Category: Fox Hunting

“You Bastards!”, “How am I supposed top get through this!”, “If we go four abreast, eventually we’ll stand on him!”, “Anyone got any Napalm?”, “There must be an easier way out of here!”, “We’ll get you back for this….” …. Some of comments from cheerful participants on the September 1999 foxhunt.

The hunt was held in dry conditions in the outer eastern suburbs of Melbourne. The fox for the evening was the VK3HDF team. A challenging evening was planned with a few surprises. The hunt started just after 8PM at Knox City shopping centre.

The fox was Adam VK3HDF who was riding a pushbike along the bike track from Ferntree Gully. A mix of strange bearings sent some teams headed even towards Mt Dandenong. Greg, VK3VT was first to find Adam as he was riding alongside a street. Greg tooted some morse code on his car horn to raise the fox’s attention. Sorry Greg, Adam didn’t quite understand what you said… Paul, VK3PW later found Adam at the top of a multi-story car park in Knox City to take second place.

The first leg of the second hunt was in a rather overgrown lane behind some factories in Wantirna. The VK3TVB team arrived well ahead of the others. Less than 3 metres from the fox, Geoff, VK3VR took a look at the blackberries and decided there had to be an easier way in. Mark, VK3JMD aborted soon after even after shining his torch in the foxes face. 10 minutes later, the VK3PW team bashed their way through to first place, with VK3YQN and VK3VR (back for his second attempt) following just minutes later.

The next leg was in a rather swampy area near a new housing estate in Rowville. VK3YQN came in first minutes ahead of VK3TVB. VK3BLN effectively ended up in second place on leg time.

The third hunt proved to be the most challenging for the evening. This hunt had 4 legs. The first leg was near the joining of two creeks in Knoxfield. Bruce, VK3TJN crossed one of the creeks to find this transmitter minutes ahead of VK3VR. Most other teams did not arrive until nearly 15 minutes later as they chose a very difficult way in and had to battle some soggy mush, thick undergrowth and blackberries.

The second leg was only a few hundred metres away in another significantly overgrown lane behind factories. VK3VR found this transmitter nearly 15 minutes ahead of VK3TJN “oh no! Arrgh! I came in the wrong way!” There were indeed two ways in. While most teams picked the easier entrance, In true foxhunting style Bruce, VK3TJN elected to try the “impassable” route. A T-shirt is definitely not the recommended armor for this operation. Arriving around 15 minutes later VK3PW and VK3VT effectively tied for second place on leg time followed closely by VK3BLN.

Barely a couple of kilometres away, the third leg was hidden in amongst reeds. Once again, there was an easy way in – even to drive there! – but some new streets, not even marked on the latest edition of the Melways helped add to the confusion. Once again, the most direct path required negotiating a creek and some blackberries. VK3VR found this transmitter well ahead of VK3YQN. No other teams found this transmitter in time.

The last leg was behind a group of factories near the Model Aero club in Scoresby. VK3VR was the only team to find this transmitter in time and actually found this transmitter a good 5 minutes before anyone else had even found the transmitter for the previous leg.

The last hunt was behind some factories in Kilsyth. The first leg was at the back of an open paddock near a large brick wall. The fox was just hanging in a tree and not particularly hidden. Even so, some teams had some difficulty finding the transmitter once they were within a few metres of it. VK3YQN arrived nearly 15 minutes ahead of any other team to take first place on this hunt.

The second leg was less than 100 metres away and was down a rather narrow gap in between two factories. VK3YQN found this transmitter first, although Paul VK3PW did significantly better to take first place on leg time.

Supper was held in Ferntree Gully at the QTH of Steve, VK3YLE where the scores were announced. VK3TVB took out first place with VK3YQN and VK3PW taking out the minor placings.

Most of the hiding spots were chosen by Adam, VK3HDF who also did most of the planning for the night.

The emphasis on this hunt was to give some of the less advanced teams a chance to successfully find something for the night rather than hearing “the hunt is over” for nearly every hunt. For this reason, each leg of the multi-leg hunts was run for the entire duration of the hunt, or until nearly all teams were through. This was necessary as many of the hunts were also designed to provide a significant challenge to the better teams. I.e an attempt was made to try to please everybody.

A primary goal was to keep the night moving and minimise waiting times. The scoring method was designed mainly to do this rather than give the better teams blitzing scores. A 15 minute scoring limit and final clock were used on all multi-leg hunts to try to keep it all simple.

It turns out that, as expected, there has already been some controversy over some of the hunts. Some have indicated that the last two hunts should be null and void. Firstly, one particular team did not start from the meeting spot. I was actually quite surprised that their vehicle was first seen barely minutes from when I had parked mine! Secondly, some teams were told that the hunt would conclude at about 12:10 while others continued hunting the second leg which was being run using a 15 minute rule. (This leg had started before midnight) There has also been call to
null and void the 4th leg of hunt 3 as a complaint over the scoring method. It is interesting to note that if this and the last hunt are omitted from the scores, the order of the placings does not change.

