Have You Read These KØOV Articles?

Homing In, CQ VHF Magazine, Summer 2008 -- "Hams Help Fliers, Boaters and Hikers, One ELT at a Time"

• KB7WDR: "I left the message that there was a squawking ELT in his hangar. It had to be shut off, so if I didn't get a call back from him soon, we were going to break the lock. Within five minutes, Sheriff's dispatch called to say he was on the way."

• Stinson: "We work very closely with our ARES folks on search/rescue and disaster preparedness. We know that you can burn out volunteers, but if you don't give them some meaningful tasks, they tend not to be around when you need them."

• Stinson: "The lady that answered the door said 'I don't have anything like that,' but after further questioning, her son came out looking sheepish. Sure enough, he had the ELT stashed in his room."

• KB7WDR: "It's nice to have the red and blue lights and the star on the side when you're prowling around people's property. When they see that, they are less likely to think that you're there to steal something."

• N6OLT: "By listening to how the ELT signal builds and fades through the system, we can usually determine if it has activated inside a moving airplane. That is not unusual. We typically have about one a week and we can tell the controllers that it's headed for Los Angeles or San Francisco by which receivers hear it when."

Links and resources related to this article:

• L-Tronics
  
• Tracker Radio search/rescue RDF sets
  
• Tape-measure beam project by WB2HOL
  
• N6ZHZ 2-meter yagi
  
• KØOV offset attenuator project
  
• VK3YNG Sniffer4 manual
  
• VK3YNG RDF products
  

For ELT/EPIRB/PLB tracking, Bob Miller N6ZHZ prefers the folding 3-element beam and VK3YNG Sniffer4 that he is holding because this high sensitivity system provides maximum range. Read more about how hams track emergency beacons in Homing In for Summer 2008.

Homing In, CQ VHF Magazine, Spring 2008 -- "New Gear for 1.25-Meter Foxhunting"

• "Few things are more satisfying to me than the surprised exclamations of youngsters as they locate hidden radio transmitters for the first time. It's their realization that ham radio activities can be great fun, and it's a powerful stimulus for them to learn more."

• "The Commission wouldn't budge. It didn't matter that FCC had previously reviewed the data and issued a certification. In the eyes of the regulators, the new decision was final."

• "Wildlife researchers may put 218 MHz pingers on non-domestic cats and birds under FCC 90.248. This must be done with an FCC license and it is limited to commercial and educational organizations."

• "Any law enforcement agency with suitable jurisdiction may use 218 MHz transmitters in the unlicensed Low Power Radio Service under FCC 95.1009 for homing or interrogation. Up to 100 milliwatts effective radiated power is permitted."

• "I mounted four transmitters at equal heights on a non-metallic support about three feet above my single-story rooftop. To one of each model, I added a quarter-wavelength vertical counterpoise hanging down."

Links and resources related to this article:

• Equipment for on-foot transmitter hunting
  
• Offset attenuator project
  
• Squegging oscillator transmitters
  
• Construction plans for an offset attenuator
  
• Communications Specialists Amateur Radio equipment
  
• Quasi-peak detectors
  
• FCC Consent Decree for Communications Specialists
  
• "Tiger tail" counterpoises
  

Feature, CQ Magazine, May 2008 -- "Results of the 2007 CQ WW Foxhunting Weekend"

• WB6YRU:  "It's Cops 'n Robbers! You hunters are the police. A thief has stolen a car in Pleasanton, equipped with a tracking device on 146.49 MHz, and he's moving. Your job -- find him!"

• WA7ZBO:  "We are going to hide the transmitter in the trunk of one of these cars, disconnect the police radio and hook up the 2-meter transmitter to the VHF antenna. When the hunters drive in, they will be faced with a sea of VHF antennas. The best place to hide a tree is in the forest, right?"

• KG6MSV:  "The dog and I played Fetch. As hunters worked their way up the river bank, the dog would chase a stick down in the river bottom. Hunters would follow the signal in his collar, and then back Rory would come with the stick. What a good dog!"

• N2TAJ:  "The Grey Fox was behind the Webster arboretum, built into a discarded maple branch about two meters long. A space big enough for the 9-volt battery and transmitter had been hollowed out. A pair of wires formed a dipole antenna along the length of the stick."

• WB9ODQ:  "Hunters had exactly one hour to see who could find the most foxes. Several of them shared the same frequency, although they were not on at the same time. My assistant and I were wearing two of the transmitters, which added to the confusion."

Feature, CQ Magazine, April 2008 -- "Championship Fun on the CQ WW Foxhunting Weekend"

• "One or two hams find an unlikely location and go on the air on a two-meter simplex or repeater input frequency, urging others to come and find them. After gathering at a hilltop starting point, hunters scour the city and countryside in vehicles equipped with directional antennas, attenuators, receivers and sometimes special RDF sets such as Dopplers."

• "The little rigs might be cleverly concealed under rocks or in trees. Occasionally, they are built into pseudo-rocks and tree limbs. More often, the hunters follow an internationally agreed-upon set of rules that call for the transmitters to be set up in a special orienteering course."

• "In 1949, hams in northern Europe and Scandinavia began holding contests in local forests to see who could be fastest and most efficient at locating portable 80-meter transmitters, using small receivers with RDF loop or rod antennas. The sport grew in popularity, leading to national and international contests."

• "During international-rules foxhunts, each person competes as an individual. No teaming or human assistance is allowed on the courses. GPS help isn't allowed, either."

• "Invite a Scout troop to experience on-foot transmitter tracking or to ride along with the mobile hunters. Look for opportunities to incorporate foxhunting into Scout activities such as Camporees, Scout-O-Ramas and Jamboree On The Air. Look for other youth groups that might be interested, such as 4H and Indian Guides."

In addition, my articles on CQ's annual Foxhunting Weekend appear each spring in CQ Amateur Radio Magazine.  You can read my regular ARDF Update articles on the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) Web site.

73 Magazine ceased publication with the September 2003 issue. Homing In is now in CQ VHF magazine, a quarterly publication. Click for CQ VHF subscription information.

The Fine Print: This is the official Web site for Homing In and other KØOV articles about RDF, but not for any magazine. Homing In articles are produced independently in southern California. Text and artwork of all articles Copyright © Joseph D. Moell. All rights reserved.

Surfing suggestion: Wondering what you've been missing by not reading Homing In since 1988? Check the complete index of topics at this site. It also has links to my ARDF Updates.

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This page updated 19 August 2008