[PPRAANet] This Saturday's PPRAA Fox Hunt...

[Jim Gifford (K0LOB)]

As I mentioned earlier, here are the details of the August PPRAA Fox Hunt:

    Date:  Saturday, August 27th
    Time:  1:00 PM
    Start:  Palmer Park (Grand View Overlook)

The talk-in frequency for the Fox Hunt is 146.580 MHz simplex.  I will also 
be monitoring 146.970 MHz in case you cannot reach me with simplex.  The 
transmitter will be started at 1:00 PM sharp.  If you are not at the 
starting location by 1:00 PM, reach me by radio and let me know that you are 
participating so that I can track your time.  If you are hunting using radio 
direction finding (RDF) techniques, you will depart at this time an join the 
hunt.  If you are not an RDFer and want to try the hunt using APRS and/or 
GPS, you will stick around the starting location for another 1/2 hour.

At 1:30 PM I will do two things...

First, I will hand out a piece of paper that contains a lat/long coordinate 
for 1 of 3 bearing points.  Each bearing point will contain 1) a compass 
bearing from that location to the position of the FOX and 2) the lat/long 
coordinate for the next bearing point.  Using a GPS, these bearing points 
can be discovered.  Each bearing point will contain a fairly easy-to-find 
film canister that contains the information.  At the end of this 
"multi-cache" (for those of you that are GeoCachers) you will have three 
lat/long coordinates, each with a compass bearing to the fox.  It is hoped 
that you will then use this information to calculate the general location of 
the FOX using triangulation.

Second, I will send out an APRS object, on 144.390 MHz, that is titled 
DF-XXX, where XXX is a compass bearing.  This object should show up in your 
APRS software with the lat/long coordinates for a specific bearing point. 
Take the compass bearing from the title of the object to get a bearing on 
the FOX from the location specified for the object.  Three of these objects 
will be sent 30 minutes apart (1:30 PM, 2:00 PM and 2:30 PM).  By 2:30 PM, 
you will have the same information that the GPS group has... 3 coordinates 
with bearings.  It is assumed that you will then use this information just 
as the GPS crowd would.

Fox Hunts are first and foremost RDF events, so the RDFers have the 
advantage of starting 30 minutes early.  Also, nothing prevents RDFers from 
using all three techniques mentioned above.  Bearings using RDF techniques 
can be gathered at the three locations that will be revealed using both APRS 
and GPS techniques.  Although APRS and GPS are not part of traditional radio 
direction finding, you still have to use RDF techniques, namely 
triangulation, to figure out the location of the FOX.  Also, triangulation 
will only get you in the general area, you will still need to use a radio 
and a simple "body blocking" technique to find the FOX.  I will leave it up 
to you to research this technique on the internet.

At 3:00 PM I will send out an APRS object that has the exact location of the 
FOX and will verbally give the lat/long coordinates of the FOX on 146.580 
simplex.  That way our APRS and GPS friends will be able to zero in on the 
FOX if they cannot narrow it's location down using simple "body blocking" 
techniques.  You may think that two hours is a long time, but last month the 
FOX was not located in under two hours.

Should be a fun hunt and will be interesting to see who gets there first.

See you on Saturday,
Jim, K0LOB
Jackie, KC0QHI