You have two opportunities to enjoy on-foot transmitter hunting
(foxtailing, radio-orienteering, ARDF) in May. The fourth in a series
of local hunts leading up to the USA ARDF Championships this summer
will take place Sunday, May 15 in O'Neill Regional Park. This ARDF
event is a "mix-in" with a regular orienteering meet of the Los
Angeles Orienteering Club (LAOC).
The O'Neill two-meter course will be "advanced" level, about the same
length as typical national championship courses, with five
transmitters. Although it is intended as training for experienced
radio-orienteers, it can be completed by beginners who are capable of
walking or running in hilly rural terrain for about 5 kilometers.
Course-setter Marvin Johnston KE6HTS will be on hand to teach the
basic techniques of on-foot direction-finding. One or two ARDF sets
may be available for loan.
You may start on May 15 at any time between 10 AM and noon, but we
suggest that you arrive at 9:30 so you can get registered early and
have time for an orienteering course in addition to ARDF. LAOC's
participation fee is $5 per individual adult and $3 per individual
youth who are LAOC members. Non-member individuals pay $7. Groups of
two to four persons can go out on the courses together, in which case
the group fee is $7 for LAOC members and $9 for non-members. LAOC's
excellent orienteering maps of the park will be provided for your use.
Electronic scoring will be used. If you have an "e-stick," be sure
to bring it, and if not, you can rent one
O'Neill Regional Park is between Trabuco Canyon and the Foothill
Transportation Corridor. From Interstate 5, exit at El Toro Road and
head northeast toward the hills for 7.3 miles. Turn right onto Live
Oak Canyon Road (at Cook's Corner) and proceed 3.3 miles to the park
entrance on the right. From north Orange County, go east on Chapman
Avenue in Orange to the intersection of Jamboree Road. Go straight
onto Santiago Canyon Road 12.3 miles to Cook's Corner, where you will
turn left onto Live Oak Canyon road and proceed 3.3 miles to the park
entrance on the right. Use the map at bottom of this page for
navigation to the park. Vehicular entrance and parking costs $5 per
vehicle. Starting area will be near the park entrance. Follow the
LAOC signs and look for the orange and white orienteering flag.
Then on Saturday, May 21, come to Tri-City Park in Placentia for a
pig-out and beginner transmitter hunt. It is sponsored by the
Fullerton Radio Club and is part of the club's annual "Antennas In The
Park" event, held in conjunction with Western Amateur Radio
Association and Anaheim Amateur Radio Association. An optional
barbecue and potluck precedes the hunt. To join in, bring your own
meat to cook and a side dish or dessert to share. Transmitter hunts
will follow the potluck at about 12:30 PM. You may start the course
at any time before 1:30 PM.
The Tri-City transmitter hunt will be simple, informal and intended
primarily for beginners. In addition to two meters, there will be an
optional transmitter on the 80-meter band. All ages are welcome, so
bring the family. Experienced ARDFers will be present to help you get
started. There will not be any charge for participation in the
Tri-City hunt. Huntmaster will be Joe Moell K0OV. RDF equipment will
be available for loan.
Tri-City Park entrance is at the corner of North Kraemer Boulevard and
East Golden Avenue in Placentia. The barbecue and hunt start will be
in reserved picnic shelters at the south end of the lake. Look for
the orange and white Orienteering flags and signs. Entry and parking
are free, but empty spaces near the picnic site may be difficult to
find if the park is crowded, so consider carpooling. Call K0OV on
K6QEH/R, 146.97(-) PL 136.5 for two-meter talk-in.
Maps to these sites are at www.homingin.com
73,
Joe Moell K0OV
HELLO!
THE ROVERTEAM IS PROUD TO ANNOUNCE THAT ALL REPAIRS AND MAINTENANCE ON
THE ROVER HAVE BEEN COMPLETED!
WE ARE OPERATIONAL AND READY FOR OUR FIRST FIELD TEST!
We are currently planning on being at Elings Park, near the bar-b-que
area on this coming sunday starting at noon. Access is from Las Positas
just past the tennis courts if you are going south on Las Positas. We
will be field testing the 2 element steppir yagi and the electrical
systems.
Please join us at Elings or look for k6tz rover on 15, 17 or 20
meters....just listen for the pileups!!!!
RoverTeam
Hi everyone,
On Saturday, April 23, come on down to the club station and we can build
a DF antenna setup. You can either bring your own parts or I will have
them available as kits. The parts cost for the tape measure beam is
about $10.00 and the cost for the offset attenuator is about $5.00 -
$15.00 depending on your junk box. If you want to build them from
scratch, plans for the tape measure beam are on Joe Leggios web site at
http://home.att.net/~jleggio/projects/rdf/rdf.htm. The plans for Joe
Moells offset attenuator is available on his web site at:
http://members.aol.com/joek0ov/offatten.html. I might add that I have
permission from both Joe Leggio and Joe Moell to sell kits of their
designs. Let me know if you want me to provide a kit, otherwise just
show up with the parts and lets do it!!! Afterwards, Ill put on a small
transmitter hunt at the Red Cross parking lot to test out the setups.
Something else where we need some help is rebuilding and testing out
seven antenna rotors so they can be sold (with the proceeds going to
SBARC.) Basically, the electrical terminals need to be replaced, and
while they are apart, we might as well go ahead and lube them.
The club station opens on Saturday about 9:00 AM and closes at noon. See
you there!
