Fairway Village ARDF on 6/14/08
Photos above by Joe Moell KØOV and April Moell WA6OPS. Report below by Joe Moell KØOV.
A new site and a lot of newcomers to transmitter hunting made our June 14 event a big success. David Corsiglia WA6TWF of the SuperSystem UHF repeater association hosted us in the clubhouse of Fairway Village, a residential community where he lives in north Fullerton. This was the first time that spectators could be in air-conditioned comfort as they dined and watched transmitter hunters go out into the bright sunshine of this 83-degree day.
With help from some other SuperSystem members, David provided a great barbecue lunch. There were the usual hamburgers and hot dogs, plus excellent Korean-style ribs and all the fixings, including David's famous "mother-in-law" baked beans.
Both before and after the lunch, David kept encouraging every SuperSystem member to try finding the tiny and flea-powered 218 MHz "ditter" transmitters that he had hidden in unusual spots in the subdivision, such as a mailbox, traffic cone, water sprinkler, tree, etc. It was such a busy time that April and I couldn't log all the people that took the challenge, but I know that all six receivers that David and I provided were in rotating use for much of the late morning and early afternoon by many individuals and families.
My four two-meter beginner transmitters didn't get a lot of attention this day, but I'm hoping that many of the folks who tried the ditters and had a good time will come out and try two meters at one of our future events. Better yet, I hope they will want to build their own tape-measure yagis and offset attenuators so they can hunt at their leisure with their own equipment.
Then at 12:30, the five advanced course transmitters came on the air. The color map that hunters were given showed that the hunt area included Fairway Village plus the nearby Fullerton Sports Complex and Brea Dam Recreation Area, a total of about 450 acres. This turned out to be a challenge worthy of the three attendees who are training for the ARDF World Championships in Korea this September. Point-to-point distance for the full course was 4.8 kilometers, if your RDF was perfect. Total climb was more than 350 feet because the area includes both the depths of the flood basin behind the Brea Dam and the heights of the residential areas. Contour running was limited by the irregular boundaries. And there was very little shade out there! On the other hand, this may have been the first time in one of our soCal events that runners could take a shower right after they finished!
Here are the official results of the advanced hunt:
ARDF 2-METER COURSE RESULTS -- 5 FOXES
Name and call Foxes Time
Bob Cooley KF6VSE 5 1:18:04
Scott Moore KF6IKO 5 2:29:15
Jay Thompson W6JAY 3 1:32:19
Bill Smathers KG6HXX 2 2:27:11
Monique Beringer and family started late and were very close to #5 when the RDF set batteries died. By the time they got back to get fresh batteries, it was almost time for the transmitters to go off.
Thanks to David WA6TWF for hosting this event and to April WA6OPS for handling all the scoring and medical duties as usual. Thanks to all the attendees who provided additional food and were good sports as they hunted those radio foxes. It was great to have hunters from as far away as Santa Barbara and the Bay area. Let me know if you would like to have another hunt at this site some time.
Joe Moell KØOV
Heartwell Park Scout RDF on 6/7/08
Report below and photos above by Joe Moell KØOV
For the sixth year, Scouts of all ages had the opportunity to try transmitter hunting at no charge during the Long Beach Scout-O-Rama in Heartwell Park on June 7. RDF was part of a comprehensive Amateur Radio display set up by Associated Radio Amateurs of Long Beach (ARALB) and Orange County Hospital Disaster Support Communications System (HDSCS). There were six standalone hidden transmitters on the 2-meter band plus six pulsed 218 MHz wildlife tag transmitters. There was also a simple 3-fox course on the 2m band.
Teaching RDF to the Scouts were (in alphabetical order) Tom Gaccione WB2LRH, Marvin Johnston KE6HTS, Joe Moell KØOV, Jay Thompson W6JAY and Richard Thompson WA6NOL. All of the teaching hams were kept very busy helping groups of two or three Scouts at a time.
Irvine Park Transmitter Hunting on 5/18/08
Report below and photos above by Joe Moell KØOV.
