Report on the February Foxhunt.
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The February foxhunt was held in dry conditions with 9 teams starting at the traditional K-Mart Burwood car park. The fox for the evening was the VK3WWW team.
16 transmitters were used for the night which were effectively broken up into 4 hunts, each with pre-defined starting and finishing times.
The first hunt was a multi-leg hunt with 5 transmitters. To our astonishment, more than half of the teams were able to find all 5 transmitters. The first leg started at 8:10PM and was hidden behind the rear fence of the K-mart complex. Most teams found this transmitter within minutes of each other with VK3YQN first in line followed closely by VK3VR and VK3TKQ.
The second leg was behind Bells Restaurant in Wheelers Hill. Many teams found this one quite challenging. VK3YQN found this transmitter with about 5 minutes lead on VK3TVB, VK3YXO and VK3PW.
The third leg was hidden at the bottom end of Jells Park near Dandenong creek. Hounds arrived to find about 6 lengths of coax running in all directions. While some teams chased the most obvious piece of cable, others took a more careful approach. Some 5 teams had found this transmitter until a member of the VR team reefed the cable out of the transmitter, prematurely ending to the hunt. VK3YQN was once again well in front “ultra sniffing” out the right bit of coax while most others just chased at random.
The fourth leg was held on a walking track behind a dog kennel near Waverley Golf club. VK3TVB found this transmitter just 2 minutes ahead of VK3YXO, VK3BLN, VK3TKQ and VK3PW with VK3YQN only 3 minutes later.
The final leg of this hunt was in scrub behind Knox Model Aero club. VK3YQN returned to their lead finding the transmitter a couple of minutes before VK3PW, VK3TVB, VK3TKQ and VK3YXO. All within 6 minutes of the 9:35PM cutoff time.
Hunt 2 started 10 minutes later with the first leg behind the Italian Community Centre in Knoxfield. Teams were quick to arrive on the scene but were confronted with a creek and lots of blackberries. In true foxhunting style, while other people would have looked for an easier crossing, most teams took the most direct route crossing the creek, bashing through the blackberries and then battling through reeds almost 2 metres high before finding the transmitter. VK3BLN was first in on this leg just seconds ahead of VK3TKQ and VK3HKC with VK3YQN and VK3PW
following well ahead of the remaining teams.
The second leg was behind a mound of stones in a new subdivision in Rowville. This hunt was not the intended position and was started late due to repairs required to the damaged radio from the first hunt. VK3YQN found this transmitter first with VK3BLN just seconds behind. VK3TKQ and VK3PW headed the group of 6 remaining hounds to find this transmitter.
The third leg was behind a building in an industrial estate in Ferntree Gully. 5 teams found this transmitter with little difficulty after brushing through some scrub down the side of a building. VK3YQN found this transmitter 10 minutes in from of VK3BLN with VK3TKQ 5 minutes later 18 minutes ahead of VK3PW and VK3YXO.
The fourth leg was located in bushes near a fence just off Glenfern road in Lysterfield. VK3YQN was first in with VK3BLN the only other hound to find the transmitter 11 minutes later.
The final leg of this hunt was at the end of an unmarked lane near the old Readymix Quarry in Ferntree Gully. VK3YQN was the only hound to find this transmitter only 3 minutes before the cutoff time.
The Third hunt for the evening used 5 ARDF transmitters in a 6km square area in Ferntree Gully which each transmitted in sequence for one minute out of every five. For this 50 minute hunt, foxes were located at the end of a driveway off McIver street, On Little Jean street, Next to Eastern Energy Depot, off the end of Talaskia Road, and at the end of a lane off Burwood Highway. All transmitters were running on both 80 and 2 metres. Hunting these transmitters was made somewhat difficult by a pair of Hams that refused to stop talking on “their” frequency. Despite this,
most teams managed to find at least one transmitter with VK3TVB finding 4.
The super hunt for the evening followed immediately from the third hunt starting at exactly 12:10AM. The antenna was located in the end of a 10 metre run of garden hose which was coiled up on the ground. VK3YQN once again was first to find this transmitter with VK3BLN, VK3PW and VK3VT in the following minute well ahead of 4 other teams.
The scores for the evening were:
first: VK3YQN found 12 Transmitters, 8 points, second: VK3BLN found 10 Transmitters, 20 points, third: VK3JMD found 12 Transmitters, 22 points, fourth: VK3PW found 10 Transmitters, 23 points, fifth: VK3TKQ found 10 Transmitters, 26 points, sixth: VK3VT found 6 Transmitters, 29 points, seventh: VK3HKC found 5 Transmitters, 39 points, eighth: VK3TXN found 2 Transmitters, 40 points.