Some local radio guys did a just-for-fun fox hunt out at a park yesterday. It was a lot of fun! My buddy brought his kids out for it. When he couldn't find the group of radio people, his kids were being a little fussy I guess, but then when he found us/me, they saw me pointing a big antenna around (just like the one their dad had just built), listening to a radio go "BEEP BOOP BEEP BOOP", they actually got excited and wanted to know more about it. We ended up finding all the "foxes" (AKA hidden transmitters in the trees and bushes) and walking all over the park. Definitely going to build my own 2M measuring tape yagi now! Maybe even figure out how to add a built-in attinuator.

Anyone else do the fox hunt thing?

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Re: Fox hunt
By: Phigan to All on Thu Dec 28 2023 21:17:37

Hi,
The fox hunt thing isn't something I'm all that good at, but I do like watching others play the game though.

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Re: Fox hunt
By: Phigan to All on Thu Dec 28 2023 09:17 pm

Some local radio guys did a just-for-fun fox hunt out at a park yesterday. It was a lot of fun! My buddy brought his kids out for it. When he couldn't find the group of radio people, his kids were being a little fussy I guess, but then when he found us/me, they saw me pointing a big antenna around (just like the one their dad had just built), listening to a radio go "BEEP BOOP BEEP BOOP", they actually got excited and wanted to know more about it. We ended up finding all the "foxes" (AKA hidden transmitters in the trees and bushes) and walking all over the park. Definitely going to build my own 2M measuring tape yagi now! Maybe even figure out how to add a built-in attinuator.

Anyone else do the fox hunt thing?

My local club does a monthly fox hunt. My city is laid out with two major highways that basically form a square around the majority of the city. The rule is that the fox needs to be heard from those highways (it takes about 20 minutes to make your way all the way around it).

Basically it starts early on a Saturday morning, and lasts until the battery on the transmitter runs out. I've only done a few over the last couple years (one i could hear from my house) and I found them quite fun, but also incredibly frustrating when just flying solo. I know i was right on top of one once, but for the life of me, I couldn't find it.

DaiTengu

...Marie-Joseph? It's a lovely name! It just sounds silly, that's all.
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Re: Fox hunt
By: Khronos to Phigan on Fri Dec 29 2023 01:59 pm

The fox hunt thing isn't something I'm all that good at, but I do like watch others play the game though.

What makes you say that? Also, what equipment were you working with? Did you have an S meter? Or an atinuator on the antenna?

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Re: Fox hunt
By: DaiTengu to Phigan on Sat Dec 30 2023 09:34 am

frustrating when just flying solo. I know i was right on top of one once, b for the life of me, I couldn't find it.

Hah! We definitely had that experience. We KNEW it was in this one bush, but it was the kids that could actually get in there and find it.

That's pretty awesome about the monthly thing! Wish someone did that around here. Do you know what kind of power the transmitters put out that the club uses?

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Re: Fox hunt
By: Phigan to DaiTengu on Tue Jan 02 2024 04:06 am

Hah! We definitely had that experience. We KNEW it was in this one bush, but it was the kids that could actually get in there and find it.

That's pretty awesome about the monthly thing! Wish someone did that around here. Do you know what kind of power the transmitters put out that the club uses?

I just had to dig through some facebook posts, but I think it's around 500mw. Anything more powerful than that makes it VERY hard to find the fox when you get nearby.

Here's a picutre that MikeMikeMike (WI9MMM) took before he hid it back in May

https://i.imgur.com/0q08tP5.png

DaiTengu

...I like a man who grins when he fights.
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Re: Fox hunt
By: DaiTengu to Phigan on Tue Jan 02 2024 07:40 am

I just had to dig through some facebook posts, but I think it's around 500mw. Anything more powerful than that makes it VERY hard to find the fox when you get nearby.

Indeed! By the way, you may already know this.. multiply the 2M freq by 3 when you're nearby and tune in to that. You'll get much weaker 3rd harmonic signal :D. When you don't have atinuator handy.

Here's a picutre that MikeMikeMike (WI9MMM) took before he hid it back in May

https://i.imgur.com/0q08tP5.png

Wow, that looks like it'd be super hard to find if I didn't know what it looked like :)

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Re: Fox hunt
By: Phigan to Khronos on Tue Jan 02 2024 04:00:15

What makes you say that? Also, what equipment were you working with? Did you have an S meter? Or an atinuator on the antenna?

For me in my experience I was riding along with a couple of guys and they were making all the choices.
My input really wasn't taken into account all that much.
For a radio we had a simple handheld with a tape measure antenna.

If I want to play with interesting stuff in the local world I'd much rather play with the stuff in the 2.4 ghz and other bands where you can do computer networking type stuff with voip and other technologies.

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Re: Fox hunt
By: Khronos to Phigan on Tue Jan 02 2024 06:20 pm

If I want to play with interesting stuff in the local world I'd much rather play with the stuff in the 2.4 ghz and other bands where you can do computer networking type stuff with voip and other technologies.

The other day I got on IRC via packet on 2M (144mhz).. and right now I've got my SDR listening on 28.074mhz decoding FT8 transmissions from pretty much all over the world. I don't know how, but I saw a message from a square just south of Beijing. I'm just using a super crappy loop antenna that I got off eBay inside!

Anyway, you can do fun computer stuff on all bands :)

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