Hider: Doug WA6RJN
Where: About 12 miles south west of Newberry Springs south of the 40.


The Hiders story:
N6AIN had asked if I would hide this hunt so he wouldn't have to hide two months in a row. I was determined not to have equipment failure this time. I check the batteries, IDers, coax, etc. I had picked an area that would be tolerant of winter weather. Little did I know that there wouldn't be any winter this year and that N6AIN would hide the month before in an area near by.

I planned to load up on Friday and be in the area about noon. And then Friday came.....  I left late then had to return home again to get a forgotten item. I arrive in the area about 3:30. I had used several maps including Google maps with satellite to look for sites. I started up Ord Mtn to see what it looked like at the top. The road was rocky and I decided just to put a 30-second T a short distance up the hill. After coming down I decided to change it to a 1-minute T, back up the hill.

I proceeded to the main site down Camp Rock Road. It would have been a great site if it wasn't for the locked gate and No Trespassing signs. None of the maps indicated gates. Time for plan B - Ord Mtn. I returned to Ord and started up the mountain but shortly after passing the only T I had hidden so far there was another locked gate. Time for plan C. Time to invent plan C. I had one other site in mind but that area had been hidden in a few times. I decided to take down the 1-min T and replace it with the main T.

I had concerns that the signal may not cover the LA area very well, but the sun was going down and I need to get set up. I aimed the 11-element beam toward the starting point and turned on  T1 running 38 watts.

I had constructed a couple of hexbeams  (see http://www.karinya.net/g3txq/hexbeam/broadband/ ) and wanted to see how they would perform. Hexbeams are compact 2-element antennas. I hid T10, a 50 mW T, using a hexbeam a short distance down a road.

I hid two Ts (T3, 1/2W & T4, 50 mW) to the west. To the north I hid T5, a 50 mW, and T9. The 50 mW T9 was fed into another horizontal hexbeam. T1 was just to the south and T10 to the east.











At the intersection of all these roads I hid T6, the "Bug" T iding with "Don't let this T bug you". This made a total of7 Ts.



Now, if only the hunters in LA could hear T1. I dropped a few suggestions (note: suggestions, not clues) on the email group that the main T might be heard at Summit (Oak Hill) on I15. A couple of hunters did hear T1 in the LA area.

Five teams showed up and found the Ts. Things went well until the IDer on T3 went crazy and started identifying at 100+ WPM.

The formula for determining the winner was posted on the web site.  I plugged in the call signs, T numbers, distance between Ts, wattage, Murphy's Fudge Factor, and the time found. When the formula is analyzed, it indicates the most Ts found in the least amount of time. The N6MI/KJ6SSY team found all 7 Ts in one hour and 28 minutes. As the winners, they are elected to hide or may pick another team.
Results:
WB6JPI    T6       T1        T10       T3      T5       T9      T4            Total Time
                11:00    11:55    12:55    1:31    2:02    2:21    3:01                4:01

KF6GQ       T9         T5        T6        T10       T1       T4      T3
KD6LAJ    11:53    12:17    12:43    12:56    2:02    2:47    3:32          3:39
Dennis

N6AIN    T3        T6      T1      T10     T5      T4     T9
              12:53    1:38    1:52    2:47    3:07    3:23    --                           3:30

WB6HPW    T6       T1      T10    T3    T4    T5    T9
and son        1:43    1:52    3:00     --      --      --      --                            1:17

N6MI         T1       T6       T4       T10      T5      T9       T3            WINNER
KJ6SSY    3:10    3:23    3:23?    3:42    3:56    4:13    4:38                  1:28


        



Shocking Revelation from N6MI's Navigator KJ6SSY