February 27th 2010
Mini All Day
Transmitter Hunt


Hiders: Joseph N6SZO, Joseph KE6PHB and Tom K6VCR
The hiders reconnoitered the area 2 weeks prior to the hunt and had a very interesting plan to execute. Upon arriving Friday afternoon, it was discovered that 3 gates had been closed and locked until better weather returned. We decided upon a B plan and started putting out transmitters. The roads we traveled on Friday had been rained on during the week but we had no problems navigating them. We accessed T-1 and T-3 from a paved road to the South. The road the transmitters was located on is dirt but easily passable with a standard clearance vehicle. We choose not to disclose the location so that it can be used in the future. Five teams started at 10:00 at PV, N6AIN, N6MI/W6LN, WB6HPW and son, N6ZHZ/KD6CYG, KF6GQ/KD6LAJ and WA6RJN joined the hunt.

Don - KF6GQ and Steve -KD6LAJ found two transmitters with the shortest mileage and are the winners.

T-2, a 40 watt transmitter with a 13 element beam pointed at Palomar Mountain was hidden 8/10 of a mile in on 6S53 off of Morris Ranch Road behind an unlocked gate that was closed with a sign asking that you close the gate behind you. We met Don and Steve as they were exiting the area and they had closed the gate leaving N6MI and W6LN inside the area. The hiders decided it would be good sport to lock the gate and wait for Scott and Jack to arrive and try to leave the area. After their initial shock was over, we showed ourselves and unlocked the gate. Don was worried that the BOARD would penalize him for the prank.

Results

T2 four teams signed in at this transmitter
Calls          Time   Miles    Comments
KF6GQ/KD6LAJ   14:31  140.1    Started across canyon to the North, it’s not there!
N6MI/W6LN      14:55  149.0
N6ZHZ/KD6CYG   15:53  160.3    Snowing! Great Spot! (It’s Cold)
N6AIN          16:23  197.3 

T2 Antenna
Gate on road to T2

T-4 (the raisin T), a Squawk box micro T with a 5/8 hotrod antenna was hidden 1.8 miles up 243 at the call box 243-16 turnout. Five teams signed into this transmitter: Calls Time Miles Comment WA6RJN 15:09 161.0 It’s wet! N6MI/W6LN ???? 183.0 WB6HPW and son ???? ???.? KF6GQ/KD6LAJ ???? 167.1 The Winners N6ZHZ/KD6CYG 17:11 174.5 Cool. Very Cool.
T4 The Raisin T
At 15:00 the hiders were told that T-3 (IDing as N6MI every 30 seconds) which had been heard by many of the hunters had died. We drove to the location and found its container had water in it and had shut off. No one had signed in to it so we removed it. On the way out from the area we decided that the road had deteriorated enough that it was not safe to travel and removed T-1. As we were leaving it started to lightly snow and by the time we were back on pavement it was almost a white out. We lament that the weather did not cooperate with us for this hide. It would have been fun to spend more time with everyone.
Joe –N6SZO, Joe-KE6PHB and Tom-K6VCR


T1 before the snow



N6AIN's Story

KF6GQ's Story

Jippy's Story