To keep hunters from scouting out the area in advance and interrupting the placing of the T's, they were not told in advance where the hunt would be. Instead, they were instructed to report at 12:15 PM to the Los Angeles Maritime Museum, two miles away, where they were then told to wait until 12:30 to go en masse to the actual site.

The fox-hiding subcommittee (N6MI, KØOV, and WA6OPS) tried hard to make this a fair hunt, with challenges for beginners and experts alike. It was our intent for two transmitters to be "easy," two to be really tough, and two to be in between. T2, which had a horizontal dipole high in a tree 400 feet west of the finish line, should have been easy but many hunters said the bearings seemed to cross atop the hill just northeast of the starting point. On the other hand, T3 was supposed to be very hard. It was on the sloping side of a deep football-field-sized pit with concrete bunkers in it at the north end of the park. The antenna was a twin-lead J, most of which was buried a couple of inches into the dirt next to the steep stairs. The idea was to light up the entire pit with lots of RF, but many went right to it.

Rules for the hunt were adapted from International Amateur Radio Union rules for international championship "foxhunts." There were six "fox" transmitters going on and off in numbered sequence. Contestants had to find as many as possible, in any order, within a two-hour time limit. They were started by a timer at about two-minute intervals to scatter them out on the course and minimize "follow-the-leader" problems.

HAMCON convention organizers provided $500 for the cash prize pool. The Southern California Six Meter Club added another $200 for trophies, ribbons, certificates and refreshments.

Forty persons signed up in advance to compete. Thirty-five showed up at the site and started on the course. Two were disqualified for staying out beyond the two-hour time limit. Three found no foxes. Here is how the rest did:

YOUTH DIVISION (Ages 17 and under)
Name                   Call      Time   T's   Place   
Mirabella, Tom        KD6AAN   1:32:11   4    1 $50
Curlee, David         KE6IPY   1:35:08   3    2 $30
Lewis, Jasen          (None)   1:22:49   1    3 $20

PRIME DIVISION (Ages 18 through 30)
Name                   Call      Time   T's   Place   
Barth, Scot           KA6UDZ   1:06:21   6    1 $50
Garrabrant, Byon      KD6BCH   1:48:28   6    2 $30
Barrett, Rick         KE6DKF   1:08:21   5    3 $20
Hess, David           KD6LZA   0:50:16   3    4 $15
Heather, Bill         KB6WKT   1:59:18   2    5 $10
Strader, Randy        KE6JQT   1:23:32   1      

MASTERS DIVISION (Ages 31 through 45)
Name                   Call      Time   T's   Place   
Allen, Glen           KE6HPZ   1:41:56   6    1 $50
Kelly, Kevin          N6QAB    1:48:02   5    2 $30
Kelly, Sean           (None)   1:52:30   4    3 $20
Printz, Wes           KA3DSE   1:56:28   4    4 $15
Hasa, Martin          KB6MAH   1:57:40   4    5 $10
Heinemann, Steve      N6XFC    1:59:31   4      
Livoni, Cathy         KD6CYG   1:31:02   3      
Miller, Bob           N6ZHZ    1:58:37   3      
Peschel, Patti        KD6VKS   1:53:28   1      
Mangrobang, Dennis    KE6SYY   1:55:30   1      
Obermeier, Mike       KD6SNE   1:57:45   1      

SENIORS DIVISION (Ages 46 and over)
Name                   Call      Time   T's   Place   
Johnston, Marvin      KE6HTS   1:16:24   6    1 $50
Widman, Darryl        KF6DI    1:56:01   6    2 $30
Curlee, Tom           WB6UZZ   1:53:02   5    3 $20
Smith, JaMi           KK6CU    1:54:43   4    4 $15
Crawford, Deryl       N6AIN    1:26:08   3    5 $10
Mirabella, Ken        KM6YH    1:44:12   3      
Peschel, Heiko        KD6SBI   1:56:02   3      
Holoubek, Gary        WB6GCT   1:57:38   2      
Finnin, David         WD6UBO   1:45:33   1      
Schwendtner, Dennis   WB6OBB   1:53:57   1      

Scot Barth KA6UDZ won the Sweepstakes award (a mounted compass with engraved plaque) for the best overall time to all six T's. Note that the age categories were different from IARU classifications to better equalize the field. Unlike IARU events, there was no separate division for women and all competitors were required to search for all foxes.

The shortest possible route was START->T3->T5->T6->T1->T4->T2->FINISH. If you had traveled that route directly, you would have gone 1.35 miles. This is about one half of the minimum route of a typical IARU championship foxhunt. (Of course, nobody's route was close to being that short!) Just for comparison, in the World Championship in Sweden last year, a Hungarian and a Russian did the course in just 47 minutes! So we all need more practice.

Despite looking agonized while on the course, everyone reported having a great time. Afterwards, many attendees went to the Grinder restaurant to eat and chat.

Rules for the hunt were adapted from International Amateur Radio Union rules for international championship "foxhunts." There were to be six "fox" transmitters going on and off in numbered sequence. Contestants had to find as many as possible, in any order, within a two-hour time limit. They were started at three-minute intervals to scatter them out on the course and minimize "follow-the-leader" problems.

Unfortunately, Fox #6 failed shortly after the start of the hunt. (Too bad---it was in a great spot!) My backup fox failed also, which left the contestants only five to find. World championship hunts have five, but the Swedes hunt seven or more.

