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FOX HUNTS ARE EVERY 3RD SATURDAY OF THE MONTH
CONTACT MIKE-WA9FTS
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April19th, 2008 - April CFMC Foxhunt
by Mike WA9FTS
Tony AA9CC was the fox and he provided the four hunt teams with a strong signal. A few minutes after 8 PM the hunters were on their way. All the hunters took 355 south except FTS and LXF - they took 53 south. Charlie KB9DIM and Alexis got off at the end and made their way to Boughton Rd. They drove through a large shopping center and off on foot into a field south. They found Tony and Joan hidden under a camo blanket for the win. A few minutes later Paul and I arrived but it took us another 15 min to find Tony and Joan. The area had several deep (5 ft) gullies and they were on the side of one. They were really well hidden. Tom N9CBA arrived and found Tony about 20 min later with Greg N9SA giving up. Great spot and super coverup with the camo blanket. Then the down side. Tony said he picked Red Robin in the shopping center. We could not find it; it did not exist! Then it was up to the hunters to find a restaurant. After an hour of not agreeing on a spot to eat, Paul and I went home
to get some food at my place. The rest of the hunters did the same and went home. This is an example of no matter how well the fox runs the hunt itself, he is still responsible to find an acceptable spot to meet after the hunt. Results:
1. Charlie KB9DIM, Alexis
2. Mike WA9FTS, Paul N9LXF
3. Tom N9CBA
DNF Greg N9SA
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March 15th, 2008 - March CFMC Foxhunt
by Tom N9CBA
Despite higher expectations, the fox did one of those
parked-in-the-car hunts. The location was the southwest corner of
routes 56 and 83 in the parking lot of the Hilton.
The antenna was a low horizontal mag-mount in the shadow of the tall
high-rise to the southeast of the hiding spot. The antenna was fed
by a radio in its 5-watt setting.
The munch was at Portillo's on Rt 83 north of St. Charles Road.
1. Tony AA9CC 8:39
2. Greg N9SA 8:40
3. Don W9RA 8:49.
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=41.858722,-87.954794&ie=UTF8&t=
h&z=17&iwloc=addr
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Feb 08 CFMC Foxhunt Report
by TONY-AA9CC
I was looking for high elevations on Google Earth and found a 820 foot hill just south east of Naperville road and I-88. A dead end named Old Ham Road seem a likely spot, but with time to kill I drove around and found a way into a cell tower site on a wooded residential lot. I backed the car into the bushes, hidden from the road. The weather was overcast, 30F and 6 inches of snow on the ground. All hunters had a direction using 30 watts and the foxhunting setup. Tom was the first to drive in at 8:40 followed a minute later by Mike on foot yelling about Paul not stopping and letting him out. This, plus Paul squealing the tires arose a neighbor, who, thanks to Tom's explanation of the activity, didn't call the police. Charlie with Lex drove in at 8:45, Don at 8:55 and Greg ant 9:05. Munchies were an Buena Beef a quarter mile to the west.
Results:
1 8:40 N9CBA
2 8:41 WA9FTS, N9LXF
3 8:45 KB9DIM AND LEX
5 8:55 W9RA
6 9:05 N9SA
FOX TONY-AA9CC
January 19th, 2008 - January CFMC Foxhunt
by Mike WA9FTS
Greg N9SA started the hunters out with a good signal to start. All of
the hunters headed east down Lake St. Tom N9CBA turned south on Rt
83. Tony AA9CC laid back behind Paul N9LXF and Mike WA9FTS which was
a good move. Paul and Mike overshot to York Rd and then south on York
completely lost only to recover later. Greg was in his car just off
Lake St behind a building on Fullerton Ave. It was the 2nd building
off Church St and an easy drive-up hunt. Don W9RA just beat Tom N9CBA
for 2nd after Tony won by not overshooting. Charlie KB9DIM and Alexis
finished 4th and we ended the hunt. We met at the Elmhurst House for
eats. Results:
1. Tony AA9CC 8:32
2. Don W9RA 8:43
3. Tom N9CBA 8:43:20
4. Charile KB9DIM, Alexis 8:48
5. Mike WA9FTS, Paul N9LXF 9:02
December15th, 2007 - December CFMC Foxhunt
by Mike WA9FTS
Winter arrived with a blizzard and poor driving conditions. Paul
N9LXF and I arrived 10 min befure 8 PM. Greg N9SA and then Don W9RA
showed up. Charlie KB9DIM called for a list of hunters and it was
given to him. Tony AA9CC called and said he went to the wrong
starting point - at Harper College - quite a distance away
considering the road conditions. I did not want to wait and started
to leave but Greg N9SA said we should start the hunt instead of
waiting. So we started but all the hunters went in the wrong
direction due to reflections. Don W9RA headed north, Greg N9SA went
NE and Paul and I went east. We finally got back to the starting
point 25 min into the hunt and headed west on Lake St. Tony then
called and said he was quiting somewhere around North Ave. We had DF
equipment problems twice around Barrington Rd and ended up turning
north on Rt59 to Irving Pk Rd east to Barrington Pk Rd. We overshot
and came back to a cell site - wrong one - lets go to the one next
door. We found Charlie KB9DIM in his Jeep. Sorry, we were 5 min late
to Greg who just left with the win. Several minutes later Don arrived
the end the hunt.