Except for some stiff breezes, it was a perfect day for
radio-orienteering at Griffith Park on April 9. Marvin's course
through the hills was a real challenge and great practice for the
upcoming USA Championships in Albuquerque. (Register now for those
championships, because the fees go up at the end of April.)
Newcomers included musician Raul Mendez KG6YFS and ARRL Southwestern
Division Director Dick Norton N6AA. Raul used his new pole-mounted
log-periodic antenna and a borrowed attenuator to find all the
beginner transmitters. Dick borrowed my Aussie Sniffer4 ARDF receiver
and tape measure beam, grabbed his binoculars and set out for an
afternoon of birdwatching. While doing that, he found all of the
advanced-course foxes!
Jay Hennigan WB6RDV tested out his new FRWD Sport Performance Recorder
on the advanced course. Afterward, he downloaded to his laptop and
retraced his route, finding his maximum heart rate (170), distance
traveled (10 km) and calories burned (1260).
ADVANCED HUNT RESULTS
Name and callsign Foxes Time
Bob Cooley KF6VSE 5 1:01:45
Jay Thompson W6JAY 5 1:10:20
Jay Hennigan WB6RDV 5 1:48:35
Dick Norton N6AA 5 2:33:25
Scott Moore KF6IKO 4 2:20:59
Bill Smathers KG6HXX 4 3:01:07
Scot Barth KA6UDZ 3 2:25:14
Richard Thompson WA6NOL 1 1:41:53
Danny White W6DDW & family 1 1:47:04
BEGINNER HUNT RESULTS
Raul Mendez KG6YFS 5 2:30:47
Art Tanaka WA6TKO and Nick 2 1:41:53
The 80-meter transmitter was 1.6 km away by straight-line and
considerably more by trail through the hills. The signal was very
weak, but four hunters were able to track it down, as follows:
Jay Hennigan WB6RDV 0:27:28
Scott Moore KF6IKO 0:57:40
Bill Smathers KG6HXX 1:10:11
Bob Cooley KF6VSE 1:25:20
Afterwards, a bigger-than-average group headed to the nearest Sizzler
for much-needed carbs and protein. Everyone is welcome at these
post-hunt sessions, so be sure to inquire at the site if you're
interested. Just be prepared to wait a while until all the foxboxes
are recovered.
Thanks again to Marvin Johnston KE6HTS for a challenging course and to
April Moell WA6OPS for bandaging up some minor wounds and providing a
cold pack to a well-heated runner. Fifteen photos are at
www.homingin.com
Next month, we'll split up the beginner and advanced hunts. The
IARU-style full-length course will be at O'Neill Regional Park in
southern Orange County (last hunt there 3/20/04). This time, the ARDF
event will be a mix-in with the Los Angeles Orienteering Club meet in
the park on Sunday, May 15. KE6HTS will set the course.
For beginners, I will put on a special hunt at the annual
Antennas-in-the-Park hamfest and pig-out on Saturday, May 21. The
festivities take place in Tri-City Park in Placentia, a 60-acre venue
that is flat and has a big lake in the middle. It's prefect for
newcomers, so if you and your kids/grandkids have never tried on-foot
foxhunting before, this is the time.
See you next month.
73,
Joe Moell K0OV
********************** PRESS RELEASE **********************
Willamette Valley DX Club is pleased to announce the
2005 Pacific Northwest DX Convention
Please join us for the 50th Annual Pacific Northwest DX Convention. The
Convention includes many technical sessions, a banquet and breakfast,
door prizes, raffle prizes, and provides a great opportunity to meet old
friends and make new ones. And Wayne Mills, N7NG from the ARRL will be
present to check DXCC submissions with no restrictions on dates or
bands.
August 5-7,2005
Monarch Hotel, Portland, Oregon
12566 SE 93rd Ave
Clackamas, OR 97015
(800)492-8700 or (503)652-1515
www.monarchhotel.citysearch.com (for online reservations)
Ask for the DX Convention Rte.
Oregon is a wonderful vacation destination! August is warm and
little chance of rain. The beach is 60 miles away. You can be at 8,000
feet on Mt Hood within 40 miles. check out Oregon tourism website at
www.traveloregon.com
If you have any questions concerning the convention, please contact
Al Rovner, K7AR, k7ar(a)arrl.net
The convention website is at
http://www.wvdxc.org
where you can find the registration form, latest information on program,
door prizes and a list of those already registered.
Registration forms received before June 15 will receive a free raffle
ticket for a $1000.00 gift certificate redeemable at HRO.
********************** PRESS RELEASE **********************
The WB9KMO SSTV Repeater is back on the air! It's located near Patterson
Avenue and the freeway (on my home tower) for now. It ought to serve the
Santa Barbara/Goleta area pretty well. Soon it will be put back on
Gibraltar Road at 2500' elevation where coverage will be even better.
Give it a try on 145.750 MHz SIMPLEX. Just send a 1750 Hz tone for 4
seconds and transmit your picture or wait for the last picture received to
be retransmitted.
If you haven't tried Slow-Scan TV, you ought to. It's lots of fun and one
of the easiest, least expensive specialized modes of operation. You
probably already have everything you need except for a free software
download of MMSSTV (go to http://mmhamsoft.ham-radio.ch/mmsstv/index.htm).
If you want to know more, check into the SBARC ATV Net at 7:30pm Tuesday on
146.79 MHz.
I look forward to seeing you on ham radio,
Rod, WB9KMO
