back to 5 recent NIRAA foxhunts

1996 foxhunt:



This is what I can recall of the first NIRAA / W0MG fox-hunt I participated in:

I don't know the exact date, but around 1996, shortly after I got my ham license, I went to the local ham club
meeting as I heard they were going to do a hunt. This would be my first time interacting with groups of ham
radio operators. The group I had been with for years were mostly kids and young adults on one of the CB
channels in the area. In this town, CB was pretty active, and there were around 7 different channels in use
by differen groups of people. Old timers, cowboys, rednecks, kids, AM skip talkers, and SSB skip talkers.
I was in with the kids group, and we spent MANY weekends playing "cat and mouse" in our cars. So we all had
good functional experience, but for the most part we'd been using omnidirectional antennas and hunting cars.
Using a directional antenna and looking for what might be a small box in a tree stump was new to us.

So the meeting was kinda boring for me, but then they got to talking about the fox-hunt planned for next week-
end. We were going to meet at gateway park I think, everyone would check their gear, and the hunt would start
at whatever the time was. Any questions? Well, our cat and mouse group would usually play around 5-10 rounds
on a given evening, and I wondered just how many rounds they were expecting to play. Heads turn and stare at
me like I've just asked a VERY stupid question. Someone speaks up, "Well, last time we never did find the guy!"

Oh dear. Maybe I've under-estimated just how difficult this is going to be? Owell, at least it'll be good for
some experience, even if this group makes me look like a complete noob. I had the "fox-hunting bible" book and
it shows pictures of just how devious a ham fox can be, so this was definitely time to kick it up a notch.

So the day arrives. I've been working feverishly to convert my 11m doppler back into what it was originally
designed for (2m) and it's kinda sorta working reliably. It's all I have though, I don't have any hand-held
sniffers or portable directional antennas. Just the doppler strapped to the roof of my car and my Alinco HT.

I pull into the parking lot and see others setting up their gear, and calibrating it using the local repeater
which is about in that direction. It's a confusing sight. There's a few people that have these weird
yellow yagi antennas that look like they're made out of tape measure tape. Seems legit, but I wonder why they
don't just use regular solid elements? And some of them have these boxes on the broomstick or whatever it's
built on, turning a little knob. But there's no meter on the box. I have NO idea what's up with that. At
least one person has a 3-4 element aluminum beam, that looks more "normal" to me.

But then I look around and see others with HTs. And nothing else. Others have HTs, and I swear to god, they
have soup cans with a slot cut out on one side, and are holding the cans over their HT rubber ducks. I guess
they are using that to shield every direction but where the slot is? Does that work? Doesn't look like it
should?

But then I see some of the players with just HTs, holding them against their body and turning around in place,
I guess they are using their body to block the RF, and change the signal that way? (I learned later this is
called doing a "body fade") I know that wouldn't work on CB, but maybe it's useful on VHF? At this point I
just assume VHF hunting is going to be VERY different than 11m hunting. RF must follow different rules on VHF.

It's all looking a little surreal. Then this old guy (Warren Amfahr) gets out of his car and pulls out this
rod with a shiny silver circular loop on the top. He spends time fiddling with a little box at the bottom
of the loop, adjusting something. Swings it back and forth in about the direction of the repeater, then swings
less and less until it look like he's "locked onto" something. He looks up and smiles, he's pointed the loop
directly at the repeater. Satisfied, he tosses it into the back seat of his car. OK. I'm pretty sure THAT
is the person that is going to give me the most trouble today.

The clock strikes 10 or whatever the time was, and the fox starts transmitting. Craig (N0PBU) has hidden in
Cedar Falls somewhere. He's giving a nice long key-down, apparently hes going to go for three minutes straight
and then un-key for like 30 seconds in case someone needs to reply to him. But it's going to be an almost
constant transmission, which for me seems awful easy. Normally with Cat and Mouse, the mouse doesn't talk
unless talked to, and then often keeps transmissions brief. Hunting a dead carrier in Cat and Mouse would be
considered super easy. Owell, well see.

Beams are turning, yellow tape measures are waving around wildly, and people with HTs are turning soup cans
and twirling in place. The cans and twirlers don't look like they're getting much out of their gear, but all
the others seem to be pointing in about the same direction, roughly South. I've driven in a few slow circles
in the parking lot, and my doppler agrees South is the way to go. As I leave the parking lot with many others,
I see the can and twirlers looking a bit confused, and I assume they've seen all the beams pointing South and
will just start on that bearing.

I decide to take the highway, and head South on 58. The signal is very strong and solid. No multi-path that
I can see. Doppler is holding solid straight ahead. I take my eye off it for just a few seconds, and when I
look back at it, it's already spun around and is rear-right. I just passed it? OK I take the 12th st exit
and spin around, and watch the doppler compass spin and it's straight ahead again. I drive slower now, and
by the time I get to 18th st exit, it's straight left. Exit here, and turn on 18th st.

In just a few minutes I find myself in CFU's parking lot. It's a big lot and being a Sunday it's completely
empty. Good spot to do a few slow circles on the next transmission. So Craig keys down again, and I drive
in several wide slow circles. But just then my doppler broke! The compass is stuck pointing to the right.
Disaster! Calm down, lets try turning in the other direction. Pull a U turn and now turning in slow circles
to the left. But now the doppler's compass is stuck on the LEFT. What is going on?!

I stop and look at my doppler for a bit. I can't fix this here. I have nothing else to use today. Bummer.
Then I look up and pay some attention to my surroundings. Right out my driver window is a solitary car, parked
in the middle of the lot. COVERED with antennas. It's PBU in his hatch-back with dozens of antennas and
orange hazard lights on the roof. He's firmly hanging onto a mic and staring at me, like a deer in headlights.

What? WHAT? Is that it?! How did I miss that? How did I not see him until now?? Wait.... THIS is the sort
of "we never found him last time" hide? How can you not find that? This isn't a little box in a hole in a
tree, it's a giant red porcupine in the middle of a deserted parking lot. I was speechless. Craig would later
tell me that I never really looked up, I just kept staring down at my gear as I slowly drove in circles around
his car, and he just couldn't believe that I had no idea he was RIGHT THERE) I guess it just didn't mentally
register with me too identify THAT as something that was trying to hide. I'm used to cars in ditches
buried in cattails or in dark corners of abandoned alleys. But this was just completely unexpected.

I don't remember hardly anything after that. The rest of the day just got outshined by the early events.
I remember I found PBU again first several times, but by that point I was adopting a common practice with our
Cat and Mouse games, where if a more experienced player kept finding first, they'd just get within visual of
the hide, then go find a quiet place nearby to park and watch the hunt unfold, letting others win a round or
two. It's no fun if the same few are winning all the rounds or if you never get to win a round yourself.

The last time we saw Warren that day, he was pulling out of the parking lot at the start. We found out later
that he had de-tuned his delicate loop when he tossed it in the car, turning his razor-sharp null 90 degrees
and causing him to literally "drive in circles around the fox". When he realized his mistake, he went home,
too embarrassed to tell anyone what he'd done.




last updated 11/20/2023 at 11:27:06