HOMING IN
Jammer tracking, noise location, search-and-rescue — these are some of the reasons why hams learn about radio direction finding (RDF). But no matter what your purpose, you’ll find that it takes experience out in the field to become proficient with your equipment. Fortunately, practicing is lots of fun when hams get together to hold mobile hidden transmitter hunts, which they call T-hunts, foxhunts, or bunny hunts.
Hams sometimes ask, “What’s so tough about mobile T-hunting? You just take a bearing, plot it, and follow it to the T. No problem!” Well, either these people haven’t done much hunting, or they’re incredibly lucky, or they have never gone up against a world class hider.
Even in the simplest hunts, it’s typical for one or more teams to become completely baffled at some point. When the goal is to bamboozle everyone, there is no end to the stunts that an imaginative huntmaster can employ (see example in Photo A).
Dirty Tricks 101
Most of my “Homing In” columns provide ideas to help the hunters. To even the score, it’s time to help the hiders to prolong the suspense and the fun. But don’t let the title fool you. You don’t have to do anything illegal or unsafe to put on a tough hunt (and you shouldn’t). Just use your
