24 Hour Regional Fox Hunt in October
Inviting all local clubs and friends of Sierra Foothills ARC to the first 24 hour, wide area Fox Hunt. The hidden fox transmitter will be located within a 20 mile radius of downtown Auburn, CA. The 2 meter transmitter will be turned on at 9:30am on October 26th, 2024 and turned off at 10am on October 27th.
This is a self-timed event from a starting point to the transmitter’s location. Fox hunters may start at any time during the 24 hour event. Start your stopwatch timing when leaving the parking lot of the Historic Auburn Courthouse located at 101 Maple St, Auburn, CA 95603. You may hunt solo or as a team. All team members must leave the starting point at or after the stop watch timing has started.
There are two categories for entry. One category is for hunters using basic gear such as a mobile radio, HT, directional antenna, attenuators, etc. The 2nd category will be for hunters using advance analyzing devices such a Kraken or other assisted time of arrival device.
Three prizes will be awarded for each category.
• 1st place: Arrow II, 3 element 2m beam 146-3
• 2nd place: KC9ON 4MHz Offset Variable Attenuator
• 3rd place: TIDRadio H3
The transmitter will intermittently beacon on 146.565 MHz and ID as W6EK at the end of each transmission cycle. You may or may not hear the beacon from the Historic Auburn Courthouse, but it will be heard at most nearby elevated locations. The transmitter will not be located on private property and you will not cross private property or any dangerous obstacles to access. It will be located within 200 feet of a roadway and the sign-in log will be visible and easily to access.
Once you find the location of the hidden fox transmitter, enter your call sign, start and stop times on the nearby log sheet. Please also check-in on the W6EK 2 meter repeater (145.43 / -.60 offset/ CTCSS 162.2) and let AI6US – Brian know that you are hunting or when you have located the fox transmitter. Be sure to take and share photos and/or videos of your hunt. Important: Do not reveal the location of the transmitter until after the event ends at 10am on Sunday.
AI6US will be on the W6EK 2 meter repeater at 10am on Sunday and announce who found the fox transmitter, the search times and prize winners. Will also post the post event information at www.w6ek.org
Jon (KI6RT)’s Byonics MicroFox 15 is typically available for club fox hunts (depending on what KI6RT is testing). Others in the club also own this model micro fox.
SFARC owns two Byonics MicroFox 15S transmitters.
(time of arrival) that appears as a tone on the HT (handi-talkie). As illustrated on the right the tone will be null (i.e. minimum volume) when the antennas are equidistance from the hidden transmitter thereby providing a vector to/from the hidden transmitter. Once several bearings or vectors have been established and plotted on a map the location of the Fox can be estimated. 
Growing in popularity is the