Arrival times:
     h1   h2-1 h2-2 h3-1  h3-2  h3-3  h3-4  h4-1  h4-2
-------------------------------------------------------
tvb:      9:24 9:46 10:28 10:41 10:56 11:10 12:12
yqn:      9:23 9:40 10:25 10:55 11:15       11:54 12:13
pw:  8:47 9:22 9:50 10:47 11:08             12:10 12:17
vt:  8:38 9:28      10:57 11:18              n/a  12:17
bln:      9:34 9:52 10:54 11:17
txa:      9:27 9:55 10:41 11:08
bli:      9:24      10:41 11:13             12:14
hkc:

Leg clock times:
     h1   h2-1 h2-2 h3-1  h3-2   h3-3  h3-4  h4-1  h4-2
-------------------------------------------------------
tvb:      0:02 0:22  0:03  0:13  0:15  0:14  0:18
yqn:      0:01 0:17  0:00  0:30  0:20        0:00  0:19
pw:  0:09 0:00 0:28  0:22  0:21              0:16  0:07
vt:  0:00 0:06       0:32  0:21               --    --
bln:      0:12 0:18  0:29  0:23
txa:      0:05 0:28  0:16  0:27
bli:      0:02       0:16  0:32              0:20
hkc:

Overall scores:
     h1 h2 -- h3 -- -- -- h4 --
--------------------------------------------
tvb: 10  2  5  3  0  0  0 15 15 =  50, 1st
yqn: 10  1  0  0 15  5 15  0 12 =  58, 2nd
pw:   9  0 11 15  8 15 15 15  0 =  88, 3rd
vt:   0  6 15 15  8 15 15 15 15 = 104, 4th
bln: 10 12  1 15 10 15 15 15 15 = 108, 5th
txa: 10  5 11 15 14 15 15 15 15 = 115, 6th
bli: 10  2 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 = 117, 7th
hkc: 10 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 = 130, 8th

Report on VK3HLP February Fox Hunt 1999

Eight teams took part in the second hunt for 1999. The starting location for the night was at the Dick Smith car park in Springvale. Most teams managed to arrive before the eight o’clock start. Teams were given an information pack with details for the follow hunts and also a card to be handed in at the end of the first hunt to verify that they were at the starting location. If a team didn’t have the card they would have been given a score of 10, regardless of whether got in on the fox or not.

As it happened all hounds had the card so the scores for Hunt 1 didn’t need to be adjusted. The fox was located in Breaside Park. There was no access to vehicles and hounds had at least 1 km into the park to find the fox. The idea for this hunt was to give the runners a good run. Sorry Phil (VK3GMZ), you should have sent one of your other runners for this one.

For Hunt 2 the transmitter was located on the bike path beside the National Water Sports Centre and Carrum Treatment Plant. Again the runners had to run. I am sure they were starting to hate us by now.

Hunt 3 had the transmitter located at the lookout at Earmil Drv Mount Eliza. This location was picked because of its tricky position on the Melways map. And it didn’t disappoint. Several hounds ended up several blocks away and had to run down the beach only to find the transmitter at the top of a rather steep headland. Most hounds found a track up the headland. The transmitter was left on a further 5 minutes as requested by hounds.

For Hunt 4 the transmitter was located at the base of Olivers Hill, Frankston. The idea here was that as hounds were traveling back towards Frankston they wouldn’t hear a lot of signal until they got over Olivers hill as the cliff face would reflect most of the signal out to the bay. Most teams stopped at the top lookout of Olivers Hill only to find that the transmitter was at the base of Olivers Hill this time. So they had an interesting run in front of them.

Hunt 5 was an easy one, the transmitter was located back at the National Water Sports Centre again, but on the other side of the river this time. Teams could drive very close to this transmitter. So the runners got to have a bit of a breather for a change.

Hunt 6 had the transmitter located in Jells Park. Teams had quite a bit of trouble with picking the signal for this hunt, due to other amateurs operating on the Fox Hunting frequency. For this reason teams were directed to head for the supper location to get a better signal, as well the fox signal was pulsed, to help distinguish between the two signals.

Supper was at Andrew house in Glen Waverley

The Official scores were as follows out of a possible 60:

1st VK3HDF 1

2nd VK3YQN 17

3rd VK3MZ 31

4th VK3PW 40

5th VK3TXA 42

6th VK3TKQ 44

7th VK3VT 51

8th VK3BLN 52

The VK3HDF team have to be congratulated on such a low final score. It could have easily been a zero for the night, but for Bruce beating Bryan in on Hunt 3 by only seconds. The VK3HLP team would like to thank all teams which took part in Friday nights hunt.

Report on the VK3WWW December 1998 foxhunt.

Scores:
Placings have altered somewhat due to me misreading VK3PW’s score card (yes, Richard, I fell for it!) By the odometer readings, it looks like there’s a lot of new cars around!

Place Callsign Txs Start OD  End OD  Total Km
1      VK3BLN   2   111619   111675   56
2      VK3PW    2    12958    13032   74
3      VK3TKQ   2    12603    12680   77
4      VK3EM    2    44776    44854   78
5      YQN/HKC  2   202039   202122   83
6      VK3VT    1    19505    19582   77
7      VK3VR    2?   12161     DNF    --

Who found what:
VK3BLN      7, 9
VK3PW          9, 19
VK3TKQ         9, 19
VK3EM       7, 9
VK3YQN/HKC  7, 9
VK3VT                 14

Locations:
Tx#  Freq:    Location:
1    144.000  15J12 - Top of cliff near proposed toxic waste dump,
Niddrie.
5    145.285  41C5 - behind Olex cables, Brooklyn.
7    145.300  44K1 - top of hill, Yarra bend park.
9    145.325  56D1 - under Westgate bridge.
12   145.350  53J6 - behind Hoechst Chemicals, Altona Nth.
14   144.250  27B8 - near Maribyrnong river, Braybrook.
16   146.000  17K9 - park behind Pentridge Prison.
19   145.700  43A6 - Railway bridge, off Dynon Rd, Footscray.

