The Great L.A.R.S. Fox Hunt of July 19, 2003

By Peter Rock KJ4ND

Here us the fox hunt information from the standpoint of one of the hounds!

It was a good day for the fox hunt, with the weather warm, and the fog earlier in the morning had cleared. It had been about 2 months since the last fox hunt, due to field day last month.

I heard the fox come on at 10 a.m. and although weak, it was very readable. However that only lasted for about 1 minute, and then I could not hear it anymore from my home. I had gotten a direction, going only by the loudness of the signal, since it was not strong enough to show any "bars" on the meter.

It seemed to be close to East. I checked on the 147.285 repeater to see who else was on the hunt, to see if anyone else could hear it. No one else heard it at that time either. So I decide to join all the "hounds" over at the old Wal-Mart's.

When I got there, Rodney (KG4LKY) and Jessica (KG4KBW) were there, and Brian (KG4DIO) pulled up. Steve (KG4LLB) and Christie (KG4PIJ) were in line at the Burger King. There was also music blaring, as there was a car show going on at that location.

I tried to get a reading there on the fox, but could not hear anything, even with my wooden pole extender, and the new small beam I had. Carl (K4QKS) also called and he could hear the fox "just south of East".

So, we thought it might be in the Levi Jackson area. We went in a couple different ways, with some going down to 229, but Rodney, Jessica, and I went to the Park area. We started hearing the fox as we got close to the Park, and it got a little stronger as we were entering the park , but then we lost it, and figured it was probably south of the park.

I got back on route 25 south, and the signal got stronger. As I got near Fariston road, it was quite strong, and got weaker when I got past there. So I turned back and turned onto Fariston road, and it got stronger. I had to hunt around there a little, and It seemed to be just East of there, across a line of railroad cars, but I could not see any way to get across there. so I decided to see if there was a road behind there, and I did find one, and went over an old bridge ( it looked like it would collapse ), and about 200 feet up the road was a church, and the rest of the hounds and the foxes were there. I used my HT to zero in on the exact location, which was in a plastic bag over near the railroad cars.

So it was actually a fairly fast hunt, and the others hounds were there first, having come there around the back way (1189), and we all had a good time, and went to Fazolli’s for lunch.

Looking foward to the next one.

73's Peter KJ4ND