December 15, 2018

Earl WB6AMT and Chris NO7E put on today’s hunt. Location was at a small park on the Southwest side of the valley up against the bottom of Blue Diamond Mt. area.

Eric N6YKE and Dianna KE6JYX were the winners with the lowest mileage of 19.3 miles, with a time of 1 hour 12 minutes. Next team in was Joe KG7OFF and Peter AI6HU with a mileage of 24.1 miles and a time of 1 hour 37 minutes. Glenn N8HC wins our “Highest Mileage” award this month, with mileage of 32.3 miles and a time of 2 hours 8 minutes.

Everyone had no trouble finding the Baby Transmitters and having snacks of Meatball, Turkey and Bacon and Roast Beef Subway sandwiches, chips & pretsals, sodas and water bottles kept everyone hydrated.

Eric will hiding the transmitter from the North Las Vegas starting point January 12th.

SEE YOU THEN!!

November’s hunt ended in the evening and we had not photos…Sorry. We will do better in the future.

October 13, 2018

Today’s hidden transmitter was at the Western Trails Equestrian Park  located on the SW portion of the Las Vegas Valley, West of I15 and was put on by Jim KB7TII and his wife Virginia. They served up fresh veg’y platter, Jim’s home made giant cookies and plenty of sodas, crackers w/dip, water.

Robert N7FLR also provided Subway style sandwiches, hard boiled eggs and more sodas Regular & Diet Pepsi, A&W Root beer and water.

The after hunt social event was more like a family picnic as the photos show. Comments were that it was the best one this year.

The transmitter was in the open sitting on top of a concrete block at the back of the park’s parking lot, and the low power practice transmitter was in a near by tree sitting on a branch about eye level.

Due to the distance from the starting point, the signal level from the starting point out almost 10 miles remained the same, how ever as you made your way over the freeway the signal started to pick in signal strength. The park is located such that there were cul de sac, dead end streets and one part that had a concrete barrier so you couldn’t turn around and change directions with adding another mile to your travels (Ask Earl).

Our winner today is Glenn N8HC with a mileage if 13.1 miles, and he did locate the LP transmitter in less than 10 minutes using an AMT foldable 3-ele Yagi and Offset attenuator.

Robert N7FLR & Joe KG7OFF had a mileage of 13.3 miles, and located the LP transmitter also using an AMT foldable 3-ele yagi antenna and the 95 db AMT kit attenuator.

Earl WB6AMT had a mileage of 14.1 miles using his homebrew 4-ele quad and a 100db Kay attenuator.

Final determination…OUTSTANDING HUNT!

June 16, 2018

This month’s Transmitter Hunt was canceled due to health issues with our main hidden transmitter.

Take care of yourself Chris and see you next month.

We will see everyone at the Field Day T Hunt on

June 23rd.

April 14, 2018

April’s hunt was located at the North Las Vegas Airport’s viewing area. A small little oasis on the North end of the runway.

This was one of the more comfortable hidden transmitter sites for Chris NO7E, with plenty of shade, snacks, cold drinks and water.

Everyone’s mileage was very close.

N7FLR – Eric, 10.0 miles

WB6AMT – Earl, 10.4 miles

N6YKE – Eric & KE6JYX – Dianna, 10.7 miles

KB7HTA – Tom, 12.0 miles

The low powered bush transmitter was sitting on top of a bush with the antenna horizontally polarized, everyone did find it.

The finish point gathering was quite enjoyable and lasted almost 2 hours.

Robert has the lowest mileage, so he will most likely hide the transmitter for May.

March 10, 2018

N7FlR – Robert and KG7OFF – Joseph hid the transmitter this month at the Duck Creek Park on Pollack Dr. and E.Wigwam Ave.

WB6AMT – Earl arrived on scene with a mileage of 6.5 miles and a time-out of a little under 16 minutes.

KB7HTA Tom Davis and KB7TII Jim Madison both started at the WX station starting point and followed Earl as he took bearing measurements along the way and made his way to the hidden transmitter. I hope to see Tom and Jim join us in the near future as soon as they get their gear together.

The transmitter was located under a steel metal covering that did an excellent job of preventing the signal from radiating upward to the starting point from being very strong. The signal was strong out the sides of the cover when you were a few blocks away approaching the finish point.

