a field organization of the National Association for Amateur Radio®
From NVARC Signal, VOL. XXXIII No.9:
The first scheduled meeting for the 2024-2025 year is September 19, 2024 at the Pepperell Community Center at 4 Hollis Street in Pepperell. Meeting starts at 7:30. Eliot Mayer, W1MJ, will discuss radio direction finding, also known as fox hunting. Fox hunt to follow on Saturday September 21.
Chris Larosee, AC1RV, writes on the NEMassFoxHunters list:
Brandon Hockle, NQ1W, writes on the Cape Ann ARA mailing list:
On Saturday, July 27,/2024, Jim Barber, K1TT, will host Cape Ann Radioactive FB Group’s first fox hunt by car.
Participants will meet at 668 Washington Street, Gloucester, MA, at 11 AM, rain or shine.
The fox will be in Jim’s car (everyone will see it at the start) parked on a public road or parking area viewable from the road.
The fox will be on Cape Ann proper, Gloucester and Rockport, no need to cross the bridges over the Annisquam River.
The fox will transmit on 146.565 MHz at 0.5 watts. With such low transmitting power the fox may not be heard at all until the hunter is within a quarter mile. The fox will play tones followed by my call sign in CW for 30 seconds on and 30 seconds off.
We will have a two hour time limit on finding the fox. If everyone does so quickly we will attempt a second hunt. Sorry, no prizes, just bragging rights, as this is our first hunt. At sometime in the near future we will also have a hunt on foot.
Because fox hunts do not require transmissions by the hunters, an amateur radio license is not required to participate. we have a few handheld radios we can lend out to unlicensed folks who wish to play.
Questions?
Contact Jim Barber, K1TT, by checking out Radio Active Cape Ann or email: capeann@hotmail.com.
Cheers de K1TT
Alan Hicks, KD1D, wites on the NEMassFoxHunters list at 7:50 PM on July 19, 2024:
The KD1D Fox is out again on this much milder weekend.
Alan, KD1D, writes on the NEMassFoxHunters list on June 15, 2024:
The KD1D Fox is once again at the Prouty Woods conservation area in Littleton, MA. The official entry point to the trail is at the end of Wilderness Road, which starts just past the Police Station Parking lot. Follow the semi-paved road (Speed Limit 10 mph), keeping an eye out for the resident chickens. You can park near the barn and gate.
You probably won’t be able to hear the transmitter until you get behond utility pole # 22, so be patient and enjoy the woods and critters.
I plan to leave the Fox out until noon on Tuesday. If you can’t make it on the weekend, it should still be transmitting after work hours on Monday evening.
When you find it, please enter Callsign, Name, Date and Time in the logbook.
Best of luck! 73 DE KD1D Alan
This is a reminder that the Barnstable ARC will be holding its General Membership April Meeting on Monday May 6, 2024 at 7:30 PM at the Brewster Police Department 631 Harwich Rd, Brewster MA, and on Zoom. Chris LaRosee, KC1TSA, will present “Foxhunting 101: Lessons from a USGS Wildlife Tracker.”
The KC1TSA fox is now deployed.
Frequency: 446.025 MHz
Location: Lower Allston/Brighton Neighborhood of Boston
Transmission Schedule: Every 30 seconds Sunday (2/4) starting 5AM and lasting until10PM
Disclaimer: The fox is NOT on private/residential, church, or school property. Looking in these places is not endorsed and discouraged. Further, I am not providing a starting location where the signal can be heard, but I will say that the fox is operating on pretty high power (UV5R Based), and driving around the area or walking to high places should get you to the signal.
Beginners: text me for additional hints, such as the best parking place or if you wish to borrow a directional antenna.
The KC1TSA fox is now deployed.
Frequency: 446.025 MHz
Location: Lower Allston/Brighton Neighborhood
the area shaded red on the map
Transmission Schedule: Every 30 seconds Sunday (1/7) from 10:00 AM to 7:00 PM
Disclaimer: The fox is NOT on private/residential, church, or school property. Looking in these places is not endorsed and discouraged.
Further, I am not providing a starting location where the signal can be heard, but I will say that the fox is operating on pretty high power (UV5R Based), and
driving around the area or walking to high places should get you to the signal.
Beginners: text me for additional hints, such as the best parking place or if you wish to borrow a directional antenna.
Happy New Year,
Chris, KC1TSA
617-378-2354 (text preferred)
christopher.laros001@umb.edu
Eliot Mayer, W1MJ, writes on the NEMassFoxHunters list at 2:50 PM on October 22, 2023:
W1MJ fox now available on 147.450 MHz, in same On Demand mode as K1MJC fox; just ask it to please transmit. This one will transmit for 1 hour, then you have to ask again.
From Mike’s fox, take trail in left rear corner of Rock Meadow. It goes to Beaver Brook North, and the direct route to my fox is no more than 15 minutes from there.
