[FoxHunt] Foxhunting/ARDF Equipment

[Jay Hennigan]

On 11/13/11 4:44 PM, Marvin Johnston wrote:
>
> Hi all,
>
> One of the things I've been quite interested in is getting more people
> involved in both transmitter hunting and ARDF (Amateur Radio Direction
> Finding/Radio Orienteering.)
>
> To that end, I've been providing Tape Measure Beams kits, offset
> attenuator kits, and MicroHunt transmitters for quite a few years now.
> Recently, I added a few more things to the mix trying to get equipment
> available.
>
> I am curious about a number of things related to increasing the
> participation in transmitter hunting/ARDF.
>
> * Where do/did you get your initial training? How could it have been
> made better?

In my case it was an outgrowth of mobile T-hunting.  As mobile hunts got 
more sophisticated, the "sniff at the end" became more of a challenge. 
Due to this I was doing a lot of on-foot RDF before I had any experience 
with orienteering or map reading.

> * Where do you get your equipment? Is it mostly homebrew, plans on the
> Internet, magazine articles, or something else?

For 2 meters, initially homebrew.  TDOA rigs, offset attenuators.  For 
80 meters once I got into ARDF, a Ukranian rig and upgrade to the Aussie 
blue box.

> * If you are traveling, how do you find out when and where local hunts
> are held in other parts of the country?

Having heard about them is often the reason that I'm traveling.  :-)

> * How did you find out about the listservers/forums dedicated to
> transmitter hunting?

Hard to say at this time, I've been on several for a while.

> * How can we reach more people, and with what kind of information to get
> them interested and/or involved?

I think stressing the game portion of it.  Cater to some of the crowd 
that is interested in things like the "Amazing Race" TV show, adventure 
racing, etc.  A well-written press release to the local media in advance 
of a practice session inviting the public might help, especially with 
the right spin (and hope for a slow news day).

I'm somewhat surprised, at least locally, that there isn't more interest 
from classic orienteers in ARDF.  I'd like to see more ARDF in 
conjunction with conventional orienteering meets.  There are typically 
50 controls set out, all of the logistics are in place.  Five more 
controls aren't that big of a deal.


--
Jay Hennigan - CCIE #7880 - Network Engineering - jay at impulse.net
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