November 17th, 2007 - November CFMC Foxhunt
by Mike WA9FTS
I was not at this hunt but acquired the results from several sources.
Tom N9CBA was the fox and was hiding in a ditch near the intersection
of Arlington Hts Rd and Thorndale. Apparently there have been car
brake-in in the parking lot where Tom left his car. A concerned
citizen saw Tom taking stuff out of "a" car - not knowing that it was
his. He called the police and the officer, finding Tom in the ditch,
told Tom to raise his has and that he was under arrest. After an
explanation, the hunt started with a small delay. Charlie KB9DIM and
Alexis found Tom first for the win and Tony AA9CC for 2nd. Don W9RA
and Greg N9SA ended the hunt. The munch spot was not revealed. If I
receive further info, it will be indicated here.
October 20th, 2007 - October CFMC Foxhunt
by Mike WA9FTS
Tony AA9CC got the hunters off with a good strong signal. Some of the
hunters got and east reading and others got a NE reading. All 4 hunt
teams got to the area about the same time. Tony was hiding on the
north side of a creek north of Higgins Rd and Mannheim Rd. his was
near the tollway and next to the water amoungst bolders. Tom N9CBA
made it to Tony for the win by coming in from the east around a
building along with Greg N9SA for 2nd. Paul N9LXF and I had a sure
thing with signals coming from bushes just east of the RR tracks. We
could not get away from this area even though crossing the tracks and
going a hundred feet east would have been really good. Only until
Charlie KB9DIM arrive did Paul N9LXF follow to end the hunt. We met
at Barnaby's at Higgins and Wolf. Results:
1. Tom N9CBA
2. Greg N9SA
3. Charlie KB9DIM
4. Mike WA9FTS, Paul N9LXF
September 15th, 2007 - September CFMC Foxhunt
by Charlie KB9DIM
A new starting point had to be found for the CFMC Foxhunt, since
Walgreen's is planning on building a new store on the old starting
point. We chose a new starting point in Addison Illinois, in a Park
not far from Rohlwing Road, and Lake Street. Since we were trying out
a new starting point, I wanted to choose a hiding spot that would
test all the hunters. So I drew a line from the new site through
O'Hare Field, which also turned out to be tangential to most of the
area highways. The spot was located in a park along the north branch
of the Chicago River in Evanston, which was 18.8 miles from the
start. This hiding spot would force the hunters to make important
decisions about which route to take very early in the hunt. At the
hiding spot I used an M2 four element Yagi beam, vertically polarized
mounted on a mast about 15 feet high, pointed toward the starting
point. The antenna was fed with 50 feet of RG-8 coax from a Yaesu
FT-2800M set on high power, which was nominally 45 Watts. With the
tough job of finding a good route to the hiding spot, I decided to
not dig in too deep, so I chose a park bench to hide underneath. I
was hoping the hunters would have a little difficulty in spotting me,
but that was not the case.
1st place Tony AA9CC
2nd place Tom N9CBA
3rd place Don K9VGJ
4th place Don W9RA
5th place Mike WA9FTS / Paul N9LXF
DNF Greg N9SA
August 18th, 2007 - August CFMC Foxhunt
by Mike WA9FTS
There was a threat of rain but it held off for the hunt. Tom N9CBA
had a good signal at the start for the 4 hunt teams. Three of the
hunters got a NW reading but only two headed NW. The DIM and CC team
went in the right direction - down Lake St; the RA and FTS team
headed SW to I-88. Don W9RA did recover by taking I-355 north to Lake
St. The FTS team decided on a slower route - up Highland Ave. Charlie
KB9DIM got to Tom quickly for the win. Tom was hiding next to a fence
protected by bushes in Centennial Park. This was just east of Rt 53
and south of Lake St. Only 2nd place was close with Tony AA9CC
beating out Don W9RA by seconds. The FTS team got there as fast as
possible considering the route to end the hunt. We all met at
Culver's a few blocks away. Results:
1. Charlie KB9DIM, Alexis
2. Tony AA9CC, Bill
3. Don W9RA
4. Mike WA9FTS, Paul N9LXF
July 21st, 2007 - July CFMC Foxhunt
by Mike WA9FTS
The weather could not be better - cool in the mid 70s and a clear sky
with several clouds. Four hunters showed up at the starting point:
Tom N9CBA, Don W9RA, Tony AA9CC and Charlie KB9DIM with Alexis.