Hidden transmitter hunting on foot was part of an Amateur Radio display to the general public at the Orange County Emergency Medical Services picnic at Irvine Regional Park on Sunday, May 18. This event ("EMS Appreciation Day") was four hours of free food and fun for families of EMS employees. It was also open to all other park-goers. There were displays by ambulance companies and other EMS-related organizations. Several hundred persons attended.
This communications and foxhunting display was organized by the Hospital Disaster Support Communications System (HDSCS), which is an Amateur Radio Emergency Service specialty group that provides backup communications to 35 hospitals in the county. Display visitors learned how ham radio serves the hospitals. They also discovered how radio direction finding provides important services such as downed aircraft location, stuck transmitter remediation and wildlife tracking for research. A dozen little transmitters were scattered around the picnic area and visitors of all ages could seek them out with provided equipment.
Thanks to Jay Thompson W6JAY, Richard Thompson WA6NOL and Monique Beringer for helping me demonstrate direction finding to the public at this event.
Joe Moell KØOV
Tri-City Park ARDF on 5/17/08
Report below and photos above by Joe Moell KØOV.
This year's annual Orange County "Antennas In The Park" event brought together three ham radio organizations: Fullerton Radio Club, Western Amateur Radio Association and Fam-Comm Amateur Radio Association. There was lots of food and radio talk, but the high heat reduced the transmitter hunting ambitions of most attendees. The temperature slowly climbed throughout the day, peaking at 105 around 2:30. Then a cooling breeze came up and dropped the temperature about ten degrees.
Four close-in foxes on two meters went on around 10 AM for the benefit of first-timers. Julianne Walsh KI6DYX found all of them but she had to leave before the main event.
The five-fox international-rules hunt on two meters started at 12:30 PM and had these results:
ARDF 2-METER COURSE RESULTS -- 5 FOXES
Name and call Foxes Time
Rob Preston KI6KYX 5 2:11:15
with Bill Preston KZ3G
John Frerichs N6VCW 4 1:08:45
Dick Palmer WB6JDH 4 1:27:07
with Otis Mc Coy KD6AXR, Lloyd Hendrickson KI6NQY and Norm Dickhoff KI6HLB
Throughout the day, here were four tiny beeping foxes on the 222 MHz band, investigated by Robert Gimbel KG6WTQ and some others.
The annual Foxhunting Weekend cake was a big hit, as always. Thanks to April Moell WA6OPS for providing it. Also thanks to Monique Beringer for helping April with start/finish timing.
Joe Moell KØOV
Schabarum Park ARDF on 4/19/08
Report below and photos above by Joe Moell KØOV.
Our first radio-orienteering event in Schabarum Regional Park was ten years ago. Over the years, we have learned that its hilly trails are extra slippery in the rain and extra tiring in the hot sun. With the large changes of elevation in the Powder Canyon Wilderness part of the course, this is one of the most difficult venues in southern California. Fortunately, the weather on April 19 was close to perfect. The temperature never got out of the 60's.
Marvin Johnston has added a significant amount of wilderness area to LAOC's large orienteering map, but a lot of that vegetation has changed. This spring, the mustard plants are over eight feet tall in places and extra thick. Some of the smaller trails are overgrown and nearly impossible to locate. That provided an extra challenge for the intrepid foxhunters.
Even though the lowlands of Schabarum are fine for newcomers, my beginner transmitters went unfound. Only advanced hunters showed up this time.
Championship ARDF courses have well-separated start and finish locations. To win, a hunter must carefully choose a route from start to finish that takes him or her to each required transmitter in the shortest distance without backtracking. For the first time, we started all the advanced-course participants from the southeast corner of the mapped area. Start elevation was 640 feet above sea level and finish was at 600 feet. But there were some 1130-foot high plateaus and 500-foot lowlands in between.
