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Bolton Wireless Club
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Recalling a series of very successful events run by the Bolton & District ARS in the 1980's, the BWC has now revived this tradition of "Fox-hunts" (light-hearted direction-finding competitions) in the 2m band.
Following on from G6GVI's seminar on VHF DF-ing, members of the BWC and Bolton RAYNET Group took part in an inaugural practice event on 23-Jun-2008.
Blessed by perfect weather conditions in a long light evening, the twenty participants divided into a number of teams and vehicles, and set off to track down the hidden transmitter G0BWC/P (operated by Norman G4YNK).
The teams used a variety of equipment, including 2m loops and small beams, plus the more sophisticated Datong DF1 and Montreal3 phase-detection systems.
The bearings and tracks from two of the teams are shown below:
This practice event illustrated how accurate initial bearings from well-chosen sites can reduce the distance driven in the chase.
Apart from learning about VHF-DF techniques, the event was also a very successful social occasion, with most of the competitors staying on at The Beehive (the Fox's lair) for a drink afterwards.
The event was so popular that we're scheduling two more of them over this summer!
The simple ground-rules for this and future events are:
| The "Fox" (hidden station) will be located within four miles of the Britannia Hotel (the Club's base). |
| The "Fox" will operate from a public road, or the car-park of a pub or similar establishment. |
| The "Fox" will use a fixed power on a pre-arranged 2m FM channel, with vertical polarisation. |
| The "Fox" will transmit for 30 seconds at 5-minute intervals. |
| The "hunters" may use any form of DF equipment (including phase-detection). |
| Stay safe: don't do anything to compromise the safety of yourself or other road-users! |
Our second event on 28-Jul again co-incided with a lovely evening, and saw a greater variety of aerials, including a wooden-framed Moxon Rectangle deployed through a sun-roof!
Colin G6MRY operated the hidden station near to the centre of Bolton, and "foxed" most of the competitors for a good while. Bill's Montreal3 DF system proved its worth again, bringing his team home first.
For our the third and final event on 11-Aug, the weather stayed mostly dry, and four teams of hunters sought Norman G4YNK who was our "fox" again. Despite wasting ten minutes on a fruitless search for a radio which Ross had accidentally left at the roadside, Ross and Colin managed to locate Norman in around an hour. Although they had the Datong DF1 Doppler system linked to an on-board computer, they relied on bearings from a simple 2m loop and 70cm beam (for tracking Norman's third harmonic once they got close)!
Next year we'll be trying some more high-tech options for group DF events - watch this space for developments!