Paul N9LXF and I found a place at the NW corner of Ackerman Park in
Glen Ellyn. It was located just north of St. Charles Rd and west of
Swift Rd. We drove through the park past the baseball diamonds and
parked at the west end of the parking lot. We then carried our
portable gear along a gravel road (1000') and set up behind a pile of
rocks. We set up a j-Pole antenna and decorated it with long crawling
weeds to camoflage it. We used a 12v battery and powered up a 2m
radio and selected low power (5w). Paul noticed a bike path to the
north and I checked it out finding a easy path. This was the only
easy path as we found out later. Paul then went out along to road to
act as lookout.
The hunt started at 8:03 as we guessed how long till the first hunter
would arrive. Paul won with a guess of 45 min. Tom shows up from the
north - and did NOT find an easy path. He sees me and slowly crashes
through the thick growth; then disappears with a shocked sound -then
silence. He was ok but lost his glasses. I told him to drop his
hankie and then tag me. He finally made it at 41 min into the hunt.
No flashlight amoungst us so we waited for the next hunter. Tony
arrived and then drove off - then back. He finally got out and
finished 2nd at 51 min. He had no flashlight either. So we wait for
the next hunter. Don parked by my van in the parking lot and walked
the gravel road. He first went to the east and then over to finish
3rd at 59 min. He had a flashlight but we waited for Charlie to end
the hunt. He walked across the grass field to end the hunt at 61 min.
It then took several minutes and the glasses were found.
We headed off to Portillo's on North Av at Bloomingdale Rd for the munch.
June 2007 Foxhunt
by Tom N9CBA
The fox, Tom N9CBA hid just north of a bike path and south of the
intersection of 9th Avenue and 26th Street in or near Broadview. The
bike path was just north of Salt Creek. The evening was very warm.
The cicadas were out, but they were not all that noisy. The woods
were mixed with areas of heavy vegetation and more open areas. The
fox was in the weeds near the edge of one of the open areas-- a path
popular with deer it turned out. The antenna was a twin-lead J-pole
with the tip about 12 feet up. The height was due to a tall sapling
that was easy enough to bend over, but was springy enough to carry
the antenna up upon release. The angle of the antenna was about 30
degrees off of vertical. The antenna was fed thru about 12 feet of
coax from a handheld in its 2 watt setting. Since the location was
only two miles from the starting point, the signal was strong. Before
the hunt, one deer stopped about 20 feet away from the then-standing
fox. After about eying the fox for about 20 seconds, it continued on
its path at a trot and was followed closely by a second deer. One
deer was seen later about 100 feet away by the fox. The vegetation
made things more tricky for the hunters. Both had not ventured
significantly north of Cermak because they figured out that the fox
was close. They both checked some other areas south of the creek
before parking at 9th and 26th. Charlie was first on the scene, but
Mike and Paul were along a bit later. There was significant bush
beating by Charlie, Mike, and Paul This was frequently punctuated by
Mike's gnashing of teeth and proclamation his favored word of the
moment. The antenna was less visible than usual. The hunters probably
had their eyes tuned for something more noticeable. But Mike
persevered to score first. Several minutes later Charlie scored,
making good use of his bright light. Nobody saw the fox's car. We
munched at Buona Beef on Wolf near Cermak. It was reported that at
some point Alexis had seen a deer up close.
1. Mike WA9FTS, and Paul N9LXF 9:45
2. Charlie KB9DIM and Alexis.
May 2007 Foxhunt
No foxhunt in May due to Dayton Hamvention
April 2007 CFMC Foxhunt
by Mike WA9FTS
Paul N9LXF and Mike WA9FTS hid for Don W9RA who was fishing out east.