Good luck finding both foxes.
Eliot
W1MJ
Mike Cormier, K1MJC, writes on the NEMassFoxHunters list at 10:27 AM on October 22, 2023:
Mike Cormier, K1MJC, writes on the NEMassFoxHunters list at 1:50 PM on October 7, 2023:
The new K1MJC fox is out, designed by Eliot, W1MJ, it has an on-demand feature.
All you have to do, is transmit on the fox frequency for about two seconds (should include your callsign), and the fox will begin transmitting various messages for 30 minutes.
When the 30 minutes has expired, the last message will encourage you to make a voice request for more. (just repeat what you did to get it started in the beginning).
I don’t know how long the battery will last on this fox, so I plan on leaving it out for quite a while. it’s transmitting on the fox frequency of 147.540MHz.
It’s in a conservation area right next to the old Waltham high school off of Lexington Street.
There is a log with it, I would appreciate if you would sign it, however if you just want to send a reply to this I/O group that’s fine as well.
73,
Mike C, K1MJC
Mike Cormier, K1MJC, writes on the NEMassFoxHunters list at 5:06 PM on October 8, 2023:
Unfortunate news, decided to check on the K1MJC fox and discovered that someone had tried to steal it. However, the safety restraints saved it.
I will have to take it home and perhaps make some repairs and I’m not sure whether I’ll be putting it out again for the holiday tomorrow; sorry to all those who had plans to go look for it tomorrow.
Mike C , K1MJC, …… 73!
When:Where:
5-mile radius of a location of 120 President AVE, Fall River, MA.
Organizer: Skip Denault kb1cnb@bcra.club 774-
Description:
When:
9/23/2023
10:00 am to 1:00 pm
Where:
5-mile radius from 120 President AVE Fall River, MA. Check back for more details!
Organizer: Skip Denault kb1cnb@bcra.club 774-
The radius is only 5 miles from the center point.
* Time: 10:00 am to 1:00 pm — Check-in starts at 9:45 am on the BCRA repeater, 145.150 MHz PL 123
* Location: The Foxes will be within a 5-mile radius of a location of 120 President AVE, Fall River, MA.
* Fox1 will activate at 10:00 a.m. on 146.565 MHz FM
* Fox2 will activate at 10:02:30 a.m. on 146.430 MHz FM
Eliot Mayer, W1MJ, writes on the NEMassFoxHunters list at 11:01 AM on September 3, 2023:
Due to technical difficulties, the double fox hunt in Beverly has been terminated early.
This was Mike’s first deployment of this new fox design, and it is likely that the low-battery cutoff setting was too high for his battery. My fox became intermittent, apparently due to a bad cable going to the radio (or, hopefully not, a bad jack in the radio).
We will address these issues and try again. For now, go find the W1MWS fox in North Chelmsford.
Eliot Mayer, W1MJ, writes on the NEMassFoxHunters list at 6:00 PM on September 1, 2023:
K1MJC and I have both put foxes on the air in the Rock Meadow Conservation Area in Belmont, MA for the holiday weekend.
Map and directions from Google Maps: https://goo.gl/maps/6sYA2FXTKBXSdJXv7
Both foxes transmit once per minute between the hours of 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM daily. They will be on the air until 5:00 PM on Monday, Labor Day.
The K1MJC fox is on 147.54 MHz, and has a log book to sign when you find it
The W1MJ fox is in 147.57 MHz, and has no log book; please email your report to fox@w1mj.com.
73 DE W1MJ
Barry Fox, W1HFN, writes on the NEMassFoxHunters list at 6:04 PM on August 24, 2023:
Finally got a chance to deploy my fox. Too much rain this summer. My favorite spot, Hartwell Family Memorial Preserve in Littleton. Freq 146.565 MHz with a 20 second voice ID every minute. Please sign the log when found. I doubled up the battery, so should run until at least next week.
73,
Barry, W1HFN
Eliot Mayer, W1MJ, writes on the NEMassFoxHunters list on July 30, 2023 at 10:09 AM:
The updated W1MJ fox is on the air from Beaver Brook Reservation North in Waltham, MA. It makes a transmission on 147.54 MHz every 60 seconds between the hours of 8:00 AM and 8:00PM daily.
Parking is available at Rock Meadow on Mill St in Belmont and at Elsie Turner Field in Waltham.
This second-generation fox is still running a Baofeng UV-5R at full power (4 watts), but has a few new features:
It conserves battery power by only transmitting during scheduled daytime hours (above).
It periodically announces its battery voltage, and will stop transmitting if the battery goes too low.
The messages start to repeat every 20 minutes (vs. 10 minutes in original fox)
I plan to retrieve the fox after 5 PM on Wednesday (August 2).
73,
Eliot, W1MJ