Steve and I arrive at the start point a little after 9:30 AM. Jippe was already there getting ready for the hunt. We quickly put the antenna in the roof and got ready.

About a ¼ to 10 I got a call from Wayne, one of the hiders, wanting to do a test. No signal could be heard. After several calls and adjusting I finally heard something very week on side band. Originally we got a bearing around 3°. But that disappeared and now we were getting something around 48°.

The plan was to go out 91 Freeway to Green River and take another bearing. But when we got close, there was no signal so on to the 15 and north to Cajon Summit. We were sure we would get a good shot east to where we knew they were going to be.

BUT NO! As we pulled in behind Don and Steve at the usual place, the bearing was coming from around 350°, kind of where our first 3° was pointing. DAMN! It looks like it’s going to be a long ride up 395.

On the way, we pass David and Melanie stopped taking a bearing. I thought they were behind us? How did they get passed us? Guess they didn’t stop at Summit Inn like they said.

Looking at the map, it looks like we might be on our way to Lone Pine or Bishop. But as we approach Ridgecrest the bearing turns west into them mountains. Steve’s convinced it is farther north and we are just seeing reflections. But as we go north on 395 about 1 mile it becomes clear that they Ts are behind us. We turn around and go back to 178 and west. We were thinking the main T might be at Walker Pass. It doesn’t take long before it’s clear there is nothing at Walker Pass. Another look at the map and we decide that the Ts (we are now hearing several) are probably over in the Indian Wells Canyon area. Back down 178 to Indian Wells and up the dirt road.

Hay, here comes Wayne and Pete. We must be in the right area. After a short chat on we go. We come to a fork in the road. Go left and up to what looks like an abandon mine. It looks like the road ends here. We turn around and take the other road. It seams to be going towards the signal from T1 and several other Ts. There is something to the left but we are after T1 now, so on we go.

As we come over a rise we can see a white pickup in the distance. The antenna is pointing towards it. As we get close, we see there is a big, long beam on top of it. It looks like we found T1.

Steve’s Durango has been over heating so we wait for it to cool down a little. I take out the Lper to take some bearing and notice that there’s something close by. After a short walk I find another T near by.

After the Durango cools down we head back out the road. There’s another T off to the left, right where a dirt road goes. It doesn’t look like we could make it but Steve says no problem and down we go. Soon we’ve got lots of attenuation in and still lots of signal. We find it in a cactus bush to the left of the road. Back up to the main road.

On the way in we had noticed a road going up and around a hill. On the way back out we decided to try it. Surly Wayne and Pete would want to hide one there. It’s not a very good road to start with and didn’t get any better. But there was definitely a T on this road. As we come around the hill and started to go farther. Steve said someone has turned around here. I notice that we had UR There signal and it was now behind us on the side of the hill. Sure enough there it was. The sign in sheet said this was the Chicken T. Because of the condition of the road Wayne wouldn’t go any farther so they hid it there. As we started back out I got a call from Wayne checking on our progress. He said they had torn a tire open on there way out. We were careful leaving.

We got back to the fork in the road and I finally noticed there was a signal coming from the road we had been down before. Back down it to the mine. This time we went through and found a road on the other side. As we started down it we came to a antenna eating tree and stopped. Steve was about to get out to check how to get around it when I noticed the T was now to our right and UR there. I need to learn how to use the new attenuation system better. We got out and in short order Steve had found it.

Steve had things to do on Sunday and we had set a time to quit and head home. It was now getting close to that time so we started out. As we pass a dirt road on our left Steve saw someone waving. There was an old woman and man in a pickup that had gotten them selves stuck. We went down to see what we could do to help. Steve tried to get his Big D around the pickup so he could pull them out but there wasn’t enough room. Don and Steve LAJ showed up, followed shortly by Jippy. With the help of Jippy’s winch and Don’s tow straps and rope they finally got it back on the road.

It was an interesting hunt and we had a good time. Found 5 out of 8 transmitters on 146.565. We didn’t look for any of the T on the other frequency.
Deryl and Steve