The Rowan Amateur Radio Society holds a Foxhunt each month in Rowan County NC. Anyone interest in Foxhunting is invited and encouraged to attend this monthly event. The dates, times, locations, and even the rules of these events are not written in stone, so please see our club event calendar, or “upcoming events” listing found in the sidebar of our website for the next date and time.
When the Foxhunt takes place in the mornings, participants often meet at the Checkered Flag Restaurant which is located in Salisbury at the intersection of US 150 and US 29 (MAP) at 7:30AM for breakfast and general discussion regarding the day’s event and other aspects of Amateur Radio.
After Breakfast, usually about 9:00AM, the group reassembles at the Salisbury Mall which is located at the intersection of Jake Alexander and Statesville Blvd (MAP).
Once everybody has converged at the Mall Parking Lot, the transmitter is turned ON, and the hunt begins! This event is currently based on Mileage, NOT time, so accuracy and patience will help keep your mileage down and set you up for a possible win!
Rowan Amateur Radio Society Member George Huffman, KD4MXA did an excellent job of documenting the December 2012 Foxhunt. The video was featured on a very popular program called “Ham Nation” (episode #82) which is broadcast on the internet by TWiT.tv. You can watch the video by visiting the following webpage:
http://twit.tv/show/ham-nation/82
What is a Foxhunting?
Foxhunting, in this context, is one of many terms used to describe Transmitter Hunting (T-hunting) or Radio Direction Finding (RDF). The video linked above should help you understand what takes place during a Foxhunt. Simply put though, it is trying to find a transmitter, or a transmitted signal by using special radio receivers, antennas, GPS, and/or Maps. The idea is to have a person, known as the fox, begin transmitting a signal from an unknown location but within the agreed upon area, which in this case is in Rowan County.
The fox transmits on an assigned frequency using different power levels at intermittent times. The hunters try and find the fox by determining the direction the signal is coming from and it’s strength using directional antennas and any number of techniques like triangulation. It is not always as easy as it sounds….and can often be quite challenging.
Our Foxhunt Rules
Generally speaking the hunter with the least miles traveled or the first to locate the fox wins. However, the rules can be modified on an as needed bases, or just to try new things. As an example, for the February 2011 Foxhunt, the rules were changed slightly. After a little discussion, participants decided to use a point system . For every 1/10 of a mile traveled, you got one point. Then after the fox was discovered by one hunter, one point was given for each minute after that time to the other hunters until they found the fox. The sum total of points then determined the actual winner. This event is all about having fun, learning, and honing our skills. The results are published each month in our club newsletter.
If you would like to learn more about Foxhunting, Amateur Radio Direction Finding, mobile T-hunting, etc., we invite you to visit the “Homing In” Website at: http://www.homingin.com/.
73, Happy Hunting!
