Fox Hunt Dress Rehearsal

Previously, we hosted a Yagi directional antenna build and an Offset Attenuator build. Then on March 14, 2026, we hosted a fox hunt dress rehearsal after our regular monthly meeting. Earlier in the day Mike Temple hid “The Fox”! Several of us met at the lawn area near El Nuevo Mexico restaurant for the start of the hunt.

In this case the fox was transmitting on 145.100.

The restaurant is behind us to the right. This location is a good starting point but can have some reflections from nearby buildings to deal with. This pic is from our last hunt, but captures the start of the hunt.

Supplies needed for this event were:

  • The Yagi directional antenna we recently built
  • A compass attached to the antenna for taking bearings
  • The Offset Attenuator we recently built
  • A map of the area. Maps provided by the local chambe of commerce might work, but they also may be out of date. Mike provided recent Google maps for those that wanted them. These are much more up to date.
  • A protractor for plotting on the map
  • A radio to receive the signal. Note that some radios have better S meter readings than others. The Yaesu FT-60 has a bar across the entire screen for S readings so it’s a good one to use for this event.

At this first location we were reading the fox at about 350 to 360 degrees from North.

At the second location we read about 320 to 330 Degrees from North creating a place on the map where the 2 bearing readings cross.

We met there and began using the antennas and taking readings. Soon the readings were too high for the radio, essentially swamping the signal received. This was where the Offset Attenuator (OA) comes into play. The antenna now is connected to the OA and the OA is connected to the radio. And the radio now needs to be tuned to the offset frequency, in this case, 147.100. The attenuator on the OA can now be used to reduce the signal strength and the S meter can be used again. As we got closer to the “Fox” we had to turn the attenuator up even more, further attenuating the signal.

Here is Don WA5SWM, Bill KJ5GOO and Mike AD5SU pointing at the fox in the bushes. A big THANNK YOU to Joan KJ5LQQ, for helping with the camera.
Mike AD5SU, with the “Fox”. It is painted with camouflage making it more difficult see in the bushes.

The “Fox” box contains a Baofeng radio, some microprocessor control circuitry for repeatedly turning the fox signal on and off, a battery and a J-Pole antenna.

So, why do we as HAMS do this fox hunting?

Website page last updated: 2026-03-19, bp KJ5GOO