The starting corridor was up the big trail in the direction of fox #1, to the west. Unfortunately, the battery on Marvin's fox #1 failed, so it ended up being a 4-fox hunt for everyone. Here are the results:
ARDF 2-METER COURSE RESULTS -- 5 FOXES
Name and call Foxes Time
Bob Cooley KF6VSE 4 1:35:20
Bill Smathers KG6HXX 4 1:46:45
Scott Moore KF6IKO 4 1:54:46
Brad Weyers 4 2:37:32
Jay Thompson W6JAY 3 1:45:18
Tom Gaccione WB2LRH 3 2:34:20
My 80-meter fox was only half a kilometer away, but it was difficult to get to by just following the bearing in a straight line. Bob Cooley KF6VSE was the only hunter to have enough time and stamina left after the two-meter hunt to take it on. He got there and back in 31 minutes.
Thanks to Marvin and April for making this a very successful practice for ARDF Team California as these hunters prepare for the USA Championships in Texas.
Joe Moell KØOV
Hillcrest Park ARDF on 3/8/08
Report below and photos above by Joe Moell KØOV.
There is good news and bad news about Hillcrest Park in Fullerton. Major construction to rebuild the big reservoir is complete. It is covered with turf and all the roads in the park are open. On the other hand, there is so much new landscaping that many of the great places to conceal transmitters are gone, at least for the time being. Nevertheless, I managed to find good places for 11 transmitters. Besides the course of five international-rules foxes for two meters, there were three two-meter transmitters for beginners, an 80-meter ARDF transmitter and two little pulsed transmitters on the 222 MHz band.
Beautiful warm weather brought participants from as far away as Santa Barbara and the San Francisco Bay area. A short ARDF course like this should result in some times well under an hour, but the experts' times all were in the one-hour range (12 transmitter cycles). The cause, apparently, was reflections from the hills. All of the 2-meter transmitters were in low- or medium-elevation places, so their signals were all blocked by hills from the start and from each other. Bob Cooley reported that he spent extra time going to the top of the hills to try to get better bearings.
ARDF 2-METER COURSE RESULTS -- 5 FOXES
Name and call Foxes Time
Jay Thompson W6JAY 5 0:56:32
Tom Gaccione WB2LRH 5 1:01:06
Bob Cooley KF6VSE 5 1:05:50
Ross Howay 3 0:58:41
with Marvin Johnston KE6HTS
Monique Beringer 2 1:12:45
with Tim and Patricia Beringer
Steve Morse KI6HGH 2 2:38:38
Keith Horton KI6HLD 1 1:04:33
The 80-meter transmitter was just on the other side of the big reservoir hill. Two participants went after it.
80-METER HUNT RESULTS (1 FOX)
Name and call Time
Bob Cooley KF6VSE 4:54
Jay Thompson W6JAY 5:58
Tom Fiske AA6TF successfully found both of the little 222 MHz transmitters.
Thanks to April Moell WA6OPS for keeping track of the timing. Fortunately, her medical skills weren't needed this time. Also thanks to Marvin Johnston KE6HTS and Bob Cooley KF6VSE for helping gather the transmitters afterwards.
Joe Moell KØOV
Lake Los Carneros ARDF on 2/2/08
Report below and photos above by Joe Moell KØOV.
The windy and stormy weather held off until evening, making February 2 a perfect day for ARDF in the Santa Barbara area. It was good to see first-timers Brad, Steve, Keith and Julianne, along with returning newcomer Owen and his dad. Everyone tried the two-meter five-fox ARDF course that was set by Marvin Johnston KE6HTS.
Lake Los Carneros is an ideal site for beginners to learn how to plan an ARDF route that efficiently gets them to each of the five transmitters and back in the minimum time. It's mostly level, but recent rains have swelled the lake and made some of the area into marsh.
ARDF 2-METER COURSE RESULTS -- 5 FOXES
Name and call Foxes Time
Jay Hennigan WB6RDV 5 0:28:46
Scott Moore KF6IKO 5 0:56:46
Owen Roth 5 1:19:36
with Jeremy Roth
Sam Vigil WA6NGH 5 1:22:34
with Eve Vigil KF6NEV
Brad Weyers 5 1:24:12
Bill Smathers KG6HXX 5 1:34:57
Darryl Widman KF6DI 5 2:44:48
with Julianne Walsh KI6DYX
Steve Morse KI6HGH 4 2:46:30
Keith Horton KI6HLD 1 1:14:40
Several of the participants finished the two-meter course in time to try finding the 80-meter transmitter that I set out.
