February 2002 Foxhunt

On the mild evening of Friday 15/2, six teams turned up at the car park of the Yarraville and Seddon Bowling Club Yarraville. It was good to see Dennis VK3BQZ from Geelong, in addition to regulars VK3s YDF, VT, OW, TVB and, eventually, BLN. All hunts were on 2m.

The first hunt was a two-legged affair. The first leg was in the Truganina salt marshes of Altona, Melway 54B10. The intended site was fenced off, so Bruce VK3TJN and Ian VK3YQN hiked further north to find a spot amongst the reeds. VK3TVB (or is it JMD, VR or MZ? Please decide before the hunts fellas) was in first, followed two minutes later by VT and YDF. OW was five minutes later, while BLN and BQZ didn’t get in at all.

The second leg took the hounds to an industrial area near to Mobil refinery’s tank farm (Techno Park Dve Williamstown, 55D8). Based on leg time (not finding order!), YDF was first, followed by VT, TVB and OW. BLN found the fox, but their leg time was more than ten minutes slower than YDF so max points sorry. BQZ was still having trouble and were talked in to the meeting spot.

The second hunt was also a two-legged event. Roger VK3HRL had the WIA fox in plain view beside a tree beside the Gem Pier in Williamstown (a hive of activity on a warm Friday night). Hounds took only a short time to reach the fox from the start point, YDF (0), BQZ, VT and BLN (1), TVB (3) and OW (4).

The second leg was a mobile 2m fox on 145.300 MHz, around the Grand Prix circuit at Albert Park. With most of the usual access points closed off in preparation for the up-coming race, the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre (MSAC) conveniently had both ends of the car park open. TVB, BLN and YDF intercepted Douglas, VT found him but scored 10 on leg time, while OW and BQZ were unable to find him at all. Hunt 3 was a single leg hunt, with Bruce and Ian concealed in the parkland on 2FK6 east of Flinders St Railway Station. There was no need to go on the tollway! VK3BLN was followed by VT, TVB and YDF. BQZ and OW didn’t find the fox at all.

Hunt 4 was another two-legged event. Roger was strolling around in the rain in the laneways behind Bridge St Richmond, 2GK6, transmitting on a hand-held. The lanes and alleys are a maze in there, with some great nooks to hide in. Occasionally the fox operator would wander out into Bridge St for something different. On one of these ventures, he was surprised to see the white Prado of the TVB team glide past. Finger off mike, Roger headed back into the laneways, then recommenced transmissions. Eventually TVB (0) and OW (1) found Roger within 10 minutes. Of the others, BLN failed to find Roger, while YDF, BQZ and VT were outside 10 minutes. VT would not have found HRL at all if Roger hadn’t knocked on Greg’s window and asked for his call-sign. “F**king f**k f**ker…”, explained Greg.

The second (supper) leg was in a coax-strewn Phoenix Park East Malvern, 69D2, where Ian and Douglas had set up more than a few decoys. On leg time, TVB was a clear winner, followed by ! BLN and VT. YDF and OW found the fox but too late, while BQZ failed again.

Supper was at Bruce’s place in Ashwood. The evening really spread the teams out (as hoped), and there were few gripes at supper.

Scores. Scores! Scores!! SCORES!!!

Team    Hunt 1	 Hunt 2	Hunt 3	Hunt 4       Total (/70) Place

VK3YDF	2+0=2	 0+8=8	 9	10+10=20     39		 3
VK3BQZ	10+10=20 1+10=11 10	10+10=20     61          6
VK3VT	2+1=3	 1+10=11 5	10+7=17	     36          2
VK3OW	7+8=15	 4+10=14 10	1+10=11	     50          5
VK3TVB	0+2=2	 3+0=3	 8	0+0=0        13		 1
VK3BLN	6+10=16	 1+7=8	 0	10+7=17	     41          4

Congratulations to the VK3TVB team, clear and certain winners. Thanks again to BQZ for making the long trip up from Geelong, hopefully you’ll have better luck next time.

Regards, Roger Lewis