We figured that the smaller site size would make scores better, but it didn't turn out that way. Reflections from the hills and well-camouflaged hiding places increased the difficulty a bit. (Wasn't the bamboo-grove Fox #3 great?) Four hunters found more foxes than than they did last September, but five found fewer, including one excellent (but nameless, to spare him embarrassment) T-hunter who found 4 at HAMCON and none this time.

We were honored to have three representatives from the American Radio Relay League present: Ed Hare KA1CV of the Newington Headquarters Laboratory staff, Southwestern Division Director Fried Heyn WA6WZO, and Vice Director Art Goddard W6XD. When I heard they were attending the VHF/UHF Conference, I offered to provide RDF gear to them so they could go hunting, and they accepted. Not only were they good sports, but they turned out to be good foxhunters, too.

Thirty persons signed up in advance to compete. Twenty-seven showed up at the site and started on the course. Two were disqualified for staying out beyond the two-hour time limit. Two got back in time but found no foxes. Here is how the rest did:

YOUTH DIVISION (Ages 17 and under)
Name                  Call     Team      Time      T's    Place
Mirabella, Tom       KD6AAN   OCRACES   1:57:00     4     1  $25
Probert, Matthew     KE6JRR   SBARC     2:03:35     2     2  $10
Curlee, David        KE6IPY   FRC       1:55:50     1     3  $5

PRIME DIVISION (Ages 18 through 30)
Name                  Call     Team      Time      T's    Place
Garrabrant, Byon     KD6BCH   OCRACES   0:58:24     5     1  $25
Barrett, Rick        KE6DKF   SGVRC     1:02:37     5     2  $10
Mendenhall, Matt     KE6ALM   SGVRC     1:44:54     5     3  $5
Barth, Scot          KA6UDZ   SGVRC     1:47:00     5     4
Holland, Randy       KO6KC    OCRACES   1:54:00     5     5
Heather, Bill        KB6WKT   DARC      2:00:00     4     6
Heather, Elizabeth   KC6OFS   DARC      2:00:42     3     7


MASTERS DIVISION (Ages 31 through 45)
Name                  Call     Team      Time      T's    Place
Allen, Glenn         KE6HPZ   DARC      1:34:50     5     1  $25
Printz, Wes          KA3DSE   DARC      1:53:55     4     2  $10
Hare, Ed             KA1CV    ARRL      1:54:57     4     3  $5
Reginato, Nerella    (None)             1:34:09     1     4
Sobodos, Steve       KN6UX    OCRACES   1:55:42     1     5

SENIORS DIVISION (Ages 46 and over)
Name                  Call     Team      Time      T's    Place
Crawford, Deryl      N6AIN    FRC       1:26:00     5     1  $25
Holoubek, Gary       WB6GCT   FRC       1:50:59     5     2  $10
Heyn, Fried          WA6WZO   ARRL      1:56:28     4     3  $5
Johnston, Marvin     KE6HTS   SBARC     1:57:00     4     4
Widman, Darryl       KF6DI    SBARC     1:57:10     4     5
Goddard, Art         W6XD     ARRL      1:56:05     2     6
Curlee, Tom          WB6UZZ   FRC       1:58:00     2     7
Mirabella, Ken       KM6YH    OCRACES   1:59:00     1     8

Because of timing problems, we "rubber-clocked" and allowed hunters to be out up to 2:05:00 before being disqualified. To simulate IARU-style regional and national foxhunts and to encourage more participation, we added a team competition to this hunt. Team members were prohibited from helping one another, of course, but the best three scores of the team members were compared with other teams to determine the team winners. Here are the results, including calls of the best three scorers.

CLUB                                BEST THREE MEMBERS      T's
San Gabriel Valley Radio Club     KE6DKF, KE6ALM, KA6UDZ)   15 in 4:34:31
Orange County RACES               KD6BCH, KO6KC, KD6AAN     14 in 4:49:24
Downey Amateur Radio Club         KE6HPZ, KA3DSE, KB6WKT    13 in 5:28:45
Fullerton Radio Club              N6AIN, WB6GCT, WB6UZZ     12 in 5:14:59
ARRL                              KA1CV, WA6WZO, W6XD       10 in 5:47:30
Santa Barbara Amateur Radio Club  KE6HTS, KF6DI, KE6JRR)    10 in 5:57:45

April Moell WA6OPS was the prime mover who helped me put on this event. Among many other duties, she arranged for the site and designed the unique trophies for overall winner (Sweepstakes Award, which went to KD6BCH) and first places in the individual categories. Mike Cramer KC6YHM met contestants at the hotel assembly point to give them their instructions and the well-kept secret location of the hunt. Mike Obermeier KD6SNE roamed the course in his mail truck, keeping everyone honest and watching for injuries. Clark Harris WB6ADC was at the finish line, stopwatch in hand. Vince W6ZKZ and Betsy KD6FID Vigus did starting line timing duties and handled refreshments for the intrepid runners and walkers. Betsy did the calligraphy on the fine certificates created by Christie Edinger KØIU. Scott Bovitz N6MI provided the transmitters. Gracie KK6CG and Bob K6PHE Hastings, as Chair and Vice-Chair of the Conference Committee, made sure insurance was provided and bills were paid. They also arranged for a donation from Gordon West Radio School to the prize pool.

During the no-host dinner at Sizzler following the hunt, there was a discussion about future international-style foxhuunts being sponsored by clubs, using the Los Angeles and Orange County Amateur Radio club councils as umbrella organizations. If your club would be willing to put on southern California's next international style hunt at a hamfest or as a standalone activity, please contact me.

Joe Moell KØOV