Society "Fox Hunts"

The club regularly holds "Fox Hunts" where one or two members disappear off into the wilds of Staffordshire, either on foot or by car and once in position start to transmit on a predetermined VHF channel at regular intervals. Its then up to the rest of the group to "Direction find" their signal to the best of their ability and hopefully locate "the fox", or get hopelessly lost in some cases! The "hunts" are usually caried out in a predetermined area, for which printed maps are supplied, and by some strange coincidence most of the fox hunts have usually ended near a damn good pub!

Where ever you eventually end up at during a fox hunt you can be assured of a good, fun evening, and you'll probably learn something about Staffordshire, its back roads and its pubs to boot!

Fox Hunt Guidlines

At least one week before the event the map will be given to the teams on which the Fox will be located.
All teams entering the Fox-hunt shall have a name.
All teams must register by radio with the Fox or Foxes at the appointed time. The team must state its name and the members of the team (maximum of four). These details are to be recorded by the Fox.
The signing up process is conducted at least 15 minutes before the contest begins to allow the Fox to take up its final location. This should be accompanied by a general announcement to other band users to the effect that this frequency is requested for the purposes of the DF hunt.
The contest begins when the Fox makes a suitable announcement.
The Fox should announce its presence every five minutes. A transmission time of 30 seconds is suggested. The transmission times will be on the hour and every 5 minutes after but need not start on the hour.
The Fox-hunt is open to all radio amateurs who may wish to participate, whether or not they be members of the St Leonards Amateur Radio Society.
The winning team is the first to locate the Fox.
For 2 metres, the frequency employed shall be 144.725MHz but it is suggested that the first call for the signing up process would be made on the calling channel (145.500MHz). The first call would confirm frequencies on which the Fox intended to operate. The Fox may transmit on 70cms if desired. An announcement would be made as to frequency on SU20 (433.500MHz).
The responsibility for attenuating the signal, if attenuation is needed, is the responsibility of the teams participating and not the Fox. All teams should consider this aspect when preparing their antennas.
After a suitable length of time, an announcement is made that the contest is now over. Even though a winner may not yet have emerged, the contest may continue to run at the Fox's discretion.
The Fox announces the final rallying point and establishes radio contact if possible with any teams who have not yet arrived at the transmitter site. A general announcement to band users that the frequency is now released for general traffic should also be made.