Transmitters were spread out to give plenty of route choice and to challenge even the best navigators. Transmitters 1, 7, and 19 were at elevated locations and should have been easily heard with a bit of altitude. Most other transmitters should have been able to be heard from these locations. From 500m away from the transmitter in Footscray, at ground level I could here transmitters 1, 7, 9, 12 and 19 easily on a sniffer. I drove a few Km west to Maidstone and was then able to hear Tx’s 5 and 14. Despite these transmitters being in low locations, one
team managed to find Tx14. From here they should have also been able to get Tx5 which was just over 3.5km away. I was never able to hear anything from Tx16 even from about 3km away. The problem turned out to be a faulty coax plug. A hint for future foxes: It is worth carrying a sniffer to check the operation of a fox. A handheld is next to useless.

It was interesting to see than nearly everyone visited transmitter #9. For some this was also their first transmitter. It must have been difficult to get any decent bearings of other transmitters from down there. I was actually expecting this to be most people’s last choice.

The optimal distance to visit all transmitters (path: Start,7,16,1,14,5,12,9,19,supper) works out to be about 91km. At an average speed of around 60km/h with 10 minutes runner time per
transmitter brings this up to about 2.75 hours. Therefore it would have been near impossible to visit all transmitters in the time limit. We just wanted to see what people would do.

This hunt was a bit of an experiment and was put together rather quickly due to an otherwise heavy workload by the organisers. Orienteering punches were used because we didn’t have enough people to look after transmitters. Half of the transmitters were deployed late in the afternoon with timer circuit. This was its first test. My apologies for the use of the frequencies 144.000 and 145.285MHz. On final test I had two crystals which refused to oscillate and it was the best I could do in the time available.

Thanks to Jack Bramham, Stephen Howard, Adam Scammell, Stephen Giles and Glen Downie for helping deploy and look after transmitters.

Thanks also to Steve Wood for doing the start and my brother Ramon for doing the supper.


Bryan, VK3YNG.

Team	Hunt 1			Hunt 2			Hunt 3
Hunt 4			Hunt 5			TOTALS	RANK
	Km	TickNo	SCORE	Km	TickNo	SCORE	Km	TickNo
SCORE	Km	TickNo	SCORE	Km	TickNo	SCORE		
YQN	5	1	1	16	4	2	36	3	4
18	2	2	23	55	1	10	2
TKQ	6	6	6	19	5	4	40	5	6
34	DNC	5	29	61	6	27	7
TVB	4	3	0	17	3	3	28	1	0
18	1	1	26	58	4	8	1
WWW	5	2	2	16	1	1	33	6	2
23	DNC	5	23	53	0	10	2
EM	6	4	5	21	6	5	38	7	5
17	4	0	25	51	2	17	5
HKC	5	5	3	30	7	6	35	4	3
24	5	3	25	52	3	18	6
VT	9000	8	7	8318	4	7	41	8	7
34	DNC	5	32	62	7	33	8
PW	5	7	4	15	2	0	33	2	1
27	6	4	28	60	5	14	4




Regards

John YJK  


(PS. The first two distances for VT are a kludge to give correct
placings.)

The VK3YQN team ran Friday night’s hunt, starting at K-Mart Burwood. The first and fourth hunts were three-legged, with teams being scored on the time spent on each leg. The second hunt was the ubiquitous YQN sniffer hunt. The third hunt was a VK3ROG simplex repeater hunt, where hounds were required to transmit an over to the fox, which would record and re-broadcast it (and thus provide a signal to DF).

Hunts were run on 2m only.

Scores were as follows (out of a total maximum of 80):

Hunt	1		2	3	4		Total	Place

VK3TKQ	10+10+10=30	4	3	9+4+10=23	60	5
VK3BLN	10+2+10=22	7	4	2+10+10=22	55	4
VK3EM	9+10+10=29	10	10	10+0+10=20	69	6
VK3WWW	1+5+0=6		0	3	1+2+10=13	22	1
VK3PW	4+0+1=5		7	0	3+10+1=14	26	2
VK3TVB	0+4+10=14	10*	5	0+1+0=1		30	3

* Would have been 8 except for lack of creek-crossing enthusiasm by VK3MZ.

Well done to VK3WWW.

Next month’s hunt is to be run by VK3BLN…? 19 November 1998.


Cheerio.

Roger Lewis

 the results for  the september fox hunt.  

Team     hunt 1   hunt 2  hunt 3  hunt 4  hunt 5  hunt 6   hunt 7   total   place    

NKC         4           10          4           4           8          5          1           36         4    

PW          9            10          9           5           9          5          2           49         5  

BLN           0           10          9           1           0          0           1           21        2  

YQN          1             9          4            5          4           2          1           26        3  

WWW       1            10          3            1          8           2          1           26        3  

MZ            2             0           0            0          4           1          0            7         1  

JDO          10           10          9            7         10          8          1           55         6

Here are the results of the hunt held on Friday 17th July 98. I’m sorry
to the PW team but I did
not add their result correctly and they actually came equal 5th and OW
came in third.