We found a dead end street on the west end of Glenview at the end of
Longvalley Rd. We ran a j-pole up about 7 ft attached to a tree and
running 30 w. We had a weak signal at the starting point (Harlem and
Cermak). The hunters had a north reading and headed west to I-294.
Tom continued to receive a signal that got stronger as he headed
north. It then started to swing east. Tom got off at Willow Rd and
south into the smallest town of Golf. Tom walked across a small
bridge to find us for the win. Charlie lost the signal and never got
close. Later he met us at Portillo's on Skokie Blvd just south of
Golf Rd. Results:
1. Tom N9CBA
DNF Charlie KB9DIM, Alexis and friend
March 2007 CFMC Foxhunt
By Tom N9CBA
Tom N9CBA hid with Don K9VGJ in Don's car on a night where an
outside-the-car would be expected. Don did not transmit during the
hunt, so as to not give away that information. Tom's car was left in
the Fry's parking lot on the other side of I88. The spot was tricky.
It was not quite the originally planned one, but it was challenging
for the hunters. It was also amusing for the foxes. Don, W9RA, came
walking in with his 440 beam for first. He had stayed off of
expressways. When Mike, WA9FTS, came walking in for second, he
complained that his ground gear, a 3-element tape measure Yagi hooked
to a fox sniffer receiver, was reading backwards. Don, K9VGJ,
suggested that he try it during the next transmission. Sure enough,
Don found it did point backwards. It turns out that during an
overhaul, Mike had mounted the sniffer to the director end of the
beam rather than the reflector end of the beam. It would have made a
good photo for the April issue of Squelch Tale. Charlie also walked
in. We can leave that story for eyeball QSOs. Everybody heard the
vertical mag-mount driven with the radio in the 25-watt setting. The
location was near Highland Avenue and 31st Street. Munch was at Buona
Beef on Butterfield.
1. Don W9RA 9:56
2. Mike WA9FTS and Paul N9LXF
3. Charlie KB9DIM, Alexis and two more.
February '07 CFMC Fox hunt
By Tony Levand AA9CC
I was hidden near Du Page airport, about a half mile west of Kautz
road and a quarter mile north of route 38 behind a snow bank near a
construction site, approximately 24.3 miles at 173.3 degrees from the
Harlem/Cermak start point. Map of fox location: The elevation was 780
feet, about 30 feet above the terrain to the east. It was a clear
view for several miles. I was using a 5/8 magnet mount antenna and 50
watts. The weather was clear, about 18 degrees. Four of the five
hunters had a direction and the hunt was off on schedule. Another
repeater was breaking squelch, but I couldn't make out the call.
There was some traffic on CFMC asking for directions to the
Rock-n-Roll McDonalds downtown. I could hear the mobile station on
the input. After a while, Tom drove up, sounded somewhat horse and
returned home, as not to spread his cold. The other hunters arrived
several transmissions apart. Mike reported finding many better hiding
spots, but where I was, was good also. His team had some trouble with
equipment quirks. Charlie radioed in with equipment failure of the
BNG unit and I directed him to munches at Portillio's next to
Pheasant Run. Don asked for an extra transmission and would have
drove by me twice if the snow bank were any higher. Greg had just
replaced the board in the Dick Smith Doppler an had added shunt
capacitance to the antenna diodes to reduce switching noise. It will
be interesting to see if they caused the unit's erratic behavior, or
if it was because it was not calibrated in time.
1. Tom N9CBA 9:02
2. Mike and Paul WA9FTS 9:14
3.Don W9RA 9:38
4. Greg N9SA 10:15
DNF Charlie and Alexis
January 2007 CFMC Foxhunt
by Greg N9SA
It was a cool 26 degree night for a fox hunt on Jan 20th 2007. Five
hunt teams were ready at the starting point at Cermak and Harlem and
all heard the test transmission. The hounds were released during the
first one minute transmission that started at 8:03 PM
The fox, N9SA was in his car with a 5 watt signal feeding a 3 element
homemade yagi at about 18 ft. First to arrive was Tony AA9CC who
drove in from the south. Only six minutes later was Charlie who drove
in from the north. Eight minutes after that Tom drove down a road on
the east side of the railroad track and crossed over on foot. It was
interesting to see that there was no convoy this night and yet they
all did well. Munch was at Culvers Restaurant at Grand and 25th Ave
in Franklin Park, a few blocks northwest of the hiding spot.
Finish Time PM
1 AA9CC 8:30
2. KB9DIM, Alexis 8:36
3. N9CBA 8:44
4. W9RA 9:10
5. WA9FTS, N9LXF 9:24
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