Story
It
was just the N6AIN/N6EKS team and I on the hunt.
Starting at the Cajon summit on I15, we had a bearing of
110 degrees (which later proved accurate). I headed to
the 247. At the junction of Hwy 18 I decided to go up to
the Big Bear area. I had seen this situation before and
it turned out to be a bounce (the T was actually 20
miles farther east).
At
the top of the 18, I had a bearing pointing south. I was
also checking for bearings to the east. I don’t trust
bearings in the “Big Bear Triangle” (where bearing get
very strange). I decided to find a higher place to take
a reading and went up 3N16 to the first summit a couple
of miles from Hwy 18. The main T8 pointed south but I
heard T9 which pointed west.
Figuring
the T8 bearing was a bounce, I headed west toward
Holcomb Valley on 3N16. Both T8 and T9 picked up signal
strength and continued to point generally west. Along
the way the bearings came from the north, west, and
south depending on where I took a bearing. T9 started
pointed north most of the time as T8 pointed mostly
north west.
I
started up 3N43 toward T8 but the road became rougher
than I wanted being I was alone in my 418,000 miles
4-runner. I back tracked a little and took 3N07 where I
found a road leading to T9. Do to the road condition, I
decided to hike the last part of the road. This was a
good idea as about 6 jeeps came down the road. I’m
guessing they were a jeep club. The all had radios.
Turns out they had all become hams so they could better
communicate with each while off roading. They were using
145.555. A couple of them took pictures of me with my
tape measure beam. Continuing up the road I found T9 in
a group of large rocks.
I
returned to the pursuit of the main T8. I went back to
3N16 and took it to 3N10. 3N10 was a little better. I
drove it until it seemed to dead end at a bunch of
boulders and heard T3 along the way. I hadn’t been
taking readings as I thought T8 would be at the end of
the road. I was wrong – no T8 but there was a T14. It
was beyond the boulders and up a steep hill. Turns out
the road did continue through the large boulders and the
jeep clubs seem to love them.
I
realized that I had passed T3 along the way. I tried
finding it but could not seem to triangulate it.
Returning for a third time to a small group of rocks
where that was a campsite I noticed a small road leading
in the direction I wanted. After another hike up the
road I found T3.
Where
was T8? After running up and down 3N10 a couple of times
I realized T8 was on 3N43 – the road I didn’t want to go
up, but maybe I could go down it. Doing so brought me to
T8. This time it was easy to get to.
It
was interesting that almost every time I found a T there
was a jeep club running up and down the road. All in all
it was a difficult hunt because of the roads. It would
have been much more enjoyable if both me and the
4-runner were younger and I had a partner.
I
want to thank KF6GQ for putting on the hunt. It was
imaginative, challenging, and enjoyable (especially
since I found the Ts).
Doug
WA6RJN
T14
T9
T8
T3