73 Greg VK3VT

Callsign	Hunt 1	Hunt 2	Hunt 3 	Hunt 4	Hunt 5	Hunt 6	Hunt 7
Total/Place	Place

VK3VR	0	0	3	0	0	0	0	3----1
VK3BLN	4	4	1	1	1	5	8	24---2
VK3OW	5	9	2	6	1	1	7	31---3
VK3WWW	10	2	2	6	2	5	8	35---4
VK3PW	8	1	0	10	2	5	10	36---=5
VK3TKQ	5	9	7	10	2	2	1	36---=5
VK3YQN	7	10	10	3	1	5	6	42---6
VK3TXN	10	10	10	10	10	10	5	65---7

For those are keen to hunt, details of the hunt on Friday 17th July are as follows: Frequencies – 145.3MHz and 438.850MHz (to be confirmed) Start location – car park at the Doncaster Aquatic and Leisure Centre Melways 33 D9 Supper – Selsdon Court Greensborough Liaison frequency 146.675MHz Mobile numbers – Greg VK3VT – 0418535411 Doug VK3JDO – 0411586714 Chris VK3CHR – 0418229875 Now for an update on the police issue: There is a regulation concerning the overhang of loads beyond the side of the vehicle and this limits the overhang to 15 CM – most of us would exceed this. I have written to Vic Roads requesting an exemption for fox hunting – I will post any reply as soon as it arrives. I have also written to the fine people as there are some concerns with the details on the ticket. – they may withdraw or re-issue; this we can deal with when it is clear what will happen. As there may not be any illegal overhang on 438MHz we are running this band this month. Check your equipment with a plumb line – the side of the vehicle does not include mirrors etc At the worst we will all need to build systems that allow the antenna to be located over the roof of the vehicle and I am following up some hardware that may do this for around $150 (this is cheaper than the fine). There is also a regulation that relates to any load should be secured in a manner that is not likely to cause injury to persons or property and thus every one securing a load to their vehicle should ensure that it complies with this regulation. See you all on Friday 73

Greg VK3VT

Ten teams took part in the June 1998 foxhunt. The fox for the evening wasthe VK3VR/MZ/JMD team.

Results were as follows:

	PLACE	TEAM 	SCORE
	1	VK3BLN	15
	2	VK3YQN	16
	3	VK3PW	18
	4	VK3OW	19
	5	VK3TKQ	26
	6	VK3VT	35
	7	VK3WWW	38
	8	VK3EM	44
	9	VK3HKC	47
	10	VK3HDX	60

Major Highlights
================
1. It is unfortunate that the evenings proceeedings were interrupted bythe local constabulary.
2. The WWW team were unlucky to score a 10 in the final hunt – although Jack (WWW) did make a valiant effort to find the fox on foot.

73 de,
Geoff (VK3VR)

Seven teams braved the chilly weather on Friday 17th April, to partake in a fast and furious night of multi-legged madness, hosted by the infamous PW-team. Three hunts were conducted, each consisting of four legs. A slip of paper was handed to each team on finding a transmitter, which provided the frequency for the next leg.

As an aside, Chris Edmonson VK3CE also made a surprise and unexpected appearance, snapping though rolls of film with gleeful abandon.

Starting in the carpark of the Syndal Railway Station, the first fox was hidden just north of the railway line, at end of Hunter Street, Melways 70 K1. This was, in fact, best accessed on foot by leaving the vehicles where they were to begin with!

Second leg of the first hunt was hidden in Melville Court, Melways 70 G3. Some teams expressed frustration when they thought the signal was emanating from somewhere inside Valley Reserve.

The third leg was hidden in a drain beside Regent Street, under Waverley Road, Melways 70 G4.

The transmitter on the fourth leg was behind Holmesglen TAFE, Melways 70 K3, best accessed from the reserve or bike track off Bunker Crescent. Overall for this first hunt was: VR with 0 points, WWW with 7 points, followed by YQN with 24 points. Teams returned to the Syndal Railway Station for a quick breather before the second hunt of the evening.

When was the last time anyone had a “10 minute drive-away” hunt? The Pw-team did not disappoint, as hounds raced after the fox vehicle, precisely ten minutes after its departure. This transmitter was hidden in a vacant lot in a new housing estate off Eley Road in East Burwood, Melways 61 G5.

A short drive down Middleborough Road led hounds to the next transmitter, hidden amongst factories in Ailsa Street, Box Hill South, Melways 61 F3.

Leg 3 pointed hounds towards Balwyn, where Beckett Park (Melways 46 G7) hosted the next transmitter on the Yarrbat Avenue Ridge.

A maze of overgrown, disused right-of-ways had hounds scattered in every direction when the next transmitter was hidden in a narrow alley behind houses in Canterbury, Melways 46 C12. Actual location of the transmitter was in the laneway between Milton and Dryden Streets, best entered off Matlock Street.

The meeting spot was announced and hounds congregated unceremoniously in a nearby carpark. First on Hunt 2 was OW with 1 point, followed closely by VR on 6 points and YQN on 22.

Another laneway between Russell and Loch Streets (Melways 45 K10) kicked off the third and final hunt for the evening. Teams were handed the next frequency and promptly located the next transmitter.

Leg 2 of hunt 3 was only a short drive away, secreted in Frog Hollow Reserve, Melways 60 B3. While teams enjoyed a brief sojourn here, the third transmitter was activated and two legs still remained!

Wattle Park hosted leg 3, where the transmitter was hidden in scrub behind the tennis courts. Well done to the teams who accessed this from the south side of Wattle Park, sprinting across the dewy undergrowth. Several teams did drive-up as intended.

