KI5HGX TELLS US ABOUT HE AND HIS WIFE'S T-HUNT ADVENTURE
We really enjoyed our first experience of a T-hunt during the February event. My wife and I heard about it a few weeks prior and decided to give it a try despite not having any experience or directional equipment. I built a version of WB2HOL’s tape measure yagi for the antenna. My handheld has no S meter and I don’t have an attenuator so I decided to use a SDR (software defined receiver) Nooelec NESDR dongle from Amazon that I had laying around. Combining this with a Raspberry Pi computer and some free software called Cubic SDR gave me the ability to tune, see the signal on a spectrum and attenuate the strength.
Our strategy for the hunt was to start near the center of the mapped area and sweep to decide on what quadrant to focus our efforts. The HT picked up a signal near our start area and a quick spin of the yagi indicated a direction up the same road. After a bit of stumbling, we narrowed the area and the yagi even told us which side of the road to search and be the First to Find!
The SDR, although a bit cumbersome worked super and we discovered that a tape measure yagi design, if held out the vehicle window above 20 mph, rolls itself into a non-functional mess.