Saturday 9/23/2006
Saturday evening’s hunt had 4 participants and 2 transmitters. As I promised, the signal was 50% duty cycle on both transmitters, both were vertically polarized and we had good signal reports from the start point.

The first team in was Bob Thornburg, WB6JPI a t-hunt veteran from San Bernardino. He finished at 7:16. The second team in was Joe Corones, N6SZO and Greg Spaulding, KD6YQR and they had 2 ride alongs, all from San Diego. They finished at 7:17. The third team in was Bill Elkerton, W6ZM and Bryan Elkerton, KI6DUR from San Diego. They finished at 7:31. The fourth team was Marty Herlihy, K6KTP and Jerry Petrizze, WA6VLF from San Diego. Marty and Jerry got snookered by all of the most excellent reflections provided by the Mission Valley corridor and DNF’d.

Sunday 9/24/2006
Sunday’s hunt had 7 participants and 6 transmitters. We hid all of the transmitters in the Poway area to keep mileage down and give our friends from up north a head start for their drive home.

T1 was located at the North end of Sycamore Canyon and ran a 2 watt AF6O box into a 4 element yagi pointed directly at the start point (Montgomery Field in Kearny Mesa) 13 miles away. We thought the path would allow for a booming signal at the start point but as it turned out, it was way down in the noise. Several teams reported hearing it.

T2 was located at the west end of Scripps Poway Parkway and ran a 2 watt AF6O box into a 5/8 wave vertical. This T really lit up the West end of the Poway valley. At least 1 team, K6DYD, hiked to this transmitter from Poway Road (2,000 linear/ 300 vertical feet) saving precious mileage.

T3 was located in a turnout on the North side of Poway Road East of Espola Road across from Blue Crystal Trail and was running a 50mw Squawkbox transmitter into a 5/8 vertical. This T really lit up the East end of Poway Valley and sported the Aussie sniffer squeal tone.

T4 was located on Poway Lake Road East of Espola Road in a wooded area next to a parking area and ran a 50mw KF6GQ box into a 5/8 wave vertical. This T was somewhat camouflaged on a small tree and sported the infamous “Be vewy vewy quiet, we’re hunting wabbits” audio.

T5 was located 3,000ft due west on Acorn Patch Road on a vacant lot and ran a 50mw Squawkbox transmitter into a ¼ wave counterpoise antenna. A perfect route mileage would be 2.7 miles
from T4. A couple teams got lucky, most had 7 to 10 miles and a lot of frustration. This T sported the soon to be infamous “Be vewy, vewy careful, wabbits might be hunting you” audio.

T6 was located on Saber Springs Parkway as it crosses Sycamore Canyon Road and ran a 50mw Squawkbox transmitter into a 5/8 wave vertical. You cannot drive the 50 yards from Sycamore Canyon Road to Saber Springs Parkway. You either had to hike up from Sycamore Canyon Road (the right thing to do) or drive 12 miles around and come in from either end. This T sported “Is that T1 I hear?” audio.

As always, we had a great amount of fun watching most of you stumble around the area. These hunts require a ton of effort on the hider’s part. Joe Loughlin, KE6PHB was instrumental in pulling off this event. A great big thank you to him. The results and maps will be available on several websites:
San Diego Thunters
Ham 9 Network

A big thank you to these fine sponsors for these hunts: Bob Simmons (Squawkbox transmitters), Cubex antennas, M-Squared Antennas, Ham Radio Outlet and Jun’s Electronics Thank you all for coming out!
Tom Sneden, K6VCR
ARRL Southwest Division Convention T-Hunt Chairman

RESULTS:


 


Location of Ts:



And if you have Google Earth