Longmont Amateur Radio Club-LARC

Serving the Longmont Colorado Community!

“The mission of the Longmont Amateur Radio Club is to promote, support, and lead amateur radio activities in a manner that honors and exemplifies the radio amateur’s code, builds camaraderie within our membership, and serves our community’s needs.”

Another LARC Fox Hunt

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Fox Hunt May 27, 2023 – Save the Date

The next Fox Hunt will be Saturday, May 27th at 9AM until 12PM. – Meet at Golden Ponds Parking Lot
The Fox will be located somewhere in Golden Ponds Park at and will be transmitting on 146.565 MHz!

2651 3rd Avenue
Longmont, CO 80503

Team up with a friend(s). Get your equipment ready and come out for a couple hours of friendly competition as to who is the first to find the hidden 2 meter transmitter. 

Those of you who participated in the recent “Tape Measure Yagi” building event have the primary antenna needed to participate. 

I participated in the hunt on March 26 It was the 1st I have been in in a long time. I learned a lot. With tongue in cheek, I am reminded on 2 old sayings. The old cowboy saying “don’t bring a knife to a gun fight” and the Boy Scout slogan “Be Prepared”. 

There are 2 stages to a Fox Hunt. 1) Go in the right direction when you are miles away” and 2) lower the signal strength when you get close.

Your 3 (or 4 or 5…) element portable Yagi will get you going in the right direction- sort-of. The front to side ratio on a yagi is high, but the front to back ratio is not a lot. So, you may end up going 180 degrees in the wrong direction. If you want, work with a team in a 2nd car, starting at the opposite end of the area and triangulate.

When you get close, the signal becomes so strong that your s-meter is pegged no matter how you point your yagi. One of the good features of FM is that the audio doesn’t change much with signal strength. For Fox Hunts, that good feature is a bad feature. 

So, when you get close, you want to make the signal weaker so that your yagi is more likely to point you in the right direction. An attenuator (like https://www.qrpkits.com/attenuator.html ) will help you go the last mile or so

When you get within 100 yards of the fox, your Yagi will be of little use. And, even your stock “rubber ducky” will receive too much signal. You will want to switch to a tiny stub antenna – an inch or 2 of wire. 

For those who really want to win, for the long distance step try https://www.iz3mez.it/wp-content/library/appunti/Double-Ducky%20Direction%20Finder.pdf . For the final 100 yards, try http://www.utaharc.org/rptr/wdr_fsm1.html 

See you at the hunt! More specific info to come soon!

For more information on the hunt contact Ed (WA7EM) at ejmohrman@yahoo.com

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