Three teams lined up for the second 70 centimeters fun 'on foot' hunt at the
Hop-Pole public house on a damp and chilly evening.
Mike M0RMJ assisted by his wife Ann (navigator), Ian G8PWE
(bravely tackling un familiar territory on his own) and myself and John G0PSI.
The rain had been pelting down all day but the promised 'window' of clear sky appeared exactly on cue.
"Well we must be doing something right!"
G6MDU is the fox and should be transmitting on SU18 433.450MHz.
Will we be able to hear him from the start?
Will he be right at the edge of the 1 mile circle and well hidden?
These were the questions running through all our minds.
19:30 And the radio bursts into life with a pretty strong signal.
10dB's of attenuator in John, (my team mate's) aerial lead already. My radio
is fully quietened too and so I begin to connect my active attenuator in circuit.
Just get it done to hear the last ten seconds of Gordon's transmission and get a
rough direction.
John agrees, and so do all the others by the looks of it, so we all troup off in a
south westerly direction along Chilwell High Road.
We really 'step it out' to put some space between ourselves and the following group
before the second transmission.
19:35 We are in the clear standing by Cator Lane school playing field.
"Should get a good reading here" we hope, and sure enough signals have swung round
to the south east.
We head across the main road and look back to see how far the others have got.
'Hmm no sign of them' maybe they turned left sooner, this could put them ahead!
Better keep the pressure on!
We stride down Meadow Lane and reach the Queens Road, time is ticking by as we wait
for the traffic lights to change and let us across. We are getting very strange looks
from a family also waiting to cross.....I wonder why? Could it be that we look rather
strange, headphones on, 7 element beam in one hand and crackling radio in the other?
.....Naaah!
19:40 And we are getting closer, half way down Meadow lane by the Golf Course.
Getting a strong direction now free of major reflections, only problem we can see is
if the fox is in the nature reserve it could be a muddy end to the hunt.
19:50 and we are right at the bottom of Meadow Lane in a large semi-circle of houses.
The signal points directly northeast parallel to the railway line. Great this must mean
he isn't hiding in the nature reserve!
Time to backtrack a little.
We have walked down Barkers Lane and have split up. John has continued along
the lane whilst I have turned right into Wheatley gardens.
Barkers Lane finishes in a
dead end whereas Wheatley joins Burnham Avenue which runs parallel to Barkers Lane also
coming to a dead end.
19:55 Signals dead ahead, either John or I am bound to find the fox with our clever 'pincer' movement!
Un-beknown to me, John has reached the dead end and drawn a blank. My system is now almost overloaded and I can see the end of the road. No sign of a car though!
As I approach the dead end there is one last twist to the story, not shown on the map, the road has a tiny cul-de-sac to the left and this is where the fox is hiding.
19:28 Well not bad for an evenings stroll, Gordon issues me with our slip, first place? even better!
As John and I head back, the other two teams have caught each other up arriving simultaneously at the transmitter.
Duly clocked in it's back to the pub to tackle a well earned pint.
The Landlord of the Hop-Pole lays on a fabulous Fish supper with peas and lashings of bread and butter for all the intrepid hunters.
Were full to bursting and glowing all over.....
What a brilliant end to the hunting season.
Well done to all who have made the ARCON hunts a success this year.
Watch this space for information on Season-2003.
If you fancy a go in one of our hunts, or even coming along for a chat to find out all about hunting. We meet in the Hop-Pole public house, Chilwell High Road, Beeston, on the second and fourth thursday of each month.
Why not come along!
Dave G6UWO/M3UWO
19/4/01 | 17/5/01 | 21/6/01 | 19/7/01 | 16/8/01 | 20/9/01 | 18/10/01
copyright © silent design associates. 2001. all rights reserved.
| |
