2004
April 25, 2004 FIRE!
We had great fun with this hunt! The foxes were Tim, N1PTZ and Ben
KB1FEZ. N1PUA had to miss this hunt. The weather brought out 6 teams
this time! This was a good turn out. Hiding in the Lenox Dale Fire Dept
Tim and Ben kept us busy. The hills in this area confuse both beams and
DOP Scans alike. Fortunately they were running low power which allowed
us to use the third type of tool, the S-Meter on an HT using our bodies
as a shield. When it got strong we were in the right area. Then the
body shielding got us in a couple of blocks. I then was able to use my
DopScan. Even with the DopScan I drove by them three or four times.
Have you ever seen an empty car in a fire Department parking lot that
did NOT have an antenna on it? These two guys were hiding in the back
seat of their car while we circled. All in All Tim and Ben did a GREAT
JOB! At the start of the hunt Donna KB1IKU and Todd N1XHR both reported
a southern signal from Lanesborough and the GAA respectively. Donna and
Tom commented that most of the rest of the group was closer so they did
not think they were going to do well yet they came in second! Often in
timed hunts the seeming leaders are to close to get good starting
bearings and wander around at the mercy of the reflections. Motto:
Never give up! I (Tim KE3HT) started late from Dalton and heard nothing
on the input. Dave KB1EAA and RoAnne KB1EUH joined in a little late as
well and were on top of the fox way earlier than anyone yet they did
not finish! Again, the closer you are does NOT mean your going to win!
Finishers in relative order were: Tim KE3HT, Donna KB1IKU and Tom
KB1FLK, Todd N1XHR who was motorcycle Mobile!, Tom Sullivan (call might
be W1AUV?) a new comer to these hunts. Tom was on his way home
from a hamfest in Connecticut. NoBarc president Pat N1LZH and former
Pres Joe W1BS were also in this hunt. This was a quick paced hunt with
some good chatting between the hounds. Chatting makes this more fun!
May 8-9th is
National Fox hunting weekend sponsored by CQ Magazine. More info and
last years stories: http://www.homingin.com
To this end I hope to have the next hunt on May9th and will be a distance hunt starting in
the Bradlees parking lot. Since
146.91 has a net at 1pm we will
start the hunt at 1:30pm. The area will be Pittsfield and any town that
makes contact with Pittsfield.
Want to hunt? All you need is an HT. A
map helps a lot. Join in from home or ask for a ride. Many of us
ride solo and have a lot of room for a co-pilot.
February 1, 2004 Tim goes shopping.
5 Teams hunted again! Just like
our last hunt in December. A pretty good
turn out. We also had two home foxes we owe thanks to, KB1FEZ and
N1JJK.The hunt lasted 1 hour 30 minutes. Todd N1XHR has made a
come back by getting to the Fox, Tim KE3HT, in 14 minutes and 1.4
miles. Quite an impressive job. KB1EAA and KB1EUH were complaining
about not being prepared but they managed to come in second. I wonder
if they are starting their old pattern of keeping second place? The new
NoBarc president N1LZH and the old one W1BS (Husband and wife :-)
were an impressive third. KB1IKU and KB1FLK had a nice 4th. The
surprise of this hunt was N1PUA, Sorry Paul but with a Dop Scan we were
all wondering where you were? :-) I think we need more hunts for Paul
to practice on! I also see a trend in pairs of hunters. We used to have
more individuals and that worried me. It's much safer if you have some
help drive while the non-driver is doing the maps and thinking. Dave
and Roanne proved to me that husbands and wife's can hunt and do well.
Now we have Tom and Donna who have made very good showings all throught
2003. Pat and Joe, also husband and wife are also doing a great job. Do
you see the pattern I am seeing? Maybe I need to get re-married? We
spent most of 2003 on "fun" hunts so we never kept a running score but
I think we can all see the whole group has improved a lot in
2003. Most of the hunts in 2002 and early 2003 exceeded 2hours
and now its rare for us to have them last more than 1.5hours! Looking
at the Hounds awards section I have to ask, Who was the Rookie of the
Year? If you have some time have a look at: http://www.nobarc.org/hounds/records.html
and make some suggestions for who should get what awards. I would like
to make it to the Feb 22nd meeting and bring some awards to hand out so
please e-mail me or anyone in the group ke3ht@nobarc.org. Pictures of this
hunt can be found by clicking on the Pictures link http://www.nobarc.org/hounds/pictures.
N1XHR, Todd will be holding next months meeting. Lets hope we have some
nicer weather than we did in January!
NO EXPERIANCE
NECESSARY! All you need is an HT and a map to
participate. if your not sure you can do it, ask anyone of our hounds
and I am SURE they will help. Its a great bunch of Hams we have.
Please listen to the NoBarc New Comers round table at 7:30pm on
Tuesdays for an announcement for the next hunt. We also run a very
informal News List for the NoBarc hounds. To subscribe send e-mail to
"majordomo@ke3ht.org" and in the body of the e-mail put "subscribe
hounds". After you are subscribed you can send e-mail to
hounds@nobarc.org. This way you will hear up to the minute info on
the next hunt as well as some of the challenges and bantering we
partake in. We also have some info at http://www.nobarc.org/hounds.
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