX!  Had to 
			step over IT to miss it, kept looking up as he 
			kept on walking and looking up at the flags 
			hanging on the wire around the car lot.



		11:36	Rodney Found the FOX!!!!!!
		11:40	FOX was hushed up and the hunting group 
			headed to Levi Jackson Park for the 
			LARS Fall Picnic





		While waiting on the hunters to arrive, I moved the car 
to several locations in the parking lot trying to keep vehicles 
between the street and myself.  The drizzle came and went which 
gave the FOX bag the appearance of lying there longer than it 
really did.  The new battery system worked great, still looks 
good for another two hours or more.
		For your curiosity to be satisfied, the location of the 
PICNIC was W 37 degrees, 5.030 minutes, N 84 degrees, 2.857 
minutes and 1198 feet amsl.




........ 73 & God Bless
Jim, BJ, N4ICU, Fox, Arctic Fox, Sneaky Fox, Wet Pelt Fox, Tricky Fox …

The Great L.A.R.S. Fox Hunt of September 21, 2002
By: Peter Rock KJ4ND, one of the hounds


       The  day started  off rainy , and I  wasn't sure how that would 
affect the foxhunt and more so  for the picnic, but when Linda KB4HDM 
called me , I said we would try to go ahead with our plans for the picnic .
       When 10 am rolled around I was listening for the fox on 147.550, 
and briefly heard him and announced on the repeater that I had heard 
the fox. Then when I tried to get a fix on him, I could no longer hear 
the fox. I turned my beam around several times to no avail. 
       After a few minutes the fox could be heard by Brian KG4DIO 
who reported it at 12 degrees (NNE), and also by Eddie KG4LFZ who 
had him about 15 degrees. I don't think that anyone else heard the 
fox at time. Brian had heard him on his horizontally polarized 
antenna; and mine is only vertically polarized, which makes a big 
difference. I next tried to plot these on the map and they were almost 
parallel. So I could not really make a good estimate where the fox 
was, except to the northeast.  
       I even spent several minutes connecting several connectors 
together to see if I could get a signal off the TV antenna which is 
horizontally polarized, but no luck. 
       So I headed over to the old Wal-Mart, and most of the "hounds" 
were there. On the way over I only heard the fox signal briefly. 
When I was crossing over I-75, it barely broke the squelch. 





       Over at Wal-Mart I could not hear the fox on the mobile radio, 
so I took out this 2x2 pole I had put together for such an occasion. 
Stan has a good picture of it on this site. Eddie helped hold it while 
we turned it around to try to hear the fox. We could barely hear 
the fox, and it did not register any "bars" on the signal meter. But 
we could hear difference in the loudness of the signal, and got a 
reading of about 25 degrees (NNE) at the Wal-Mart parking lot. 
       So then we all got in our vehicles, and started out. I figured 
we needed another reading north of there, and was deciding 
between going up to the next exit (41) or going through town, 
and decided to do the latter. Eddie KG4LFZ was with me and 
helped to watch the signal strength. The signal was very weak 
at first, and I turned onto Mill street, headed North. When we 
turned onto Main Street at 16th Street, the signal jumped way 
up , and as we approached the area near Radio  World, it was 
full scale with the attenuator on . So I thought it might be in 
the parking lot on the left by Kroger's. We turned in there to 
get a reading. Leland was also checking around the same 
area. I had to tune off the frequency since it was so strong, 
and got a reading directly across Main Street.  So we got back 
in my mini-van, and crossed over into the parking lot by 
Food Fair. It was even stronger there. I circled around the lot, 
and then stopped for a reading. I saw Jim N4ICU around that 
time, and Leland was also hunting. I got one reading that was 
toward Radio World, but as we went that way , the signal 
was less, and I moved to a different part of the parking lot, 
and got a direction  that points toward the car lot area, and 
parked next to there. Eddie got out and was DF'ing on foot 
and I tried another reading which was to my left toward 
some telephone poles on my left.





       At that time Eddie was over there, and found it. 
Then Leland and I found it next.
       It was a great camouflage with the fox hid in a 
Captain D's plastic bag, with only a tiny wire sticking up 
through the top. And being placed where it was near 
other sticks and the storm drain, it completely blended in.



       So, it was a good hunt, and Jim did a great job 
hiding the fox.
       Looking back on the headings we got initially, Brian's 
was right on, and Eddie's was only a little off .
       Looking foward to the next hunt ...

       73's de
         Peter KJ4ND