WGARS March 28th Fox Hunt

WGARS members had a great time at our recent Fox Hunt at McIntosh Nature Preserve on March 28th! No, we didn't unleash the hounds! Fox Hunting is a fun activity where members hunt down a hidden transmitter using radio direction finding techniques. It's also great practice for assisting in finding emergency beacons and Emergency Locater Beacons from marine and aircraft.

About a dozen members showed up on the chilly Saturday morning to participate in the hunt. John Playford (WD8LQT) hid the fox, while other members participated in the hunt.

Everyone managed to locate the transmitter to within 100 yards, but conditions favored the fox, as the radio signal was radiating so well that receiving equipment was being overloaded by the transmitter and it became difficult to close the last few hundred feet. The good news is, that was plenty close enough to located a downed aircraft or lost person.

The fox was located about 2 hours into the hunt, and all participants had a good time and good stories to tell. Thanks to John Playford (WD8LQT) for putting the event together!