The initial bearing was coming from the large hotels downtown on the strip, but wasn’t a strong signal ( like a REFLECTION would appear to be) or maybe behind those hotels across town to the northwest, thus explaining the signal strength level we were seeing. The quirky propagation signals from this site was fun to hunt.

Robert and Joseph had ice water, diet drinks and a platter of large chocolate chip cookies. I’m sure they were sugar-free or dietetic cookies…cause Earl ( trying to stay on his diet) loved them!

April’s hidden transmitter will be NO7E – Chris and will start from the Northern starting point.

This was Joseph and Robert’s first time hiding the transmitter and did a great job of putting on an excellent and interesting hunt.

 

February 10, 2018

NO7E – Chris was the hidden transmitter this month.

KI7EWQ – Gage (14 yrs. old) was on his first hunt as the sole navigator and did very well, practicing things he has heard and seen many times as a observer. WB6AMT – Earl was driving.

This month the transmitter was (hidden) in the corner booth inside the Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant at the truck stop at Craig Rd and 15 North.

Chris was able to relax in a comfortable environment with access to food and drink.

January 14, 2018

NO7E – Chris was the hidden transmitter this month.

Team FLR consisting of KG7OFF Joseph and N7FLR Robert, came in with a mileage of 6.0 miles at 35 minutes out. Slow and careful bearing acquisition definitely paid off here.

The transmitter was hidden in a new housing tract that is still under construction.

This was located on the South side of the mountain located at the intersection of St. Rose Parkway and the Southbound freeway on ramp to Interstate 15. When entering this area there was a long winding road to the far West end of the developement. There behind  a 6 foot concrete wall was Chris patiently waiting in the shade.

Robert and Joe will be hiding the transmitter for February.

 

December’s Hunt was cancelled due to illness

November 11, 2017

NO7E – Chris was the hidden transmitter this month.

The transmitter(s) were located just West of the 15 freeway (about 200 ft.) and North of Sloan Rd, South of St Rose Parkway.

Team DAK represented by Don Usher KD6DAK and Joseph KG7OFF was the first team to arrive on the scene. The mileage recorded was 85.3 (Start) 100.5 (Finish) for a total of 15.2 miles.

N7FLR – Robert arrived about 12 minutes after team DAK. The mileage recorded was 619.0 (Start) 630.1 (Finish) for a total of 11.1 miles.

Robert N7FLR is this months MILEAGE WINNER. Don and Joseph had the shortest time of 1Hr 21Mins.

The direct mileage from Start to finish point was 8.4 miles. The fact that both hunters mileages were only a few miles longer than the direct path demonstrates that both hunters concentrated on acquiring several directional bearings and following those bearings instead of wasting mileage driving and looking around, rather they let their equipment and expertise lead them to the transmitters location.  GREAT job guys.

Both transmitters were sitting in the brush and weeds hiding in plain sight (sorta!).

 

Click on

Click on map below for path from starting to finishing point.

map

 

 

 

October 14, 2017 

Due to circumstances beyond Randy’s control, NO7E – Chris was the hidden transmitter for this months hunt.

The transmitter was located at the Cesar Chavez Park in the East area of Las Vegas, at the base of Frenchman’s Mountain. The ammo can transmitter was feeding a 4-element quad antenna with a beam direction pointed to the North Las Vegas starting point.

There was so much signal level at the starting point that hunters inserted 20db of attenuation prior to leaving the starting point.

N7FLR – Robert was deemed the winner of today’s hunt due to lack of participants today. He can hide next month, unless he opt’s to hunt instead.

Robert’s mileage was not available (my error on that ), however his time was 49 minutes. This was Robert’s first T-hunt and he followed the steps he had learned and went right to the transmitter site.

His equipment was a Yaesu HT, WB6AMT foldable Yagi antenna, RG-188 BNC-BNC cables and one of our 95db step attenuator kits.

Robert was awarded a  coveted  “HUNT MASTER” pin. This award is issued to a T-Hunter on his first time of winning a hunt.

September 16, 2017

WB6AMT – Earl placed the Ammo can transmitter in the parking lot at Ethyl M’s chocolate factory parking lot at the East end of Sunset Rd.

This location was chosen because it only required one right hand turn off of Eastern (as hunters left the starting point, going North on Eastern) to Sunset (East bound) to drive directly to the hidden transmitter.Mileage from the Starting point to the transmitter location is 9.8 miles.

The first hunter to locate the hidden transmitter was KO6KC – Randy, with the lowest mileage of 15.0 miles.

