MSRDF's First Fox Hunt
On Saturday, March 13, 2021 the Mississippi Radio Direction Finding Association held its first monthly Fox Hunt. At 9:00 am 8 vehicles with a total of 15 people arrived at the starting location, the parking Bass Pro Shop parking lot in Pearl.
One of those vehicles and persons could not stay for the hunt, but dropped by to drop off some extra tape measure yagis for persons who might need to borrow one. Two other vehicles with three persons in them came to just observe the hunt. One of the observers was the President of Meridian Amateur Radio Club. He plans to host a Fox Hunt or T-Hunt for his club in the near future and we plan to help him.
The remaining five vehicles containing eleven persons actually participated in the hunt. K1REZ and his youngest son served as the Fox and everyone else participated as the Hounds. After a brief orientation to the rules and parameters of the event, the Fox drove off getting a short head start before he released the hounds to begin hunting.
Since the Fox had to alternate one minute of non-stop transmission followed by five minutes of radio silence and keep repeating that cycle until all of the hounds had found him, the Fox decided to get creative with his transmissions. After the usual taunts to the hounds to find him, he began reading to them from his favorite selections of Shakespeare, interspersed with favorite poems, scripture verses, and 1970’s song lyrics. It was a virtual education in Early Rez Eclecticism.
The Fox drove around briefly in direction intended to mislead the Hounds, but soon headed for his intended hiding spot. The Fox’s Lair was supposed to be in a parking lot on top of a big hill in Pearl, MS just west of the new Pearl High School, beside Soccer Fields, Baseball Fields and a Golf Course. However, soon after arriving in the empty parking lot it began to fill up with cars of parents and kids kids attending a soccer game,. The Fox’s car was soon lost in the middle of a sea of other vehicles. To make it easier to have everyone hangout in close proximity to the Fox for the award ceremony, the Fox drive out of the parking lot and down the hill to the empty baseball fields. He back up slightly behind a hill to make it a bit harder to see him. The intended dynamics of the signal the Fox had meant to send out were greatly changed and reflected by his under the hill hiding spot. In fact all of the Hounds drove by on the top of the hill passing the unseen Fox down below them. Some of them passed by on the hill up to an hour before they finally located him. Had the parking lot on top of the hill remained empty and the Fox had parked there, the hunters would have no doubt found him a lot sooner and in a slightly different finding order. Every hiding spot presents unique challenges and unique opportunities, making every Fox Hunt or T-Hunt a unique and rewarding experience.
Everyone had a great time during the hunt. After everyone had found the Fox, we chatted for a while. A few of the participants shared their Fox Hunt adventure stories with us. Then we held a brief awards ceremony and took photographs.
Vernon (KI5HGX) and his wife, Sarah (now KI5URZ) won the first place medal with the lowest mileage accrued during the hunt. They were also the first to find the Fox arriving about an hour before everyone else. This was their second radio direction finding event and their second first place, so they have definitely developed a good hunt strategy and put together some good tools to work with. I have a photograph of Vernon standing on top of the passenger seat, straight up through the sun roof of his Jeep Wrangler, holding a tape measure yagi in one hand and a curious looking cigar box, which he is staring at, in his other hand. That cigar box was used to win their first T-Hunt and has since become the signature symbol of their success. Our sources have revealed to us the carefully guarded secret contents of that mysterious cigar box. It contains a home brewed Software Defined Radio receiver (SDR) consisting of a Raspberry Pi, a Nooelec NESDR dongle, the free Cubic SDR software, and several cables running out of the side of the box. This unique rig allows the signal to be tuned, seen on a spectrum, and attenuated. A very unique set up for sure!
Jack (K5FIT) and his wife won the second place medal, with the second lowest mileage. They were also the second to find the Fox arriving about an hour after the first finders. This was their very first radio direction finding event. They used a handheld radio with builtin attenuation and a home brewed tape measure yagi antenna. They also used one of K1REZ’s favorite secret weapons, the SigTrax smart phone ap, which allows users to dispense with paper maps, by drawing multiple triangulation bearings on a map on their smart phone.
Don (N5SPJ) and his wife Melissa won the third place medal, with the third lowest mileage. They were the fourth to find the Fox, proving that in a Fox Hunt speed does not determine the winners, only good solid radio direction finding skills does. I am waiting on word form them as to the equipment they used and will add it here as some as I hear back from them.
Kyle (KI5JCL) and his wife Barbara and daughter Evie were the fourth in mileage, but were the third to find the Fox. This was their very first radio direction finding event. If we had been going by speed they would have won a third place medal, but we went by mileage during this event to reduce the tendency to speed and to reward good clean radio direction finding techniques, primarily meaning triangulation. They used a tape measure yagi which Kyle built the week before the event, along with an HT and a commercially purchased offset attenuator. They drove a good bit more miles than the other participants, but won the consolation prize of knowing they are well on their way to becoming fine radio direction finders.
Everyone had a good time, and did a great job of finding the Fox within the two hour time limit. And the radio direction finding skills they honed in the process may one day come in handy for tracking down harmful interference.
The Mississippi Radio Direction Finding Association plans to host at least one T-Hunt and one Fox Hunt every month.
We have several other types of fun RDF events planned as well. Once we have received enough funds to purchase six specialized transmitters we plan to host an official Internationally sanctioned ARDF event. We have plans for a fun Man Hunt (a portable Fox Hunt) through the woods and trails of a Mississippi State Park. We also have plans for a four course (Appetizers, Soup/Salad, Entree, Dessert) Progressive Dinner Christmas Party, in which you have to use your radio direction finding skills to find the location of each course. Check out our calendar at MSRDF.com periodically for updates on future radio direction finding events
If you are interested in supporting our efforts to grow radio direction finding in Mississippi please consider joining the MSRDF association. 100% of association dues and donations goes toward purchasing event transmitters, loaner equipment, and the equipment that International ARDF rukles require.
If your amateur radio club or emcomm group would like for the Mississippi Radio Direction Finding Association to host a Fox Hunt or T-Hunt in your area, or give a presentation on Radio Direction Finding to your club, please send an email to info@ARDF.com