adayinthelife112876

Well, it's Sunday morning. No good football games on TV; better get ready for this afternoon's T-hunt. Came in fourth last time after winning 4 straight. I'll be ready this time. Let's see, the L-PER* DF system is always in the car along with the special roof mount antenna system; the SBE-144 is working good but I'll need the Yaesu FT2 to monitor the input and it's got an intermittent receiver. Better get right on it. Let's see, hmmmm.aha, just a loose antenna connection on the PC board. Glad they learned that pushpins aren't reliable.should really solder it...but then adjusting the crystals would be hard; oh well, I'll just bend the pin and push it back on. There.now to install it in the car. So much for that; now I can monitor the output of the repeater simultaneously with the input. After all, these WR6ABE/AMD T-hunts are something else.

The hidden transmitter is a regular repeater user in that he works the repeater just like anyone else, with intermittent conversation about the usual nonsense. You start from wherever you happen to be and the base stations with their big beams are encouraged to help with bearings given over the repeater. The winner (usually me) gets a bag of cookies and also gets to hide next time. So I only win every other one. The only other rules are that the transmitter and antenna be on public property, accessible by paved public roads. Old T-hunters will wonder what kind of hunt is this?

Well this hunt has a specific purpose. It is intended to train people to locate transmitters using the repeater (stuck, illegal or jammers) that could not be otherwise identified. With 800+ users and all the nuts in L.A. we get more than our share of weirdo's.

O yes, I had better put the Bearcat 1012 in the car incase they are running the hidden transmitter remote. It will also give me a backup in case the Yaesu quits again. I lost one because I couldn't get close enough for the L-PER (usually not very close as it has a 0.01uv sensitivity). Better throw in the 3-element beam in the back seat.

It's Russ; he wants me to help stake out a "clicker" (one who keys up the repeater just to key up the repeater. This one is active on Sunday afternoons and Russ is lonely. What!. In Claremont, that's 70 miles away. Oh, OK; the Rams are ahead 28 to zip and it is only 2:00PM. I could be there by 3:15 sit for an hour or two and start the hunt from the east end of the county. Luckily the car is equipped for most anything. To the freeway. Can't use the repeater past Glendale.don't want to tip the stakeout. Nice day for a drive, though. Where is the off ramp? Russ said to meet ant the donut shop on the Indian Wells off ramp. There is no such off ramp on the 210 freeway. Must be on the San Bernardino freeway. I'll go over there. Still don't here the clicker though.might be a wasted drive. It's now 4:00 and I still can't find the off ramp. I musta gone by it back on the 210. I will go back toward LA on the San Berdoo.

What's this? A very strong carrier has come up on the repeater. Boy, is it strong, taking most everybody out. Burt is on the microwave control-aux link relaying beam headings from the base stations; no one can get through the carrier. The headings seem to cross in Glendale.

My L-PER has it ahead of me (with the roof antenna system I only get ahead and behind bearings). Rick, my arch rival in the hunts, is leaving from Burbank to find it. He is a darn sight closer to Glendale than I am. It is sure strong on my L-PER. Burt just announced that the T-hunt would be delayed until it is found. Better hurry up, it is now 4:30. what5's this? The L-PER now says it is behind me, I went by it. It's not in Glendale that is still 10 miles off. North on the Golden State freeway. Yes, it's north the L-PER shows it in front of me. Whoops, no it's behind me.passed it again. Next off ramp.find a hill where my 250 watts ERP can get in to the now line-of-sight repeater and let them know it is not in Glendale. Here is one, just made the repeater. Man, is that signal strong. Rick already knew it was east of Glendale, now he knows it is south as well. Back down the hill.

The usual approach is to drive in a straight line with the L-PER indicating the signal in front until the L-PER shows it behind me. Then turn 90 degrees (hopefully, but hardly ever, the right way) and repeat the process. The car will converge on the signal in a spiral (with straight lines and right angle corners) until it is down to one house. Won't work here as the streets are all curved and dead-end as they go up and down around hills. The hills cause multipath and the L-Per is jumping all over, making it very hard to identify the crossovers.

