Eastern Massachusetts ARRL

Fox Hunting — November 5, 2022

Where:
5 mile radius from The intersection of US Route 6 and Reed Road, Dartmouth, MA (823 State Road (41.6384678, -71.0361075)
Organizer: Skip Denault, kb1cnb@bcra.club, 774-644-3469

* Time: 10:00 am to 2:00 pm — check-in starts at 9:45 am on the BCRA repeater, 145.150 MHz PL 123

* Fox1 will activate at 10:00 am on 146.565 MHz FM
* Fox2 will activate at 10:02:30 on 146.430 MHz FM

$10 Dunkies Card to the first team to reach each fox!

Communications with “Fox Control” can all be done over the BCRA repeater, including checking in when you have found the fox. You may also speak with us in the control vehicle using physical distancing if you wish.

There will be TWO foxes – one manned by KB1CNB, Skip, and one by N1KJS, Kevin. When you find one of the foxes, you can get a hint to help you find the second (if you want!).

Check-ins will begin at 9:45 am on the BCRA repeater, 145.150 MHz PL 123. Chat and help on the repeater also.

The Fox1 will activate at 10:00 am on 146.565 MHz FM, and Fox2 at 10:02:30 on 146.430 MHz FM with a 5-watt signal, and both will transmit 1 minute of tone followed by Morse Code ID and 4 minutes of silence. As the hunt progresses we may increase the transmission times – that will be announced on the BCRA repeater. The hunt will last until 2:00 pm or until all checked-in participants have found the transmitters, whichever comes first.

The Fox1 (in Skip’s vehicle, a blue/grey Jeep Commander marked BCRA) will be in a public place and be manned at all times. When you have found the fox, your time and order of arrival will be recorded, and a personalized certificate will be emailed to each participant.

The Fox2 (in Kevin’s vehicle, a blue Toyota Tacoma marked BCRA) will be in a public place and be manned at all times. When you have found the fox, your time and order of arrival will be recorded.

Participants are encouraged to work in teams and are asked to drive carefully and observe all applicable guidelines, both from the FCC and the state & local governments. Since participants are receiving only (except for radio check-ins), an amateur radio license is not required.

Email questions to Skip at kb1cnb@bcra.club or text to 774-644-3469. After the hunt, your comments, impressions, and suggestions will be welcome!

Join us and have some good amateur radio fun!

Mike Cormier, K1MJC, writes on the NEMassFoxHunters list at 4:41 PM on October 29, 2022:

Congratulations to Jeff AC1JR for his inaugural fox hunt (mobile; he was parked in a secret location) with his homemade fox.

In true ham fashion, he designed and built from scratch this fox, and I’ll let him go further into the further details of it, but I found it to be an impressive feat; some thing that would make my brain hurt pretty bad for sure!

I got wind of the fox being activated on my way home from completing the hunt for the KD1D fox in Littleton, and so I had begun to guess at some possible locations based on knowledge of my hometown and where he may possibly be, suffice it to say…. I was wrong! Lol

After checking out a few locations where I thought he may be, I kept getting indications in one particular area which I spent the majority of my time looking.

After dropping my daughter off, I continue to hunt and was able to find him within five minutes after; I actually had wanted to check the backside of a location that would require me to drive the long way around and, in the process of doing so, I got full quieting without an antenna on a handheld… a ways before I was to reach the destination I was heading for, and so sometimes the old-school methods work the best!

As it turns out, only two of the five or six bearings that I had taken with my app “FoxHunt Pro“ were accurate and actually pinpointed him where they crossed; that’s the problem, sometimes you don’t know which bearings are the accurate ones!

I’ve been working on a fox that I could use for mobile hunts like this, and so I’m inspired to finish it now, and join in the fun!

Alan Hicks, KD1D, writes on the NEMassFoxHunters list on October 21, 2022 at 1:09 PM:

The KD1D Fox is on the loose again.  As usual, it transmits on 146.565 MHz FM for about 25 seconds and repeats every 60 seconds.

As of noon on Friday, October 21, the FOX can be found somewhere in the Grassy Pond conservation in Westford.  Parking can be found on the west side of Plain Road between Almeria Circle and Villanova Drive (both of which are on the east side of Plain Road).  Come on out – there are still some fall colors to be seen and ,if you’re so inclined, you can try some of the exercise stations along the trail.

The KD1D FOX will be on the air until about noontime on Monday, 10/24. 

There’s a pleasant farm stand nearby where you can get coffee and other delights to fuel your adventure,

More information is available at
https://westfordconservationtrust.org/tws_holding/grassy-pond-life-course-and-trail/

73 and good hunting from KD1D