On October 8th, 2022, it was a clear morning with a feeling of fall in the air. Having filled our bellies with food from the Country Kitchen, we turned our attention to the task at hand… finding that old elusive foxes!
Earlier that morning, K4HZ and W4XXV hid the two transmitters within the confines of Christiansburg Corporate boundaries. They would be joined by other transmitter hunters to find the shady looking ammo cans with antennas sticking out the top. It was nice to have two neighboring clubs represented among the hunters (VT club and Roanoke Club).
With antennas, radios, multimeters, doodads, and widgets, they set out to find the foxes.
Attending were K4HZ, KK4EWT, KO4USJ, KQ4DSX, N4OTX, W4ABS, and W4XXV.
How did it go? We had a blast! One mention of note should be that N4OTX found the 2m fox with all home brew equipment!
In the end, foxes were found, and lessons were learned. Below is the account from Carlos.
Notes from Carlos, N4OTX
For my second attempt at the N4NRV FOX-HUNT, I built an antenna inspired by a TV show of an elephant tracker using radio telemetry.
On November 8th, I used it to find the 2 meter fox. It took 4 location bearings and a field strength meter using the 200 mV display on a VOM.
NO BIG DEAL? It was for me.
The antenna design is easy and cost less than $20, and makes a welcome addition to anyone looking for an excuse to drive around and freak out your neighbors.
Center frequency was 146 MHz.
Elements were RG-58, any coax should work. Driven element was .2375 lambda (2 x 19.2″). Space was .1235 lambda (10″), chosen for front to back ratio. Reflector was .2535 lambda (1 x 41″).
Housing used 1/2″ pvc water pipe, 2 Tees. Back Tee was drilled with 3/8″ hole to exit transmission line. I used common Zipcord ( Z =100 ohms per ARRL) with a BNC termination. 4 caps on element finished project.
Good Hunting and 73,
Carlos