The final transmitter for the evening could be found on the foot bridge over Canterbury Road, Melways 47 F12. While the author did not bear witness to the frenetic enthusiasm of some teams, apparently the bridge is only designed for pedestrians and could not hold multiple four-wheel drive vehicles at any given moment. (Well done for trying though guys.)

Overall for this hunt was VR with a healthy 1, WWW with a 6 and YQN on 18. Heading back for supper at the QTHR of Andrew VK3KIR, the scores were tallied and announced:

First for the evening was VR on 7 points, second was WWW on 38 points, third was OW on 52, fourth was YQN on 64, fifth was TKQ with 91, and a good effort by HKC on 104. Although the numbers appear high, they simply reflect the number of hunts.

Cheers & 73’s
Ron VK3EHF.

Report on the February Foxhunt.
———————————-

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.

Your fox, VK3YQN, for the Melbourne January foxhunt was (Yes-8):
Graham Alston, VK3KOA
Peter Christian
Nick Christie
Luke Gillet
Glenn Hudson
Roger Lewis, (no call)
Bruce Paterson, VK3TJN
Phil (I really must return Geoff’s books) Schneider

Here is the dreaded per-hunt instruction sheet again:

Lord YuQoN humbly requests the services of yon elite band of adventurers to assist him in his search for the Holy Nail.
First you must undertake a series of little tests to prove your worthiness for the gruelling task ahead.

Your first task is to make haste to contact as many of the Five Sheppards of the the Diddledum Moors as you can. The Sheppards may be found as they can be heard calling to their flocks on the psychic bands of 144.25 Megapercepts and 28.45 MegaPercepts. To each Sheppard ye must tell a riddle of letters and numbers, and in time ye will be rewarded. Beware, however, that that the Sheppards are whimsical guardians, and after a time are likely to disappear off chasing stars or something of that ilk.

Yes, there were 5 transmitters running similtaneously all on 144.25MHz, and a single transmitter on 28.45MHz co-located with one of the 2m ones. All were located fairly close to each other around Sunshine. Three of the 144.25MHz Tx’s were randomly intermittant.

The clock was started on all transmitters as soon as a team found any one of the transmitters, and the clock ended up running for 45 minutes. Each team was awarded a score out of 45 for _each_ transmitter, the 5 totalled up and divided by 5 to make the hunt score out of 45. Detailed scores are below, but teams were remarkably close in score on this one, with VK3WWW just scraping in ahead of VK3TKQ, followed by VK3VT 3rd. Jack, VK3WWW very nearly found the “unfound” 2m/10m fox also, but just ran out of time (it was an excellent fox hole).

Then the Lord Yuqon requires you catch the wild magic steed WindBurn. ‘Tis said WindBurn will run forever, lest you pierce her with your sword of light. So enthralled with the beams she will be that she will be rooted to the spot, and should you dare to approach, her innermost secrets can be found. Communicate Windburn’s secrets immediately to Lord Yuqon, lest ye fall from favour.

Peter rode his motorbike in and around the tricky one way streets
near Punt Road, Richmond. VK3VR was first to catch on and flashed
their lights at Peter, who then stopped and handed them a code word
which was communicated to Graham, VK3KOA driving around nearby. Second
was newcomer team VK3HKC (well done guys!), followed by VK3VT.

A furthur test is then to locate Lord Yuqon’s beloved pet parrot, Roget. Roget is an excellent mimic, but has no words of his own, so words must be given to him so that he may speak. To be safe from the cantankerous guardians of the mysterious sideways allocations, ( I guess you know what this is all about, Jack…). Roget will only listen and squawk on 145.3 MegaBeaks using
Feather Manifestation. When found you must present your Caul to the servant of Lord Yuqon.

This hunt was a bit of a test of team ingenuity. The fox was in fact VK3ROG, a simplex repeater. Teams had to talk to the fox in order to get it to transmit, and then DF only ROG, and not other teams trying to trigger it. As more teams got closer it became quite confusing, especially for those trying to sniff it. Apologies from the fox about the poor repeated audio quality, especially when the input signals were weak. This was due to the fact that the repeater was bound up right on top of the venerable Kyokuto Rig with antenna, and it tended to interfere a bit (…well OK, a lot). VK3VR was first on this one, but not before some choice words from Ian, VK3MZ to Geoff, VK3VR about him failing to see the fox about 3 minutes earlier when he shone his torch right at us lying on the pedestrian freeway overpass (Glen Iris), and then walked away.

The Five Sisters Unmerciful abode in the Valley of the Eye. Glen Iris of course !
Chariots or divining devices therein cannot be used in the Valley of the Eye, so worthy foot soldiers must attempt this task alone. An ARDF hunt.
The Eye is always upon you, and will shrivel to ash those who commune in the Valley. ie. No Talking to each other (I doubt if this one was obeyed, but what the heck).
The Five Sisters know each other so well they never feel the need for more than one to speak at a time, but to compensate they talk at a greater frequency than normal (145.3 MegaPhonemes). Each valient foot warrier must prostrate themselves before each Sister and surrender their map parchment for the Sister to mark with a sign.
Ye must beware to _never_ spend more than 1 hour in the Valley of the Eye, or ye will be surely sacrificed.
The Lord will reward only the foot soldier with the most signs from each band of adventurers. Even Lord Yuqon would not stoop to abandoning unsucessful soldiers to their fate in the Valley of the Eye, so he will light a beacon to guide them home (145.7 MegaLumens).

