MEATHEAD T-HUNT

REPORT BY:

WB6JPI

JANUARY 24, 2015

 

 

It was a fine day for a Meathead T-hunt. Since it was a “start anywhere at anytime” hunt I listened at Friday evening and could heard NOTHING. Deryl heard a “week” signal from Culver, but all others were quiet.

 

I had a plan…I would leave the house in Bloomington (Fontana) ast 6 AM in order to maximize daylight and go west to Mulholland and the 405 and see what I could hear. This way if it was down south toward Margarita Peak or up north in SLO I would not have wasted much time. The plan was a very good one but things came up to alter it.

 

I left the house at 5:45 AM, still dark but freeways were fast and I heard a signal in El Monte pointing west. SO I left my plan which would have had me take the 101 thru Hollywood then cut south on the 405 to Mulholland.  Instead I went west on the 10 all the way to the 405 and as the signal couldn’t be west of there and so weak with have water wings, I went north on the 405 to Mulholland. See, it was a great plan.

 

Got my first plot-able bearings on T2 and T1 and heard T5. North on the 405 to the 118 then west to Santa Susana pass where there were lots of transmitters. I found T2 before 8AM and T5 soon after. I was getting very close to T6 when disaster happened.

 

I was going down a once a-very-long-time-ago paved road with 49 dB attenuator on T6 when I came to a washout that appeared to be 8 inches deep The Prius has only 5 inches of ground clearance. I could see better roads a few hundred years beyond that had houses so I knew there was another way to get in there so I decided that the better risk is to turn around and come in from another road. I backed up to the widest spot I could see and started a 6 point turnaround. On the second pass I was moving forward, wheels crimped hard over when the right front wheel dropped in to washout that was about a foot deep. The force mashed the left end of the bumper against the hill. What had happened is that I guaghed the width and condition of the road while I was backing up to the “wide” spot and from the left window it was clear that the little gutter washout was only 2-3 inches deep. I couldn’t see the right side of the car from there and had no idea of what was there. I just assumed that it was 2-3 inches not 12, So here I am. At right angle to the road four feet of space behind me and I am up against the wall in the front. Two horses and riders came by and they could just make it through. The car would not back up even with the front wheels both spinning. (The Prius has anti skid computer that will put on the brake of the front wheel that is spinning much faster than the other. This will cause the differential to transfer power to the not so fast spinning wheel. STUCK.

I tried to call the other hunters, but due to my last phone having suddenly died and I tried to fix it and it stayed dead, I couldn’t transfer my contact list to this now year old phone. All I had was Marlene. Things were not going well. With so many transmitters it is very hard to used the hunt frequency to call. I got the great idea to search the phone log book and sure enough I found Scotts number from October of last year and as he was my go-to guy the last time I was stuck (20 years ago) he was the right one anyway. He was in Burbank learning about soldering PowerPoles but he called Deryl and Don  and I did call on the air and soon Doug called me back,. Help was on the way.

 

Doug arrived first coming up the road and not a minute later, Don and Steve showed up coming down the road. After much ;laughing and finger pointing and hopefully some pictures, they got down to the business of getting me out.

 

They could not get behind the Prius to pull it straight out as it was sideways and there was only 4 ft of road behind it. If the tried to drag the rear down the hill it souls pivot about the stuck right front wheel and further mash the left front bumper into the solid bank. Pulling the back up hiss would not only leave the Prius pointing down hill, but would also put a terrible twist on the stuck front wheel.

 

There was a telephone pole 10 ft behind and slightly downhill from the Prius. They decided to take the tow strap around the telephone pole and pull from the downhill side until the front wheel was out and stop before the whole Prius went over the other edge and lodged against the telephone pole.

 

Don was the master of ceremonies, Doug was the driver of pulling using his 4 Runner, Steve was the strap manager and even furnished the telephone pole bearing using a cleverly applied paper bag.  I hid in the Prius with my eyes closed. What a team!

 

It came right out, and I drove away.

 

I tried to find how to get to the roads I saw while stuck, but ended up on the road to T1. I found the talking T telling me to ignore the signs saying I was on a Private Road, and the went a couple miles further and found T1, right where it said to pay $5 if you park. I didn’t park on the pay side of the sign but I saw that Don did.

 

Although there were no more transmitters heard up this road I went another 4 miles to a locked gate. The road is most interesting although I did manage to totally ignore a lady with a yellow vest that was very concerned with my zooming by on my way up. I found all kinds of things building and built years ago up there. The is Oat Mountain and indeed the road is closed as Don informed me later and that is what the woman was excited about.

 

I went back west and found the way into T6 and by then I had found T2, T5, T6, Talking T and T1. I needed T4, and two that I had not heard to make up the 8 Ts known to be hidden. I ate lunch. T4 was only heard at one place near T2 and then it wasn’t very strong. I went back there and took a bearing and then  checked each north bound road until I found it. There I could hear T7 and went to find it. Instead I found the elusive T10 and noted that T7 was across a very deep chasm from T10. The only way I could get there was to go about 5 miles around to Balboa and come in that way since my GPS kept routing me to closed/gated or non existent roads in-between.  Found it in the dark and went home.

 

Eight transmitters all on paved roads what a fin hunt for a Prius…Oh, I forgot to mention that the wind was so strong in the area that I had to crawl on my belly to a couple of transmitters in the late afternoon  I couldn’t stand up on the slopes and bend over etc.

 

GREST HUNT, THANX to all.

 

Bob, WB6JPI