[PPRAANet] Foxhunt Results!

[alpenney at pcisys.net]

Hello everyone,

This month's foxhunt proved to be a fun and challenging event, where not 
everything was as it first seemed!

Several of the foxhunting "regulars" were unable to participate this 
month due to such feeble excuses as "it's my wife's birthday" and "I have 
a sucking chest wound"!  We did have two new foxhunters show up however - 
brothers Nathan KC8WVW and David KB0OM, aged 15 and 17 respectively.  
They were paired up with Dave N0UVR, a grizzled veteran foxhunter!  One 
other team joined the hunt - husband and wife team Michael K0MLA and 
Susan KC0SYA, ably assisted by their two daughters Jessie and Sammie.

The fox was located in the Black Forest Regional Park.  I thought that it 
was a relatively unknown park - when I mentioned it to Kate WB9BAH, she 
indicated that she had never heard of it, and she lives in Falcon.  What 
I didn't know was that Michael had hidden the fox in the same park in 
January, a hunt that I had missed!

The fox came on as scheduled at 1315 on Sunday afternoon, and at 1330 the 
two teams left the parking lot in front of the War Memorial off Union 
Blvd.  I hurried off to the park to join teammates Kate and Jeremy (no 
call - yet!).

I was afraid that the fox wouldn't be heard downtown, but this was not a 
problem.  I heard it in every nook and crany as I drove along Platte 
Avenue.  Of course, that's not too surprising.  Unlike the HT's that we 
have used in previous hunts, this fox was packing a punch!  I used a 
Kenwood TM-241 on medium power, sending 25 watts into a vertical dipole 
antenna about 10 feet off the ground.  Did I mention that everything was 
camouflaged?!  I had problems seeimg it, and I knew exactly where to 
look!  The higher power confused the teams at first - Michael got out to 
search on foot at one point because the signal strength was so strong, 
and he was still south of Woodmen Blvd!

Camouflage and high power weren't the only tactics to deceive the 
hunters.  The signal was modulated with a varying tone in order to 
confuse anyone using "Handi-Finders".  As well, there were decoys!  
Scattered throughout the area were two wire antennas, a mag-mount whip, 
several pieces of coax cable, and the Mother of all Decoys - a piece of 
PVC pipe with a wire antenna and piece of coax sticking out the top, and 
a fox controller belonging to Jim AB0UK peeking out the bottom.  The 
controller even had a battery, and an LED blinked on and off just as it 
should!

It wasn't until almost 2 hours into the hunt (and several hints later) 
before the teams arrived at the park.  Although they had taken far 
different routes, they pulled into the parking lot within 30 seconds of 
each other.  It took another 35 minutes to find the actual fox, though 
both teams found plenty of decoys!  Susan finally spotted the dipole at 
3:52, and David KB0OM found it for his team 2 minutes later.

Of course, mileage had to be factored in as well as time in determining 
the winner.  Each mile counts as 5 points, plus a point for each minute.  
The final score was determined as follows:

Michael K0MLA: 142 minutes (142 points), plus 34.3 miles (171.5 points)
for a total of 313.5 points (second place).

Dave N0UVR: 144 minutes (144 points), plus 29.4 miles (147 points)
for a total of 291 points (first place!).

Following the hunt we all retired to the Red Robin Restaurant on North 
Academy for the presentation of Foxy, and for an enjoyable meal.

Next month's hunt will be organized by Dave and his team - 
congratulations Dave, David and Nathan!

73
Al, VO1NO / W0





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