This sort of event seems to bring mixed reactions. There are those who loved it, and those who can’t stand it. I agree it does leave those without sniffers without much to do, and this is a valid reason for avoiding pedestrian ARDF hunts as part of a foxhunt evening. I can’t agree that the darkness is a problem, especially as the event was held on a Street Orienteering Map (kindly provided by the Bayside Kangaroos orienteering club) rather than in parkland.
The hunt was scored out of 20. Each ARDF Tx _not_ found by a competitor scores 4 points. Each minute taken by a competitor _after_ the first person back with the same number of Tx’s found
scores 1/2 a point, to a maximum of 3 points (ie. It’s always better to find more Tx’s than get back earlier, as long as you don’t exceed the 1 hour limit). The scores differ a little from those hastily
calculated on Friday night as we have decided to allow a 5 minute time bonus to all competitors due to some confusion at the Start (that, and the fact we couldn’t put up with any more whingeing). The ARDF hunt was won by Mark, VK3JMD for the VK3VR team. Second was Adam, VK3HDF for VK3WWW and third VK3TKQ. Well done also to VK3PW and VK3HKC who at least gave it a go, and proved you can do OK by walking.

Armed with the knowledge and tools now gained, adventurers must embark on the most challenging task of all. To search the Burnt Forests for the Holy Nail.

Cancelled due to lack of time. (It was only a supper hunt anyway).

Supper was held at my place in Ashwood, where results similar but not
identical to these were eventually read out (the ARDF really takes
a while to work out the scores too!):

1st VK3VR on 37 points,
2nd VK3WW on 54 points,
3rd VK3TKQ on 59 points,
4th VK3BLN and VK3VT on 69 points,
6th VK3HKC on 70 points
7th VK3PW on 79 points 
             all out of 85 points.

DETAILS for those interested
============================

Detailed scores:

Team        Sheppards          Mobile    Roger     ARDF    Total   Place
VK3BLN  {45,33,13,45,45}=36     5         8         20      69      4
VK3PW   {45,45,45,45,45}=45     10        9         15      79      7
VK3TKQ  {11,32,34,45,45}=33     10        10        6       59      3
VK3VR   {45,44,32,45,18}=37     0         0         0       37      1
VK3VT   {45,45,38,45,3} =35     4         10        20      69      4    
VK3WWW  {26,45,45,45,0} =32     10        8         4       54      2
VK3HKC  {45,45,45,45,8} =38     3         10        19      70      6

The full ARDF scores on an individual rather than best of team basis
are:

Team    Number    Minutes    Score/20
VK3PW    1         31         16
VK3PW    0         65         20
VK3PW    2         65         15
VK3VR    5         64         0
VK3VR    3         60         8
VK3VR    3         76         20 (overtime)
VK3WWW   2         53         12
VK3HDF   4         59         4
VK3TKQ   4         63         6
VK3TKQ   2         53         12
VK3HKC   1         65         19
VK3OW    3         67         20 (sorry!)
VK3BLN   3         79         20
VK3VT    0         5          20 (just didn't try)

The various fox locations were:

Sheppards:
KIR cts fox (1W): Off New Street 41F11
WWW cts fox (500mW): Railway siding off McDonald Rd 41A7
YNG random mode 4 ?: Willow Tree off Paramount Rd 41E6
WIA Fast random (3W): Opposite Bike track 41F6
290R/10m 1.5s pulse (2.5W,40W): Beside new works 41D6

Mobile:
Somewhere in block bounded Swan, Burnley, Punt & Bridge Rds, Richmond.

Roger:
SE Freeway overpass, Glen Iris 59J7

The fox for the evening was Chris VK3CHR, Tom, Doug VK3JDO, Dave Vk3JMB and Greg VK3VT. Seven teams of hounds braved the weather and were rewarded with little rain and some fun hunting.

The first spot was found by the VT team on last months hunt and was beside the Calder freeway. The fox from last month was suitably amused as they were nowhere near this location when hiding their transmitter! A number of hounds on this event were nowhere near this area either, as there was little indication of the correct direction to head from the start. Still after a couple of mobile phone calls (the two metre liaison frequency was tried) suitable hints were given and the hounds were on the way. One team ignored the explicit directions given over the phone (due to lack of trust in the fox) and missed getting a good score. Would you trust the fox that much? Due to the time taken in locating this fox it was decided to run the clock for 15 minutes and this proved decisive in the final results.
(Sorry Ian, Geoff, Mark and John)

Second spot was near the Tullamarine freeway and the hounds should have been closely spaced but this was not quite the case, the winners turned up the right street while others had a run across the park.

Third spot was found by Doug 3JDO and was a lane at the rear of some factories in Hawthorn, only three teams found this spot and two only just, you can never tell how good a spot will be until the hounds try to find it.

For the fourth spot Chris found a dead end street near the Ivanhoe Grammar school which was an easy run from Hawthorn.

The final spot of the evening was found by Doug 3JDO on a mountain bike ride an was in a fauna park along the bank of the Plenty river. Several hound came across the river and were very chilly at the end of the evening

Supper was held at the home of Chris 3CHR and after the scores were read and the stories swapped the hounds headed for home and sleep.

