Cedar Valley Hounds Foxhunt Rules Last Revised: 07/04/2014 Who can participate: The hunt requires a licensed ham radio operator to stage the event and hide the fox(es), but anyone that wants to participate in the game is invited to join in. Some radio equipment is required for each team playing, but can be operated (receive/hunt only) by anyone. Those wishing to participate in the game but lack transportation or radio equipment can join a team and assist in several ways. Regular players frequently need to find players to help them, "ride shotgun". Available spare seats may be limited. where possible try to arrange in advance who you will be teaming up with. Experienced players should already be familiar with preparing for a foxhunt, so suggestions for game preparation won't be covered in this document. Players without radio equipment: Familiarize yourself with the area the hunt will be on the night before the game. You may even want to print out a few copies of a road map of the area for the hunt. Print more than one copy so you can write notes on the map, and use a fresh copy for the next game. Sometimmes even the experienced players aren't familiar with the area, and knowing your way around can be a BIG help. You might want to bring a snack and closed-lid drink as well, but not everyone wants others eating or drinking in their vehicle. Most won't allow smoking in their vehicle either, but there will be opportinities to grab a smoke between and during hunts if needed. Before the game begins: Notice should be sent out to all those that wish to attend, providing date, staging location, start and estimated end times, and frequencies to be used for the day's hunts. On the day of the hunt, he Huntmaster will be busy hiding the foxes prior to the start of the first round. Players should arrive before the scheduled start time, pick up passengers, and prepare/test their equipment so they are ready to begin when the hunt starts. The huntmaster will return to the meeting point in time to review the rules and safe foxhunting practice before the first round starts. There may be some additional information regarding the location of the foxes. Additional specific reminders may be given due to the location of one of the foxes, such as "For those of you that didn't know, the north side of the creek is private property, do not go into the woods on the north side of the creek." Cedar Valley hunts will usually use the vhf simplex channel 146.520 mhz for players to communicate with the huntmaster. Only use this channel when necessary, so that important transmissions can be made and heard by all players. If you would like to communicate with another member of your team, agree on a different simplex frequency before the games begin. If you want to communicate privately with your team members, use a cell phone. Members of other teams might be monitoring your "private frequency". Make sure you understand the boundaries, order and frequency of the foxes, and how to find your way back to the staging area before the next game begins. If the stating area is not a restaurant, the location of a restaurant to meet after the final round for the day will be announced. A test beacon may have been set out at a known location near the staging area for you to calibrate and test your equipment with while waiting for the start of the game. The beacon may get turned off when the first game begins. Team conduct: At least one member of each team should be a licensed ham operator, so they can communicate with the rest of the group during the game using the simplex channel if needed. Players shall obey traffic laws at all times. Do not speed, block traffic, make dangerous maneuvers such as middle-of-road U-turns. Don't drive where your vehicle may get stuck or bottom out and cause damage. If you can't safely use your mobile gear while driving, pull over at a safe place before attempting to use it. Or invite another player to join you to assist in running your gear while you drive, or vice-versa. What to expect during the game: Foxes will follow certain rules during the hunt, in addition to being safe, legal, and following FCC rules. Beyond that, anything goes. Transmitters will remain stationary unless otherwise announced before the hide. Transmission sound, duration, and frequency will remain constant throughout a round. Some common tricks to be expected on more advanced hides include but are not limited to: varying power, distributed or varying antennas or radiation patterns, changing or unknown antenna polarization. Foxes are usually camoflaged, sometimes very well. Huntmasters may give out hints at the start of a round, or at times of their choosing during a round. They may be deceptive, but are required to be accurate. Additional hints may be given out to speed up the discovery of the fox by the last remaining teams. Foxes will NEVER be placed on private property, including property the huntmaster or one of the players. There will never be a charge for admission to get to the fox. Foxes will most often be placed in discrete areas, where suspicious characters walking around pointing strange gadgets at bushes and fences will not quickly attract unwanted attention or worry memebers of the public. Foxes may be hidden in public-use areas of businesses, such as a bush at an unused corner of a restaurant parking lot. Foxes will never be hidden where members of the public would not expect to be (between a dumpster and a fence) or near anything of value or concern. (under a parked car) Right-of-ways beside roads are public property. Do not stray onto private property just because your gear suggests the fox is over there. Don't take shortcuts through private property. Go around the private property. When someone finds the fox: When a player discovers a fox, they must either physically touch it, or satisfy the huntmaster they know where it is to claim the find. This is a hidden transmitter hunt, not a hidden antenna hunt, you must find the transmitter. (occasionally this is more difficult than expected, such as when an entire bridge is the antenna) Players should leave hidden foxes undisturbed. If disturbed (dug up etc) they should be returned to their original condition as best they can before departing the area and allowing other teams to continue their search. Players are not allowed to give other teams hints to the fox's location, nor give out deceptive information. Players should not propose specific hints to a huntmaster over the air. The decision to give out hints to help trailing teams is exclusively to the huntmaster. On games with multiple rounds, the huntmaster will then decide if the next fox should be turned on, or if a few more teams should be given time to find the fox before starting the next round. Teams are not required to find all foxes or to hunt them in order. If a new fox comes up while a team is still looking for the previous fox, they can decide whether to abondon their current hunt or not. After several groups have found a fox, the huntmaster may announce intentions to disable that transmitter. Speak up now if you want to continue to look for it, otherwise it will be turned off. The huntmaster may request one of the teams that has found the fox to collect it and bring it back to the meet. End game: The team that finds the last (or only) fox of the day is given the option of being the huntmaster for the next event. If they pass, the second team to find the last fox is given that option. If they are also not interested, the current huntmaster may continue the roll next game, or may select a new huntmaster. All players are invited to meet at the chosen restaurant at the end of the game. The huntmaster will also join the group after he has collected the foxes. This is a good time to discuss the date of the next game as well as who will huntmaster. It's also a good time to review gear and discuss improvements for next game.