The next team in was N6QU – Martin Reid & KC7DBV Wanda Reid with the second lowest mileage of 25.2 miles.

The after-hunt social event was very well received, we had planned to take everyone on the Chocolate factory tour and partake of the free samples, however they had closed prior to our teams arriving at their location. We didn’t break things up and leave until about 10:25pm. A little over 2 hours and 15 minutes  after starting.

Earl had ice-cold water, sodas and sweets for all who participated waiting at the finish point.

Randy will be the hidden transmitter for the October hunt.

August 12, 2017

WB6AMT – Earl placed the Ammo can transmitter at the Alexander Park 3600 Lincoln Rd. in North Las Vegas. Then went to the starting point to assist new hunters on getting their initial bearings and plot it to their map.

Tonight’s event was a “Beginners/ Training” hunt. KC2WJO – Jaime, KE7GEH – Tony, KD7CWE – Sean, K7GTW – Stephanie were without antennas and were following WB6AMT. We made several stops for everyone to get out and take new bearings and plot our directions on to the maps. For some this was their first time out and benefited from a hands on see how it’s done environment.

NO7BS – Kirk was the first in the area in 25 minutes using a Doppler Systems antenna with four Tri-band whips.

WB6AMT – Earl using a 4-element quad antenna arrived at 31 minutes with the other cars following.

Barbara and Precious had ice-cold water, sodas and sweets for all who participated waiting at the finish point.

–

July 15, 2017

N6YKE – Eric hid the transmitter at the corner of Palisades View Dr. and Palisades View Dr (a turn in the road). This intersection was two blocks south up the hill from Horizon Ridge and Gibson.

The transmitter was a two watt ICOM AT HT using a Tram Mag Mount on Eric’s Mini Cooper. The starting point was shadowed by Black Mt. so initial bearings were not Line-Of-Sight to the starting point and came from reflections coming from the large casinobuildings downtown, until units were far enough North to start getting direct signals from the East.

KO6KC – Randy had another Randy with him along with his wife Rachael. He’s team had the shortest mileage and the best time. Team mileage was 17.4 miles at 1 hr.

WB6AMT – Earl had NO7E Chris as his co-pilot/navigator.  Team mileage was 18.2 miles at 1hr 5min.

KD6DAK – Don was at the intersection of Horizon Ridge and Gibson when he was called away.

May 13, 2017

AB8YN – Ray hid the transmitter east of new housing construction south of Saint Rose off ramp on the West side of 15 South.

The W7RCL Team of Ron, Georgine and KD6DAK Don Usher had the lowest mileage, while WB6AMT – Earl and W4ADL – Chris had 21 miles more than the winning team…..it REALLY pays to have current maps of the area.

We were not flying blind… we were enjoying the tour of all the new housing communities West of 15.

 

April 2, 2017

The transmitter hunt at NVCON 2017 was held at the Eastside Cannery and Casino down in the parking lot.

The first hunter in was W7LVN – Sonia with an elapsed time of 11 minutes followed by KG7IQC Jolie with an elapsed time of 14 minutes.

April 15,2017

WB6AMT hide for N6YKE – Eric who was still out of town in California. The transmitter was at the Eastern end of Sunset Rd. behind the industrial park where Ethel M’s Chocolate factory is located.

AB8YN – Ray had the best mileage, and found the transmitter about 35 feet from the end of the road behind a dirt mound about as high as the antenna on the ammo box transmitter. Ray sniffed right in on the transmitter in 7 minutes, once he was out of the vehicle.

March 11, 2017….

February 11, 2017….

 

January 14,2017

KO6KC – Randy  Hid the transmitter at the park just South of Aliante Casino. The signal was very misleading as to the actual location of the transmitter, almost as if it was invisible when you were about 3 feet from the transmitter…..until you looked up. It was sitting on a tree branch about 3 feet above you. The leaves did a great job of hiding the ammo box from view.

 WB6AMT – Earl found the transmitter and will be hiding the transmitter next month.

 

December 10,2016

W7RCL – Ron Was this months T-hunt Host. The finish point was a mere 1.8 miles from the starting point at the Esselmont Park and Dog Park. The hidden transmitter was well within every bodies reach. Located in the bushes six feet from the parking lot, it was still a challenge due to being up against the iron fence, a few reflections were present, and your sniffing skills did come into play.

Ron provided cold refreshments and Georgine came prepared with two kinds of cookies ( I wonder if she was a Girl Scout).

