On Saturday, 22 October 2022, AARC will be holding a hidden transmitter hunt
– sometimes known as a foxhunt or t-hunt. All interested AARC members are
invited to join in on the fun.
The hunt will start in the parking lot at Hollymead Town Center in front of
the Starbucks. (See https://goo.gl/maps/fCYZ4jv9YvRqqwb56 .) Participants
should arrive at the starting location no later than 9:45 am to register,
earlier if you need coffee before you start. Participants will be started
every three minutes beginning at 10 am. Each participant will have three
hours from their start time to find the hidden transmitter – or fox. The
participant that finds the fox in the least time wins. See the attached
“Rules and Procedures” document below for full information on the conduct of the
hunt.
Although individuals may hunt alone, the best practice is to form teams. It
adds to the fun, and it allows designating a driver who can focus on safety
while the other team members are focused on the hunt.
No transmitting is required for this hunt, so participants need not be
licensed amateurs. Bring along your amateur radio-curious friends and kids.
It’s a great chance to introduce non-hams to some of the fun and variety of
our hobby.
The participant (individual or team) to find the fox in the shortest time
(while following all the hunt rules) will be the winner. The first-place
winner (individual or team) will receive a $20 Panera gift card. The second
and third place winners (individual or team) will each receive a $10 Panera
gift card.
The fox will be located somewhere in Albemarle County north of I-64, west of
US-29, and outside the Charlottesville city limits.
For this hunt, the fox will be:
Frequency: 146.565 MHz
Mode: FM
Tone: none
Polarization: vertical
Output power: 500 mW
It will transmit for 30 seconds out of every minute with the Morse Code
message “MOE MOE . MOE MOE DE W4UVA”. (In an Amateur Radio Direction
Finding (ARDF) competition, “MOE” is the code for the first of multiple
hidden transmitters. We’ll only have one transmitter for this hunt, but we
might as well do it the official way.)
For this hunt, the coordination frequency will be the 146.895/146.925 MHz
AARC linked repeater system. The Hunt Coordinator and all participants
should monitor this system for announcements and hints, if any.
If you are new to hidden transmitter hunting, haven’t done it for a while
and want a refresher, or are an old hand looking for new ideas, the “Homing
In” Web site at http://www.homingin.com is a fantastic resource. It covers
all kinds of hunts, including mobile hunts like the one we’ll be doing and
on-foot competitive ARDF hunts like those so popular in other countries. As
usual, there are numerous other Web pages and YouTube videos on the subject,
as well. Although sophisticated equipment and advanced skills can give you
an advantage, hunters can be successful with only a handheld receiver. The
important thing is to get started!
To give us a sense of the scale of the event, please send email to
thunt@albemarleradio.org to let us know if you plan to participate and how
many people you expect to be on your team.
AARC hasn’t done a transmitter hunt for a very long time. We hope you’ll
join us in reviving this fun and rewarding activity.
Mike KQ9P, Hunt Coordinator
