Fox Hunting Antenna

[Lost Brews 0]

Does anyone have a simple design for Fox Hunting Equipment that can be built very inexpensivley?

[+phask 0]

Does anyone have a simple design for Fox Hunting Equipment that can be built very inexpensivley?

 

I made a simple 3 element 2 meter beam.

 

I had some aluminum rod 1/8" or so laying around. Your center element is a dipole - fed it to a pl-259 base mounted on a piece of Plexiglas. The mast or center was 1/2 plastic pipe or conduit.

 

The other are shorter and longer appropriately.

 

There are dimensions on the web I'm sure. I did mine when the web was not NEAR as poular as now.

 

I was going to build one with some old collapsing antennas I got at a hamfest, but never did.

 

You could also buy a beam - but making one takes less than a 1/2 hour if you have the parts.

 

If you don't xmit dimensions are not to critical.

 

Add more elements to be more directional.

 

http://home.att.net/~jleggio/projects/rdf/tape_bm.htm has one made from a tape measure.

 

de N8PFF

[+Nero 0]

Does anyone have a simple design for Fox Hunting Equipment that can be built very inexpensivley?

When I used to T-Hunt with friends we had a 3 element yagi that we mounted on PVC pipe, it was at a slight angle as well. il see if i can find some pics...

[+N8OFP - Del 1]

This yagi works very well and is easy to make Tape Measure Beam

 

Couple other T Hunting links

 

RDF Projects

 

Homing In

[+geoSquid 0]

I've had plenty of success with a simple 2m dipole mounted horizontally on a stick at the end of a pole (sort of a T-shaped apparatus with the dipole on the cross-bar).

 

To DF, I spin the dipole around and look for the null/lowest signal - that's where one end of the dipole is pointing at the transmitter. Do it from 2-4 points and plot the lines on a map (in both directions from my location) and you get a pretty accurate position on the transmitter.

 

In events we've had around here I was always an early finder.

 

Total cost - about $5 worth of coax, about $0.25 worth of wire, about $5 worth of dowels and glue, and a $10 1:50000 scale topo map with UTM grid. My original one was built on some prop spear from a cowboys and indians costume set, and was nicknamed "The Tomahawk Special" by local hams. And despite its low-tech origins, I could still beat most of those doppler and phased array boys to the transmitter.

 

In fact, you can get 3 people with this setup to deploy in a triangle sort of arrangement within your search area, each one taking a bearing, one guy plots the lines and all drive to the resulting intersection (probably ~50-100m circle), then the three spread out with 20dB attenuators on and zero-in on the thing. You'll actually spend more time driving than tracking down the transmitter.

Edited October 23, 2006 by geoSquid