I take no credit for coming in “first”. I rode with my neighbor and new friend WB8WFK, proving once again that it’s often better to be lucky than smart. WSW
Septmber 2 Hunt Report
What a nice hunt today. We had four teams and pretty good weather. The day started with sun and a light breeze — turning to a light rain around 4PM.
Hunting today were:
Jerry (WB8WFK) and Scott (W9WSW)
Scott (KC5VVB)
Dan (KE5MXQ) and a friend (sorry, forgot the name)
And visiting from Arizona Bill (K1BP) and Boni (WT7Z)
Hunt masters today were Mike (K5ATM) and Debbie (KD5LOK)
The fox was located under the bridge on the south end of Juan Tabo that goes over Tijeras Arroyo. What bridge you say? This is a rather new bridge that connects to several new sub divisions south of the arroyo. Most of the hunters did not know this bridge existed! If you look close, just before you go over the bridge (heading south) there is a small curb cut on the right that leads to a paved road that takes you to the underside of the north end of the bridge.
The fox was a standard club fox box running 1 watt on 145.565MHz into an 11 element beam pointed to the top of the southern end of the Sandia mountains. The antenna was mounted on a large tripod and about 5 feet off the ground. Our hope was to drive the hunters to the mountains then make them think the fox could be south of the airport.
A second fox was hidden east of the bridge on 146.565MHz. This second fox was padded down and completely buried in the arroyo with no antenna. Unfortunately it seemed to fail after the first two hunters sniffed it out. Not sure if this is a radio or battery problem.
The hunters reported a broad non-distinct signal from the start point generally at the mountains. Most of the hunters headed east from the start point to Tramway. At least one of the hunters considered the possibility of the fox being south of the airport. Some also spent time in the open space east of Tramway.
Jerry and Scott were the first to arrive at 3:30. Jerry confirmed the beam was the primary fox then sniffed out the secondary.
Scott (KC5VVB) arrived just a few minutes behind Jerry, found the primary fox then sniffed out the secondary fox. The secondary fox was starting to fail so it was hard for Scott to get a good bearing. After some difficulty he discovered he was standing on it!
Jerry, Scott and Scott parked at Tramway and Central and walked back in the arroyo (1+ miles) to the primary fox.
Dan arrived about 4:25 followed by Bill / Boni at 4:45. Dan and Bill / Boni drove right to the fox.
Results in order of arrival:
Jerry and Scott: 15.0 miles
Scott (VVB): forgot to reset his odometer
Dan and friend: 21 miles
Bill and Boni: 16.1 miles
So it looks like Jerry and / or Scott (WSW) will be out next hunt master(s).
Next scheduled hunt is Saturday September 15 at 9AM
-Mike and Debbie