There is one, wait, make sure, yep, turn next corner.darn wrong way, make a U turn.now.went by it again.turn next street, down a dead end, U turn back to the last one. Boy, is it strong, the L-PER is almost fully attenuated. Passed it again, left, yeah, looks good, it's in this block. Drive up this driveway and see which side of the street it is on. OK, U turn, sorry lady, Still in front.in front.in front.there, it's right there. I don't see any antenna.

Try the other side of the block. Good shot to the repeater from the top of this hill. No wonder it is so strong into the repeater. Road doesn't go through, darn, AH! Here is the road, now slowly.there it is a 5/8 ground plane up about 30 feet. No place to park, road is too narrow to just double park. Here is a place; up to the door. "Hello, is the Ham Home?" "Your transmitter is stuck on 'ABE." " It is? Let me go check." He disappears into the back of the house.

Upon his return, "Cheez, I'm sorry, I didn't know." I told him the penalty for his negligence (he had been working on the microphone while monitoring 'ABE and when he went to do something else, had placed the manual on the open mic case, keying the transceiver) was to announce on 'ABE that he was the culprit and take all the friendly ribbing that would follow. It could happen to anyone (and will probably happen to you sooner or later). While he was apologizing all over, I made it back to the car. Rick was still a mile away. The carrier had been on 28 minutes.

It is now 4:56. Cleared that carrier just in time for the T-hunt. Problem is I'm lost. Too many turns getting here. Might as well whip out the maps and find out where this hill is; It's not a bad place to start. Cant fond the map for Highland Park, too much junk in the car. Why did I bring this beam? Darn, the hunt has started. The L-PER sees him; he is that way whichever way that way is. The Base stations have him in the west valley. It's 20 miles from this dumb hill. To the freeway. At least Rick is in the same boat, but what about the other ten teams? Hoppy comes in from Thousand Oaks, only 10 miles from the west valley. Maybe his truck will break.

Now that I am off the hill, I've lost the transmitter. I have also lost the freeway.darn why aren't these streets straight? Aha! Found the freeway; now roll it. Gas gauge is low; almost empty. Must be 20 miles left. Now the L-PER has him again and yes he is in the west valley.

There!, I just went by him. Nest off ramp; must go north as there is nothing to the south; this area I know. He is still north. So is the Long beach team and SO is Rick. He must have gone up the 5 freeway and should still be in the east valley.I hope. Darn red lights, have gone north 6 miles from the freeway and it is still north. Gas gauge is on the middle leg of the "E", maybe 5 miles left. Here is Porter ranch; still north.darn this place, there isn't straight street in the place. There, I finally passed it. Now where?. Up the next street, no! wrong way, hey, maybe they are in the next canyon west, better check. Let's see, I will straddle two lanes of Tampa sideways. There are still two lanes left so you shouldn't be honking like that. There he transmitted.he's east in here somewhere. Up the next street, oops passed him again; he is in that new section, not on any maps. How do I get in there?. Here is a street, let's see where it goes. Looks good. Whoopee!!!! There he is, I won, I won, I won, I beat Rick; Cookies. It's 6:05 took an hour from Highland park, 31 miles.

Must stretch, been in the car since 2:00. Cookies are sure good. Where is Rick? Wonder where this place is? Can't find my map Why did I bring this beam, it takes up the whole back seat. Here comes Jeff with a 5 element beam stuck out of the window and hand held by Kirk; sure looks strange. Guess it works, though. Pass out the cookies. What? Here is a guy on a motorcycle using a converted weather radio.no beam, no loop, no nothing. Sure takes the wind out of my $2000 sail; wonder how he does it? Where is Rick? Here comes Hoppy and Long Beach and lookie there.a pickup truck with a guy in the bed holding a beam. I'll bet he is cold. Where's Rick? Here is Rick. What, you didn't believe your L-PER but went back to the loop and the L-PER was right and the loop was wrong? Well last time it was the other way around. Couple more come in. we are all here. Good!, let's go eat.

* The L-PER is a battery operated DF receiver manufactured by L-Tronics 5546 Cathedral Oaks Road, Santa Barbara, CA 93111. This receiver is a four channel dual conversion AM superhet designed for downed aircraft location. They will tun the unit for 2 mtrs or 220 or both. The 2mtr unit with hand held antenna and one frequency costs about $140.00.