The Great L.A.R.S Foxhunt
of
Saturday 26 Jan. 2002
The Fox (N4ICU, Jim) began setting up a few minutes
before 9:00 A.M. in the K-Mart parking lot, London,
KY. The fox transmitter and fox controller were put
together, the frequency was 147.550 simplex, power
switch put on low power (150 millawatts), the 10 inch
wire antenna applied, the Icom IC-2AT and
controller were turned on, wrapped in camouflaged
cloth and hung about 5 feet up in an evergreen tree
at the edge of K-Mart's parking lot.
9:00 FOX began transmitting
9:09 Brian KG4DIO, commented on 146.61 that
nobody can hear the FOX
9:10 Leland KE4FGL, Peter KJ4ND, and Brian
all agreed they could not hear it
9:16 Peewee KF4ZUX stated the could not hear it
9:17, 21, 25 Several reporting they could not hear it
9:25 Brian said he could hear it on SSB, horizontal
on his 17B3, NNW
9:35 Leland reported it barely broke squelch at
I-75 exit 38
9:35 Peter reported he could barely hear it
9:41 Carl K4KQS could hear it at 330 degrees
9:43 Brian had a direction of 343 degrees
9:44 Somebody said it was dead at McDonalds
South London
9:46 Carl said it was at 330, Peter said it was
very faint
10:02 Leland had it full scale at Hwy. 363 and
192 (700 feet from Fox)
10:03 Brian had a super good signal at Wal-Mart
10:04 Leland on K-Mart access road (getting close)
10:05 Leland in K-Mart parking lot
10:06 Leland stops, gets out, checks with his
DF antenna and takes off away from me!
10:12 Leland found me (JIM) but not the FOX
10:14 Talked with Leland and he left to find the
elusive FOX
10:14 Leland parked out in a clear area of the
parking lot for some handheld DF'ing
10:15 Brian is in another parking lot just above
the FOX, and says, “He just couldn't
be in the K-Mart parking lot, nobody
would be dumb enough to do that!
10:16 Stanley KD4ERF showed up and talked
with Leland
10:17 Brian shows up and gets with Leland
for some more hand held DF'ing
10:19 Brian points to an empty area (the FOX)
of the parking lot, and shakes his head
10:20 Brian and Leland begin to walk in
the correct direction
10:27 Brian, Christy KG4PIJ and Leland find
the right tree, The FOX is FOUND
10:30 Steven KE4LLA and Steven KE4LLB arrived
10:36 Steven and Steven found the FOX
11:10 Peter arrives and begins hand held DF'ing
11:11 The FOX controller 9 volt battery begin
dying (strange sounds were
emitted by the FOX)
11:15 Peter closed to within 2 feet of the FOX
and kept on walking
11:16 Peter lifts a manhole cover and looks
within, and then returns and finds the FOX
11:20 Jim replaced the 9 volt battery and more
RDF equipment checks and practice ensued
--:-- We all talked about the hunt and the equipment,
the sneaky fox and his dirty tricks
12:20 The group departed and went to the Pizza Hut
for sorely needed refreshment!
I tried to tell them the FOX would be harder to find this
time. All in all, I believe their skills are improving and
the FOX will find that it will harder to find a good
hiding place. Also, another lesson taught by the Fox
was to teach them to quit expecting that the white
Corolla would be the fox's lair.
.........73 & God Bless de N4ICU Jim a.k.a. BJ fox
FOX Arctic Fox Hey, You