The Fort Wayne Radio Club is trying a new approach to fox (hidden transmitter) hunting. Instead of teams competing against each other, all hunters will be part of one, large team that works together to find the fox. In a real life situation, a stuck transmitter or bootlegger would need to be localized quickly to find the signal’s origin.
Here’s how the new procedure will work:
At the beginning of a hunt, instead of all hunters starting from a central location, we will position hunters around the county, ready to take a bearing on the fox.
One person will plot bearings provided by multiple hunters, who could be mobile or home stations with directional antennas. Their information will enable the drawing of vectors that should converge on the approximate location of the fox (see image above).
Once a possible solution is evident, the coordinator will direct mobile stations to locations closer to the fox’s apparent location.
When the fox transmits again with hunters closer, the process repeats and the solution narrows.
If a hunter finds the fox’s location, all others hunters will be informed.
At the fox’s location, hunters will try to find the micro fox. Equipment will be shared and newbies taught how to use it. This will be a good learning experience for all.
For the conclusion, successes, failures, and suggestions for improvement will be discussed by all so that future hunts can include other technical challenges, etc.
