Don KF6GQ and Steve KD6LAJ's
Story

I guess the FJ-Cruiser is not a  good T-Hunt vehicle. It seems that even when not running the RF emissions are formidable as N6AIN can attest to! I will have to try and disconnect all connections to battery, and run my radio off it's own battery!

So with only N6MI's bearing of 345 degrees we decided to go up over the Angeles Forest hwy. Stopped by my home to pick up a sniffer, and off we went!

Well it really doesn't do you a whole lot of good to go over ANF hwy. now, it seems that they have closed off the road up to Mt. Gleason, so no way to get a clear bearing. We picked up a signal on SSB as we came down from the high spot. We stopped and I got out with my handheld and a three element beam, and was able to get a signal in the same direction as the bearing from the start. So up Hwy 14 with a check stop at the overlook. Looked just a bit west of the line Hwy 14 made as it went north. Talked with N6AIN and they were stopping in Mojave for lunch, we were  about 20 minutes behind them.

As we approached Mojave the bearing was taking a turn to the west by a whole bit, 265-280 degrees. So we went towards Tehachapi. Oh no! not there again! When we got into the area son of a b----, if it didn't point up into those hills again as it did last month! So we went up as high as we could and still see north, we got a bearing that took it through Breckenridge Mt. that's not too bad, it could be worst, like up in the Sequoias! So off we went up the road that passes by the infamous "No T Hunting" sign! Pass Breckenridge on to Bodfish. Where we got a almost you are there signal, pointing up into the Greenhorn Mt. area. We stopped and talked to N6AIN who was trying to determine how to proceed to the T.

. We knew he was between the lake and Rt155. So we took the first ridge road (sawmill) that went west and went all the way to a road that then would take us back to Rt155. Well1 lo and behold we met up with WA6RJN and a friend who lives in the Isabella area. At this point we had a almost "you are there" signal! We had already made a choice in which way we were going, but seeing him there at (35.667373, -118.531663), and the signal shooting right up north, along this road (25S02). We went up and on the way we could hear several other T's (so we knew we were getting close).

Well! we spent until dusk going up that road until we had a bearing due west and the only road was a 4X4 that didn't look too passable (35.691877, -118.527375). We went a bit further but the signal was getting weak again, so we turned around!

It was now getting darker, so we headed back to find any other T's and give up on this one! The T's we heard weren't anywhere close by, I guess  the height we had made them appear a lot closer. So we got down to Sawmill Rd. again and went west, until we met up with Rancheria Rd. in which we went north, by the way, we met a couple of forest service officers, and they told us they had met up with you guys N6AIN !

So now it's dark and we are seeing the formation of fog! But as we went up the road towards Shirley Meadows, we passed by two or more T's we stopped at two of them and signed in. This was when N6AIN texted us that they where quitting.. We have a good idea about where the main T was (35.698848, -118.551612), it's the road directly above the one we had such a good signal at! After continuing North on Rancheria Rd. following behind someone who had been on the road before, because he was traveling faster than I would in all that fog! We went by the road to main T, but we had had enough for one day to go and try and locate it. All in all we had a frustrating day for only two T's!  Thanks Doug
 for the hunt.
Don & Steve