 |
Let's not forget the.....CQ Magazine, Fourteenth Annual
|
|
|
Here in West Michigan it's the
***** MAY FOXHUNT *****Saturday
|
DETAILS:
Congregate time: 9:30 am, Saturday, May 14th 2011
Start Location: Same as the April hunt, Family Fair at 28th Avenue and Port Sheldon in Hudsonville.
(hint: there is an ice cream place right across the street.)
The fox will be within 8 airline miles of the start.
Lowest mileage wins.
Maximum Fox Hunt Time of 2 hours.
Fox will be using Robo Fox, 1 minute ON, 2 minutes OFF.
Fox will be located in a car, on publicly accessible land or water.
OK, The Fox will actually be a Vixen. One guess.
Sincerely,
The Vixen and her Fox.
Page Links:
Starting Information
The Rules
Official Results
Plenty of parking.... Good Exposure for Radio Signals
Starting from
Port Sheldon Street and 28th Avenue, Hudsonville, Michigan
[SE Corner
- In Front of Family Fare Supermarket]
Our starting point for the May Foxhunt is one of our favorite spots along the Hudsonville/Jenison Township line. It's impossible to guess where the fox will be hiding, because there are just too many good spots all around to choose from. Our fox for the hunt will be K8AJ, also one of our favorites.
Port Sheldon Street and 28th Avenue, Hudsonville, Michigan
[SE Corner,
in front of Family Fare Supermarket]
Picture from Google Maps
Since the Google folks took this picture, a few construction trailers have been parked on this corner. They should be no problem.
Gathering Time: 9:30 AM.
Hunt Start: 10:00 AM
Meet along the 28th Avenue side of the parking lot and up by the
corner.
There will
be lots of room to spread-out for the initial readings.
GPS Info: 6490 28th Avenue, Jenison, MI 49428
Be sure to check-in with our official starter. He will need
your
odometer and trip counter readings, along with names/calls of your team members.
Click Here for Google Map and Directions
Hunt Description and Rules
This hunt will follow the Michigan Fox Hunter rules for a 'basic 2-meter fox hunt' except as noted in this description of the 'Spring Fling' fox hunt. Should the two sets of rules conflict, this Spring Fling set of special rules will be used.
Click here for MichiganFoxHunter.com Rules
Special Rules for the May Foxhunt
May 14, 2011
Congregate time: 9:30 am, Saturday, May 14th 2011
Start Location: Same as the April hunt, Family Fair at 28th Avenue and Port Sheldon in Hudsonville.
(hint: there is an ice cream place right across the street.)
The fox will be within 8 airline miles of the start.
Lowest mileage wins.
Maximum Fox Hunt Time of 2 hours.
Fox will be using Robo Fox, 1 minute ON, 2 minutes OFF.
Fox will be located in a car, on publicly accessible land or water.
OK, The Fox will actually be a Vixen. One guess.
Hunt Frequency will be 145.53 unless otherwise defined at the start site.
Official Results
Official Results and pictures.
May 14th Fox Hunt
...And the results are:
First Place
Tom Bosscher, K8TB
11.1 miles
Second Place
Jim Leys, KD8CAN and Mike Hill W8DER
(2 hours and 15 minutes)
The Stats:
Initial Bearing to fox: 57 degrees
Airmiles to fox: 5.5 miles
Airmiles to Grand River 3.6 miles
Road miles to bridge, then to fox: 7.1 miles
Fox location: Burton Street SW (Dead End, 1/2 mile east of Wilson Ave)
'Wilson Ave Hill' elevations: Bridge 628 ft, Wilson/Burton corner 751 ft, fox lair 699 ft.
The Hunt:
The hunt started at 10:00 am and
the rains came. Not one ham remembers if the rain continued or
stopped after the first transmission of the fox. She was weak,
but definitely at a bearing of 57 degrees. This hunt was going
to be a cake walk. The Grand River is only 3 miles away and the
fox certainly wouldn't be on the other side of the Grand. The only bridge is
too far away and besides, the 5/3 riverbank run is going on over
there. Maybe the fox is in a boat, but certainly not on the other side
of the river.
But our fox (or vixen) is Sheila Bosscher, K8AJ and she
is known for her clever hiding spots. Hadn't she said in the
instructions, the 'Fox will be located in a car, on publicly accessible land or water'?
That must be a clue!
An hour and a half later, we were still going up and down every road to the river looking
for the fox mobile floating on a raft. We finally hung our heads and crossed the river. Fifteen
minutes to go, but the vixen wasn't done with us yet.
The vixen had given us another
clue at the start of the hunt. 'Don't jump to conclusions' she said. Just on the other side of the bridge
is Johnson Park sitting on the side of a hill. That was too obvious, we drove on up the hill. Besides, the signal was coming
from up the hill past that water storage tank. Or was it? Each measurement pointed to the water storage tank. But in front
of the tank, we couldn't hear the fox.
K8AJ was hiding at the dead end of a road down behind the water storage tank. Time was up, but we didn't get skunked this Saturday.
What a blast! It was still raining, but I hadn't noticed. We shared stories at the local Wendy's and started looking forward to the next hunt!
de W8DER