TEAM	Hunt1	Hunt 2	Hunt 3	Hunt 4	Hunt 5	Total	Place
YQN	0	10	9	5	0	24	Equal 1st
WWW	5	2	10	2	5	24	Equal 1st
TVB	15	0	0	0	10	25	2nd
TKQ	10	9	10	3	8	40	3rd
YXO	12	3	9	8	9	41	4th
PW	12	3	10	10	10	45	5th
BLN	15	9	10	3	10	47	6th
TUG	15	10	10	10	9	54	7th

73 Greg VK3VT

Action-packed, controversial and ruthless… three words which leap to mind when talking about the infamous ‘PW’ team and their August foxhunt. Melbourne turned on a crystal-clear evening for the monthly hunt on Friday 15th August. Seven teams assembled at the Lygon St. / VicRoads carpark, and the evening’s festivities commenced shortly after 8.00 pm.

The first hunt – controversial – consisted of three legs and was scored on the third leg. A 150 mW transmitter on the Elizabeth St. roundabout (Melways 2B F4) had the teams promptly under way, with most finding this without too much difficulty. One wonders, however, if it might have been quicker to walk to this hunt rather than drive…

The second leg at “Kensington Banks” (Melways 42 H2) was in a maze of little side streets in the new housing estate off Smithfield Rd. First in here was WWW, then TVB followed by TUG some minutes later.

Action-packed: leg three, “The Three Testicles”, had hounds scattered in every direction trying to land safely beneath the Western Ring Road / Geelong Road interchange (Melways 40 E12). First in again was WWW, 4 minutes later was TVB, and equal third on this hunt went to YQN & TUG. The fox was chirping happily from beneath the complicated freeway crossovers; cars approached, skirted then deflected as the various on-ramps and off-ramps proved chaotic for navigators and drivers.

The second hunt was comprised of five legs, starting from the carpark at McDonalds on the Western Ring Road (Melways 40 B7). Going against the grain of all traditional foxhunting tactics, the FREEWAY proved too much of a psychological obstacle for some. The first leg was beneath the WRR & Ballarat Rd intersection (Melways 25 K8), followed closely by the second leg beside the WRR & Furlong Rd intersection (Melways 26 E6). Two teams found the second transmitter first and were sent back with their tails between their legs to find the first transmitter at Ballarat Rd.

The third leg – ruthless – was beneath the freeway bridge over the Maribyrnong River (Melways 26 J2). Sadly, the fox had a dickey linear amplifier, (the only technical hitch for the evening,) but several teams still found this leg in good time.

To continue in a ring-road fashion, leg four (also known as “The Footbridge” – Melways 6 D12) had some hounds scratching their heads. Two teams had realised by this time that the secret was to STAY ON THE FREEWAY and drop runners as soon as possible.

The fifth leg and meeting place was a transmitter on the south-east corner of High Street & Keon Pde (Melways 8 J12) opposite the railway station. With a 30 minute time limit from the first team, only two teams arrived at this leg: WWW and TVB. Other hounds had ventured off into the undesirable urbanism of Gladstone Park. The meeting place was announced, rude words were uttered by many and Hunt number 3 was underway.

First leg of the last hunt was in the middle of the freeway (Melways 10F10) hosted by Andrew, Dennis and friends. Most teams did well here, dropping runners at appropriate times.

The second leg took hounds to Fitzsimmons Lane (Melways 21 G12) on the south side of the Yarra River. Of all the teams left, four were able to find the offending transmitter: TVB, VT, WWW & YQN in this order.

The last leg brought hounds to the magnificent supper prepared at the QTHR of Richard VK3YLZ. Scores for the night were WWW on 9 points, TVB on 31 points, YQN & TUG both on 55 points, TKQ & VT on 60 points, with HXP on 61 – who incidentally pulled out owing to equipment difficulties.

The June 2-metre foxhunt was held in cool but clear conditions. The fox for the month was Jack, VK3WWW. 7 teams assembled for an 8PM start at the K-mart Burwood carpark.

There were 3 hunts for the evening. The first two hunts were split into 3 legs each with foxes running on both 2 and 10 metres.

The first fox for the evening caught the 8:10PM Burwood tram to the Burwood Campus of Deakin university. One of the hounds who worked out what was going on boarded the tram at the same stop that the fox got off. The fox then went for a walk through the university campus. Both VK3PW and VK3TVB found this fox first at 8:32PM followed by VK3BLN and VK3TKQ some 3-4 minutes later.

The second leg of this hunt took the hounds to the rear of the Wheelers hill hotel car park. A newly erected wall at the rear of the car park with no openings forced many hounds to try to find alternative routes. VK3YQN found this fox at 8:59PM followed by VK3PW just 2 minutes later. 4 minutes on, VK3TVB arrived to take third place.

The last leg of this hunt took the hounds to the rear of Kingsley Business park in Rowville. This hunt proved particularly troublesome for most hunters. This transmitter was giving short bursts of carrier which are often hard to find. The transmitter was hidden in a clearing in amongst some very prickly bushes. VK3YQN were first on the scene and very quickly burrowed through the bushes and by 9:14PM had found the 10-metre fox. Many other teams arrived soon after and spent considerable time trying to find an opening in the bushes. One hound burrowed his way
straight past the fox and out the other side. No other teams found the transmitter in the 15-minute time limit even though some were there for almost 10 minutes.

The second hunt for the evening took the hounds to the Knox Arboretum in Boronia where the fox was hidden in the playground. VK3YQN was first to find this fox at 9:58PM followed by VK3TVB 7 minutes later. VK3PW (who started the hunt late after enjoying a cup of coffee or two) and VK3TKQ both took 3rd place a minute later.