80-METER HUNT RESULTS (1 FOX)
Name and call Time
Jay Hennigan WB6RDV 12:07
Scott Moore KF6IKO 17:03
Brad Weyers 23:20
Sam Vigil WA6NGH ?
with Eve Vigil KF6NEV
Thanks to everyone who came out!
Joe Moell KØOV
SoCal 2007 -- Southern California practice/demonstration events of 2007, including Hillcrest Park, Travel Town, Tri-City Park, Heartwell Park, Craig Regional Park, Lake Los Carneros (2), Topanga State Park, Angel's Gate Park and Bonelli Regional Park.
SoCal 2006 -- Southern California practice/demonstration events of 2006, including O'Neill Regional Park, Topanga State Park, Lake Los Carneros, Tri-City Park, Heartwell Park, Bonelli Regional Park and Huntington Central Park.
SoCal 2005 -- Southern California practice/demonstration events of 2005, including Schabarum Regional Park (2), Bonelli Regional Park (3), Travel Town, O'Neill Regional Park, Tri-City Park, Huntington Central Park, Lake Los Carneros, Glendora South Hills Park and Vasquez Rocks.
SoCal 2004 -- Southern California practice/demonstration events of 2004, including Travel Town, Mile Square Park, O'Neill Park, Tri-City Park, Bonelli Park and Craig Regional Park.
September 7, 2003 -- ARRL SW Division Convention (HamCon) ROCA in San Pedro, CA
SoCal 2003 -- Southern California practice/demonstration events of 2003, including Vermont Canyon, Hillcrest Park, Tri-City Park, Lake Los Carneros, Boysen Park and Craig Regional Park.
SoCal 2002 -- Southern California practice/demonstration events of 2002, including Hillcrest Park, Mile Square Park, El Dorado Park, Huntington Central Park, and Wildwood Park.
SoCal 2001 -- Southern California practice/demonstration events of 2001, including Hillcrest Park, Tri-City Park, Schabarum Regional Park, Huntington Central Park and Craig Regional Park.
SoCal 2000 -- Southern California practice/demonstration events of Y2K, including Hillcrest Park, Mile Square Park, Lake Los Carneros, Caltech, Tri-City Park (twice!), Rancho Alamitos and Huntington Central Park.
May 8 - 10, 2008 -- Eighth USA ARDF Championships near Bastrop, TX.
September 14 - 16, 2007 -- Seventh USA ARDF Championships near South Lake Tahoe, CA.
April 7 - 9, 2006 -- Sixth USA ARDF Championships near Durham, NC.
August 1 - 6, 2005 -- Fifth USA ARDF Championships near Albuquerque, NM.
June 16 - 19, 2004 -- Fourth USA ARDF Championships near Gorman, CA.
July 30 - August 2, 2003 -- Third USA ARDF Championships and Second IARU Region 2 Championships near Cincinnati, OH.
April 19 - 21, 2002 -- Second USA ARDF Championships in Pine Mountain, GA.
July 31 - August 4, 2001 -- First USA ARDF Championships in Albuquerque, NM.
August 9 - 12, 1999 -- First IARU Region 2 ARDF Championships in Portland, Oregon
Go to Championship Foxhunting News -- Results of recent international competitions and announcements of upcoming ones.
Go to International-Style Foxhunting Comes To The Americas -- How we're getting the ball rolling
Go to Equipment Ideas for Radio-Orienteering -- Simple and inexpensive receiving and transmitting solutions
Go to Foxhunting for Scouts -- Let's get the kids involved
Go to Electronic Scoring for ARDF -- What it is, how it works, and why it's gaining popularity.
Go to Extenders Aid Handicapped Foxhunters -- A novel way to include persons with disabilities
Go to Local ARDF Contacts -- Links to hams and groups that are doing international-style foxhunting in North America and around the world.
Back to the Homing In home page
This page updated 15 June 2008