KO6KC – Randy’s mileage was the shortest with 3.1 miles.

KG7PET – Vito’s mileage was 6.0 miles.

WB6AMT/KI7EWQ – Earl/Gage’s mileage was 6.3 miles.

AB8YN – Ray’ mileage was 8.4 miles

KD6DAK – Don’s mileage was not recorded due to him leaving before I  was able to retrieve it from him.

We had a ham show up at the finish point that I did not get his name or call. I would like to have it, if anyone can forward that information to me.

KO6KC – Randy will be hiding the transmitter on January 14th. The starting point will be at the North 5th Ave. offramp.

A map of the starting points are in the Up Coming T-Hunt Info section.

Ever VIGILENT and keeping an eye on all the hunters….Rusty.

 

November 12,2016

WB6AMT-Earl – Was this month’s hidden transmitter. The finish point was West of the Nellis Air Force Base, North end of the runway, outside of the base fence. We had a great view of the Air Show that was going on at the same time as the hunt. Two transmitters were operating on 146.565 MHz, timed 30 seconds on…30 seconds off, alternating between each transmitter. The two transmitters would occasionally be transmitting on top of each other due to the 7 second timing overlap as it would cycle ( this added an unexpected effect to the hunt).

The 50mw unit was buried under about 1/4″ of dirt with a thin black wire antenna tied to a branch of a bush. The antenna wire is right at the point of the RED arrow.

KO6KC-Randy drove 10.1 miles, located 1st transmitter at 2:44pm, located 2nd transmitter at 3:27pm.

N6YKE-Eric & KE6JYX-Dianna drove 36.0 miles, located the 1st transmitter at 3:43pm, located the 2nd transmitter at 4:22pm.

 

October 15, 2016

N6YKE – put on a pretty challenging hunt. You could be standing within 24″ of the transmitter and not see it, you definately needed to use your  sniffer skills to find this one. The 2.5 watt ammo-box transmitter was located on the West side of 15 Southbound, just north of Sloan Rd. almost at the end of Huckleberry Lane or Hinson Lane( depending on who’s map your looking at). The following photos (courtesy of N6YKE) show those who didn’t make it to the finish point what an excellent job Eric did hiding the transmitter this month. Google Sloan Rd, LV, NV for an aerial view.

  KO6KC – 6.4 miles   1st.

 W7RCL – 10.2 mile 2nd.

 AB8YN – 21.8 miles 3rd.

 KG7PET – DNF (Did Not Finish)

 WB6AMT – Unofficial 2nd. (Started after 2pm & not from Inspirada WX)

September 10,2016

 

WB6AMT hid this month and a fun hunt it was. Everyone except N7LD started from the North 5th Ave. starting point.  The transmitter was in the Lone Mountain Discovery Park & Equestrian Trails, and placed at the base of the mountain at the western end of Craig Rd. behind the Equestrian Park & Trail area.

The transmitter was running 50 watts into a 1/4 wave whip on the trunk lid of my Mitsubishi, and produced an excellent reflection off of the mountain that was very strong and sent most of the hunters going to the north of our location almost 10 miles.

N6YKE Eric Nanson and wife Diana KE6JYX were the first hunters to the finish point. 

Next was Sean KD7CWE  and Stephanie K7GTW, using the Steph-Mobile. Thank You Sean for your assistance this evening- Earl

Then N7LD Lee who lives a couple blocks away, came out and located us using his sniffer only, great job!

W7RCL Ron and his wife Georgine never gave up, even after Ron’s coax came out of the adapter cable to his radio ( things got a little intermittent after that ) and were the final hunters in. Ron logged aproximately 27.7 miles.

We were caught a bit off guard when all the lights in the park shut down at 10:00pm, but it just added to hunt experience. (have to keep that in mind in the future).

As usual the hidden transmitter wasn’t secured until the last hunter was in.

Due to our location, we were not able to use the 449.400 freq or any other repeaters along the southern part of Vegas for coordination, make sure the Bunny has your cell number at the beginning of each hunt, in case we need to contact you during the hunt. We are going to work on getting a set of frequencies for coordination that will give coverage in all the Vegas areas. These freqs will be distributed after they have been checked for HT coverage, etc.

Several hunters were out of town, we hope to see them next month.