The second leg of this hunt took the hounds to a 4-wheel drive track in Ferntree Gully. VK3YQN maintained their lead finding the fox at 10:11PM followed by VK3BLN and VK3TVB just 5 minutes later.

The final leg of this hunt was hidden in amongst bush beside an unmarked 4 wheel drive track in Upwey. This was a real test of skill, especially for the 2-metre hunters. Since the 10-metre signal was intermittent and the 2-metre signal continuous, all hounds decided to hunt on 2-metres. The fox was attached to a 3-element beam antenna mounted on top of a motor rotating continuously at about 30RPM. Mark VK3JMD found this fox at 10:38PM. Some 10 minutes later, about 4 hounds ran down the rather steep and slippery track. Concentrating on the track rather than the signal meant that they all ran straight past the fox. No other teams made the 15-minute time limit.

The final fox for the night was near a disused pumping station in Vermont. VK3YQN found this fox with nearly all other teams finding the fox 5 minutes later, followed by VK3TUG.

Supper was held in Vermont where the following scores were announced:

1: VK3YQN 	15 points  
2: VK3TVB 	26 points
3: VK3BLN  	47 points
4: VK3PW   	51 points
5: VK3TKQ  	59 points
6: VK3TUG 	66 points
7: VK3TXG 	85 points 

TXG – (A commendable effort since they persisted despite numerous equipment problems.)

A coolish evening greeted the 7 hounds who turned up to VK3YQN’s March foxhunt. Start was in Lytton Street in the city as the fox was heading West this evening.

The first hunt was a two legged affair, the first leg a very tricky to approach wasteground behind a chemicals factory in Altona. Both 10m and 2m was run for this hunt. The second leg was the set to be the traditional long bastard of a YQN sniffer hunt, and this one was no exception. Judging by the comments on the liason frequency we were very successful in making this a challenging hunt. Hunters were given credit for both their absolute and relative times on the second leg, so a reasonable score for the sniffer hunt was still possible even if a team did poorly on the first leg. Jack, VK3WWW was the definite winner of the first leg, later followed by VK3PW (using a new runner), David for VK3BLN and Geoff, this night hunting as VK3TVB. For some reason David thought his score might be dangerously low, so he spent a couple of minutes chatting to his team on the liason frequency a few metres from the 1st leg fox before checking in just to make sure they didn’t do _too_ well. Looking at the final scores shows this cost them a place ! Questioned later he stated he hadn’t bothered to read the Fox information sheet provided at the start. Only two teams made it in to the sniffer leg before the timeout ( but judging from the howls of protest when it was turned off, a couple more were quite close… Bad Luck VK3BLN & VK3TKQ ). VK3PW did the best absolute and relative times for this leg, piping VK3TVB by 1 minute. No sign of VK3WWW…..time to build that new sniffer Jack ! Both successful teams were found hotly accusing each other of cheating by using vehicular transportation. Both accusations turned out to be unfounded.

The second hunt was a fairly straight forward but long hunt to a railway crossing out beyond Werribee. The fox apologises for the drop in signal towards the end of the hunt. A suspect fox battery may be the reason the power of the fox dropped so much it was no longer able to trigger the linear amplifier. First was again VK3PW. VK3TKQ and VK3BLN took the minor placings.

The third hunt brought hounds back to a yet to be developed grassland near Hoppers Crossing. Again 10m as well as 2m was run. Ewen, VK3OW was the first to negotiate the reed choked marshy creek, followed by Geoff for VK3TVB with VK3PW and VK3WWW equal third. VK3TKQ and VK3″NBC” were in fact the only teams to come in the “dry” route, but unfortunately it took longer. At least we got Geoff wet as usual.

The supper hunt was a John Munsey KB3GK special. Possibly gum trees don’t load up as well as pines trees, or maybe we can blame the long dry spell we’ve had recently. The many decoy antennas and coax worked perfectly, mis-leading David VK3BLN and Adam for VK3WWW into thinking they had found the fox many times. Suggestion David: Only call out your callsign when you have actually _found_ the fox (and use the team callsign rather than your own). Jack VK3WWW and David VK3BLN then somewhat violently uncovered the real fox followed by VK3TKQ, VK3PW and VK3OW in a group. Since the fox had now been destroyed by the victors the rest had to find a handheld. VK3TVB was unable to participate in this hunt since they had to search for a lost handheld.

An earlier than usual supper (to allow for the long way Hopper’s Crossing is from anywhere) was held at nearby Roger’s where the following placings were announced:

1st VK3PW, 2nd VK3OW and equal third VK3BLN & VK3TKQ.

Full scores are below.

Team Hunt: 1A 1B(abs) 1B(rel) 2 3 4 Total Place
=======+===========================================+========+====== 
VK3PW  | 3 0 0 0 3 1 | 7 | 1 
VK3WWW | 0 5 5 8 3 0 | 21 | 2 
VK3OW  | 10 5 5 8 0 1 | 29 | 3 
VK3BLN | 5 5 5 4 10 1 | 30 | =4 
VK3TKQ | 10 5 5 3 6 1 | 30 | =4 
VK3TVB | 6 4 1 9 2 (10)| 32 | 6 
VK3NBC | 10 5 5 10 6 5 | 41 | 7 
=======+===========================================+========+====== 

NB: VK3TVB did not participate in the final hunt. They could not have done better than 3rd however.