Fox Hunting 2008 Disclaimer: Fox hunting can be can be habit forming, frustrating, humiliating and darn-right ham boggling. It has also been know to grow loop antennas on ham shack mice. Participate at your own risk -- and have a good time! Notice: Fox hunting is a very serious training exercise designed to train amateur radio operators to locate jamming radio transmitters during emergency situations.  Willingly telling another ham's XYL/OM any different is a violation of the ham code.

---

---

Announcing the First Fox Hunt of the Season
Saturday, May 3rd, 2008 (1:00 to 3:00 pm)

The Rookie Fox Run

Time to dust off that old gear and get it ready to go.... 

What you will need: Ht or portable 2-meter tranceiver with normal mobile antenna, direction finding antenna, Kent County map, pen/pencils, COMPASS, ruler or PROTRACTOR, watch.

Click Here to Sign-Up and let us know you are coming.

Click Here to read the hunt chatter on our yahoo group.

---

----  Fox Spot  ----

Watch this Spot for Important Notices or Cancellations

• General Rules and Guidelines for GRARA Fox Hunt Exercises.

• Specific Rules for the Next Exercise 'The Rookie Fox Run' on mm/dd/yyyy.

• Manual: Transmitter Hunting, Radio Direction Finding Simplified.

• Construction Project: The 'Tape Measure' direction finding yagi.

• Construction Project: Passive Signal RDF Attenuator.

• Construction Project: Active Signal RDF Attenuator.

• More Links to Fox Hunt sites

---

---

General Rules and Guidelines for GRARA Fox Hunts

Frequency: Primary is 145.530 mhz and Backup is 146.580 mhz.
Power will decrease as the hunt progresses at the discretion of the fox.  

Everyone is welcome!

GRARA Fox Hunts are open to all amateur radio operators in the community who what to have fun and follow the rules. Attention to safety is the most important rule.  Be sure you are in a safe location before taking bearings to the fox.  All hunt teams should be two and four members.  At least one member in each team must hold a valid amateur radio license.  The purpose of each exercise is to find the hidden transmitter (the Fox) with the least number of traveled miles and within the allocated time specified for the hunt. This criteria may be changed if specifically called-out in the hunt rules for the specific hunt.  Starting odometer readings will be taken before the hunt begins.  If an odometer doesn't have a tenths of a mile reading, both the mileage and trip mileage should be recorded.

At the specified starting time, the fox will begin transmitting for a period of 5 minutes. All hunters are expected to measure and plot their initial bearing during this 5 minute period.   After that time, the fox will transmit in 30 second segments at the request of individual hunters.  Multiple requests will be handled on a roundtable manner.  Both the hunter and fox will transmit on the same frequency.  Hunters should use short and concise transmitting protocol to avoid being confused with the fox transmissions.  After plotting three bearings to the fox, all hunters should have a fairly well defined search target. 

The fox will be located within ten air miles of the starting point of the hunt.  He will also be located in plain sight in a public area within 100 feet of a public parking spot.  The fox may tease hunters by providing hints to his location.  However, these hints should be given in a manner that all hunters will hear and understand equally.  Poetry will be politely tolerated. The fox should attempt to make a written log of hints provided. 

Advanced equipment such a Doppler antenna or any computer assisted equipment is not allowed.

 

 

---

---

Hunt Scenario and Specific Rules for the This Exercise
'The Rookie Fox Run'
Saturday, May 3, 2008, 1:00 to 3:00 pm

 

General Scenario:

Special Rules:

• Starting Time: Saturday, May 3rd, 2008. Arrive by 12:45 pm, Hunt starts at 1:00 pm ready or not! The hunt will be over at 3:00 pm unless the time is changed by Rookie Fox. Odometer readings are a must. If no tenths of a mile on the odometer, record the trip and regular mileage.

• Starting Point: Celebration Cinema parking lot, M6 and Kalamazoo SE.

• Frequencies: 145.530 mhz Primary, 146.580 mhz Alternate. Power may vary.

• You will need: Ht or portable 2-meter tranceiver with a normal mobile antenna, direction finding antenna, Kent County map, pen/pencils, COMPASS, ruler or PROTRACTOR, watch.

• Boundaries: The fox will be within 10 miles of the starting point and within the following boundaries.

               North - 44th Street
               South - 108th Street
               East - Broadmoor SE (M37)
               West - Wilson Ave SW

• Transmission Sequence: At 1:00 pm, the fox will begin transmitting for a period of 5 minutes. All hunters are expected to measure and plot their initial bearing during this 5 minute period. After that time, the fox will transmit in 30 second segments at the request of individual hunters.  Multiple requests will be handled on a round-robin manner.
  
  Both the hunter and fox will transmit on the same frequency. Hunters should use short and concise transmitting protocol to avoid being confused with the fox transmissions. After plotting three bearings to the fox, all hunters should have a fairly well defined search target.
  
  The fox will be located within ten air miles of the starting point of the hunt. He will also be located in plain sight in a public area within 100 feet of a public parking spot. The fox may tease hunters by providing hints to his location. However, these hints should be given in a manner that all hunters will hear and understand equally. Poetry will be politely tolerated. The fox should attempt to make a written log of hints provided.
  

• Remember: The team that locates the fox within the time limit, while driving the shortest number of miles be the winner.

• Review: Hunters are invited to meet at closest McDonalds (announced by fox) after the hunt to tell stories and brag.

• A word from Rookie Fox:   I will be in  plain sight. You still won't be able to find me.  You only have two hours! I might have more hints for you later.  Good luck!

 

 

 

 

---

---

More Links of interest.

• Texas A+M Foxhunts

• Fox Hunting Links

• Fox Hunting for Ham Radio

• Good Google List

• QARC Foxhunts

• BMG Engineering

• Arrow Antennas

• Home Brew Foxhunts

• N0HR Foxhunts

• Laurel ARC Foxhunts

• Transmitter Hunting Equipment

• VectorFox Projects