 

August 13, 2016

The transmitter was a 200 mw transmitter feeding a 15 ft Cushcraft 13 element yagi, at 45 degrees polarization pointed at Black Mt. It was hidden in the rocks above the Inspirada Weather station overlooking Sun City Anthem. 

I took a little longer to get to the finish point and several T-Hunters had already left, I did not get all the mileages. I will update as much info when I receive it.

AB8YN – 2.8 miles, time of 56 minutes.

W7RCL  Ron Lawson & Georgine Lawson – 5.3 miles, time of 47 minutes.

K8RIV – 15 miles, time of 35 minutes.

KG7PET – 5.3 miles, no time listed.

WB6AMT Earl Lizardi & Barbara  and

 KI7EWQ Gage Callihan – 42.7 miles, time 1 hr 38 minutes.(From North 5th).

N6YKE – The hidden transmitter.

KE6JYX – Refreshments and cookies.

Sharon Spectator

The following hunters were DNF, for different reasons did not make it to the finish point.

K7WEH Bill Hoge

KE7JMN Ed Montenagro

KG7DFH Millie Montenegro

N0TJP Tom Pooton

These guys from the Sun City Anthem area made a great showing, for many this was their first time on a hunt. With this type of enthusiasm, T-hunting in Las Vegas is going to grow and is going to get better & better.

July 16, 2016

N6YKE – Eric Nansen and his wife Dianna KE6JYX, located the hidden transmitter in a very good time of 52 minutes. Eric used his T-hunt antenna…a four element KLM yagi and took measurements outside of his vehicle at various locations along the route. His radio is a ICOM 275H, sitting on the floor, with an external large scale “S” meter. Eric and his wife used their HT’s to walk right to the transmitter, using the body fade technique.

The transmitter was located at Shadow Rock Park, at the Eastern end of Carey Ave. The AMMO Box was chained to the top of one of the baseball fields galvanized dug out covering. It had a GREAT ground plane…

Eric has T-hunting equipment and will be hiding the transmitter/s for August as of this writing  ( Schedule permitting ).

Eric is a T-Hunter from California with several decades of experience, I’m sure he has a few tricks up his sleeve when it comes to hiding.

This is going to make for an excellent hunt in August, make sure not to miss this one.

The starting time is 7:00 pm and there will be refreshments at the finish point.

On the 16th of July, the later starting time made for a much more comfortable hunt as well as a pleasant time afterward.

 

June 25, 2016

Field Day 2016 for the Nellis RAC as well as LVRAC & WA6HXO and others,  gathered at the Blue Tree Group Camp on Mt Charleston this year. Two transmitters were hidden by KI7EWQ, one on 146.565 mhz and one on 144.800 mhz ( courtesy of Frank N7ZEV).

Several ladies from the SOAR club participated , but the terrain and signal acquisition proved to be a little tough. After discussions,  we plan on having a training/practice meeting to demonstrate the proper way to use the “Body Fade” technique, so that everyone will be able to track a transmitter signal.

I applaud Cathy and the other gals who went “Hiking and Hunting”. 

May 31, 2016

WB6AMT Earl put on a small hunt right after the T-Hunting 101 presentation at NVCON.

This is the layout on the second floor for NVCON.  The blue area is where I was to “hide” the transmitter. The area was about 30 feet across and 60 feet long.

The RED star is where it was. It was lying on the floor, in a corner of the wall and a 8″ thick piece of molding.

The first t-hunter to discover it was KD7CWE ( using Body Fade )…..took 27 minutes. Scott  AF7MZ and Art ( missed his call) was the next two to locate the device practicing the body fade technique.

 

April 16, 2016

KD7CWE Sean and K7GTW Stephanie picked an excellent spot to ‘Hide’.

The transmitter was in a small park area, behind a multi-game soccer fields at Buffalo and Oakey. There was ton’s of multipath ( requiring many stops for new bearings.) along with about a hundred vehicles in the parking lots, with 75db of attenuation…..it had to be in one of these vehicles, Right!

WB6AMT found the transmitter after 77 minutes and a mileage of 22.3 miles.

Earl will be hiding the transmitter next month on Sunday May 15 at 3:00pm.

The high winds that afternoon made it tough on the tape measure antennas. 

The following is what happened on the way home. 50-60 mph wind gusts came up from the right side of the vehicle just as I was going over the freeway overpass. Snapped it off in an instant! Sure glad there was a metal cable clamp holding the coax to the boom! I’m sure the quad would not have faired very well. (Yes, the new mast will be a closet rod!)