All Day
Transmitter Hunt
Hider: Doug WA6RJN
I wanted to hide in this area in March but things didn’t work out so I reschedule my plan for May. If it hasn’t rained in three months but you hide a T, it will come. An unusual storm moved in on Thursday bringing heavy rain and a couple of tornadoes (yes, tornadoes) about 30 miles north of the hiding area. While checking out the area on Friday there was on and off again rain. Many of the areas I had intended to hide in were now inaccessible due to the very slick mud. I set out three Ts, including the main T (T1), on Friday and intended to set out the remaining Ts on Saturday morning.
Most of my hunts seem to have various “challenges”. I was not disappointed with this one. The main T failed to start at 10 AM as planned. Fortunately I have started anticipated problems like this. I arrived at my alternate main site and set up another T (T2) just in case. On the way up I hid T5. When T1 failed to start, I turned on T2. I tried calling Daryl, N6AIN, to see if he could hear the signal. Although I had 5 bars on my cell phone the call would not go through. Now I wasn’t sure if the signal could be heard. I proceeded down the road away from T2 until the call connected. Good news – the signal could be heard. At least the weather was cooperating as it was not raining.
While at T2 I noted that the other two Ts (T3 & T4) that were hid the day before could not be heard at T2 as expected. I decided they would need to be checked out and possibly relocated. I proceeded to hide T10 and swing by T1 to check it out. I had charged the battery, set the timer (making sure it was 10 AM not 10 PM), measured the output power and checked the SWR on the antenna. What could have gone wrong? I discovered the timer was set to turn on the T on Saturday at 9:50 AM. However, the timer thought the current day was Friday. Another thing to check next time. I turned the T on and proceeded to pick up T3 as it could not be heard in its current location. I so dislike hidden signal hunts. I also collected T4. Overnight the battery had failed. It has two 9V batteries and should have lasted for a couple of days. It turns out the ground lead on one of the batteries had broke off. After a quick solder job and a couple of new batteries T4 was ready. I found a new home for it and also for T3. All Ts hid at last.
After spending the night with friends, I set out to collect the Ts. I could not hear T1 and T2. Sometime during the night the 7AH batteries had gone dead on both. This was not expected as both batteries were fully charged and only 2 years old.
After examining the sign-in sheet I noticed a remarkable occurrence – the first T each team found was different. What are the odds?
T locations
T1 ½ south of Hwy 79 on forestry road 3W 11 element horiz beam
T2 In Cahuilla Heights on Mindy Rd. 4W 6 element horiz beam
T3 Wilson Valley rd east of Cahuilla Heights Rd .5W Vert whip
T4 On Crossover Rd, 2 miles south of E. Benton Rd 50mW Vert whip
T5 On Round Top Pk near Saga Rd and Willson Valley Rd 50 mW Vert whip
T10 On Hwy 371, 1 mile northeast of Wilson Valley Rd 50mW Vert whip
Results
I wanted to hide in this area in March but things didn’t work out so I reschedule my plan for May. If it hasn’t rained in three months but you hide a T, it will come. An unusual storm moved in on Thursday bringing heavy rain and a couple of tornadoes (yes, tornadoes) about 30 miles north of the hiding area. While checking out the area on Friday there was on and off again rain. Many of the areas I had intended to hide in were now inaccessible due to the very slick mud. I set out three Ts, including the main T (T1), on Friday and intended to set out the remaining Ts on Saturday morning.
Most of my hunts seem to have various “challenges”. I was not disappointed with this one. The main T failed to start at 10 AM as planned. Fortunately I have started anticipated problems like this. I arrived at my alternate main site and set up another T (T2) just in case. On the way up I hid T5. When T1 failed to start, I turned on T2. I tried calling Daryl, N6AIN, to see if he could hear the signal. Although I had 5 bars on my cell phone the call would not go through. Now I wasn’t sure if the signal could be heard. I proceeded down the road away from T2 until the call connected. Good news – the signal could be heard. At least the weather was cooperating as it was not raining.
While at T2 I noted that the other two Ts (T3 & T4) that were hid the day before could not be heard at T2 as expected. I decided they would need to be checked out and possibly relocated. I proceeded to hide T10 and swing by T1 to check it out. I had charged the battery, set the timer (making sure it was 10 AM not 10 PM), measured the output power and checked the SWR on the antenna. What could have gone wrong? I discovered the timer was set to turn on the T on Saturday at 9:50 AM. However, the timer thought the current day was Friday. Another thing to check next time. I turned the T on and proceeded to pick up T3 as it could not be heard in its current location. I so dislike hidden signal hunts. I also collected T4. Overnight the battery had failed. It has two 9V batteries and should have lasted for a couple of days. It turns out the ground lead on one of the batteries had broke off. After a quick solder job and a couple of new batteries T4 was ready. I found a new home for it and also for T3. All Ts hid at last.
After spending the night with friends, I set out to collect the Ts. I could not hear T1 and T2. Sometime during the night the 7AH batteries had gone dead on both. This was not expected as both batteries were fully charged and only 2 years old.
After examining the sign-in sheet I noticed a remarkable occurrence – the first T each team found was different. What are the odds?
T locations
T1 ½ south of Hwy 79 on forestry road 3W 11 element horiz beam
T2 In Cahuilla Heights on Mindy Rd. 4W 6 element horiz beam
T3 Wilson Valley rd east of Cahuilla Heights Rd .5W Vert whip
T4 On Crossover Rd, 2 miles south of E. Benton Rd 50mW Vert whip
T5 On Round Top Pk near Saga Rd and Willson Valley Rd 50 mW Vert whip
T10 On Hwy 371, 1 mile northeast of Wilson Valley Rd 50mW Vert whip
Results
N6MI T2 T3 T10 T5 T1 T4 *Winner*
166 169 175 179 197 222
4:32 light stil almost dusky
light dusk
N6ZHZ T1 T3 T5 T2 T10
KD6CY 103 126 12 146 158
1:45 3:15 3:25 4:4 5:36
KF6GQ T5 T1 T10 T3 T2
121 134 137 152 167
2:03 3:11 3:39 4:00 5:00
N6AIN T3 T5 T2 T1 T10
138 141 166 18 197
2:23 2:46 4:52 5:02 5:32
WB6JPI T10 T3 T5
215 229 246
6:05 6:41 6:45