Fox Hunt Spoiler – Hints Included!

[Fred Kemmerer]

DO NOT READ ANY FURTHER if you don’t want any spoilers for the fox hunt tomorrow…

Thanks to Jamey, AC1DC for providing the content for this fox hunt spoiler and primer.

I think posting some hints might be a good idea for some of us that aren’t very experienced with fox hunting. If you are experienced and you don’t want any help, again, don’t read any further.

First the details. The foxes will be put out tomorrow morning and will be transmitting on a frequency of 146.565 MHz for the fox with the stronger signal. You will be able to hear this fox from quite a distance from it’s location. There will be a second fox putting out a weaker signal on a frequency of 146.535 MHz. You won’t be able to hear this fox from as far away, and there will be a third fox on 146.505 which will be weaker still.

Some techniques I’ve used that help me “home” in on the fox is to listen to the third harmonic which will be a much weaker signal. This method makes it easier to find which direction the fox signal is coming from when you are getting close.

The third harmonic for the 146.565 MHz fox is 439.695 MHz, the third harmonic for the 146.535 MHz fox is 439.605 MHz, and the third harmonic for the 146.505 MHz fox is 439.650 MHz. Another technique you might want to try is to tune off frequency a little to weaken the signal as you get close to the fox.

The foxes will be in this general area:

[caption id="attachment_41552" align="aligncenter" width="900"] Beaver Brook Association in Hollis, NH[/caption]

The actual foxes look like this:

The third fox is a micro-fox and looks like a 35 mm film container.

The foxes will be hidden very close to a trail. You will not need to go more than a few feet off the trail to find the foxes. The foxes will be well hidden, but in a fairly obvious hiding place – if you’re out looking for something that’s hidden, that is.

There will be a card with a pen by each fox. Please sign you name and call sign when you find the foxes.

Happy hunting!

73,

[Burns FISHER]

Well, not much luck again. Actually more luck…I got Fox 1 and 2 on the 3rd harmonic, and Fox 3 on the primary plus 10KHz off. I may even have walked by, or it may have been in a parallel path. No one else seen looking around.

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[Burns FISHER]

I hope no one says “But it was under that log!”

[Anonymous]

Well, I got Foxed today. Only thing i found ( or found me ) was “skieters’.

Tried the off freq, the 3rd harmonic, even off freq 3rd harmonic. Lots of hits but never found a fox.

Oh well, it was a nice afternoon feeding the Skietters.

Patrick KC1HDN

[Fred Kemmerer]

Thanks to everyone who hunted out foxes yesterday. Joe Garruba, KC2KVS, and family did find the fox yesterday. Congratulations to Joe and team! I ran into Joe and his family after they found papa fox (the large one) and we worked together to track down the two smaller ones as well.

Jamey and I will plan to put the foxes out again soon. Also, Jamey has a Tech Night later this summer to share some tips and gear for fox hunters. Finally, we’ll also plan on having a fox hunt at Field Day and at our picnic in August.

Would there be interest in a field fox hunting tutorial? I’d be happy to do this one Saturday or Sunday if there is interest. I bet Jamey would be part of this as well. Let us know if you’d be interested by replying here.

73,

[Burns FISHER]

Definitely interested.  For me, it would be better to actually do one as a group since I probably know the basics.  I’m just missing some tricks.  Maybe part of it is to have a map 🙂

[Fred Kemmerer]

FB Burns. The key is to be able to attenuate the signals enough so you can tell the direction when you get close to a fox. This is especially important with the large fox since it is very strong.

The steps that I usually use are:

1. Tune 5 – 10 KHz off of the base fox frequency until I get close
2. Tune to the 3rd harmonic of the fox frequency until I get closer
3. Tune 5 – 10 KHz off of the third harmonic of the fox frequency when I am almost on top of the fox
4. While doing 1-3, I place my HT antenna horizontal and against my body to get more attenuation. I turn around to find where the range of angles is when I cannot hear the fox (the null). The center of this range away from my back is usually the direction where the fox is.

With these steps, I can usually find our foxes with just an HT and a good whip antenna. Using a yagi antenna and a variable attenuator makes all of this stuff easier but the basics of tuning off frequency, using the 3rd harmonic, and using your body (and the ground) as attenuator are always required.

Next time the foxes are out and you want to hunt them, let me know and we can hunt together. You can look and I can coach…

[Burns FISHER]

Sounds like a plan, Fred.  I have done all that (except the body part).  But what happened this time is that I was getting a direction on the 3rd harmonic of #2 as well as getting #3 at 10KHz off, but I could never get the 3rd of #3.  I could walk along and get directions and strong/weaker, but I’m now wondering if maybe they were on a parallel path (I was on the Wildflower Trail).

[Fred Kemmerer]

Yes, it was right alongside of the trail behind the rock wall on the left. I bet you walked right by it. The toughest part is the last 10 ft or so. Let’s get together for the next one and we’ll hunt together.

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