January 9, 2021
Andy KJ7RFN and his sons Wesley and Ian put on this month’s hidden transmitter hunt. It was a last minute change that proved to be an excellent location to hide. The baby VHF (low power) oscillator was sitting on a rock out in the outfield.
Next month we will have an additional Baby unit operating on the UHF frequency 449.850 Mhz.
The finish point was at the Cactus Wren Park in Henderson.
Wesley a member of the Radio Direction Finding Team
Because of the placement of the antenna so close to the chain link fence it made for a challenging hunt with so many strong reflections and major blockage in other directions.
Two hunters started from the Inspirada Weather station, Robert N7FLR and Alex KE7NUO started out.
Due to technical issues Alex dropped out before reaching the finish point.
Robert N7FLR arrived at the finish in just under 2-1/2 hours with a mileage of 18.1 miles.
Due to the location off of St. Rose Parkway the path to H2 was difficult for the HT to provide support on UHF, it was discussed that taking advantage of the different coverage that H4 repeater has to offer should make for better communications on the future hunts.
Andy was able to use the H6 repeater with the help of an improvised yagi installation pointed at a steel street light pole, allowing him to get a signal in the opposite direction towards H6.
No duck tape available, the ratchet straps came in handy that normally holds my T-hunt antenna on the door.
There was plenty of refreshments and snacks for everyone.
Let’s get more hunters out on the next hunt. Having a friend to share the experience is a great way to enjoy ham radio with the equipment that most already have. Having another ride along makes having a navigator directing the driver a great adventure.
If an attenuator or an antenna is needed, contact Earl WB6AMT for loaner gear or assistance in getting what you need.
Most of the hunts are held at a park so there is parking available and facilities if needed.
It’s typically about a 2 hour event once a month that shows your support of one of the HARC club events, while sharpening those skills at direction finding. The after hunt social gathering is a plus for everyone to exchange their hunt details and transmitter hunting “War Stories”.
It is important to maintain communications with the finish so that when a vehicle does have issues we can get them directed to the finish point.
Reaching the finish is needed to help solve the problem and make the efforts of those putting on a transmitter hunt worthwhile to all.
Wives and children are most welcome, the wive’s participation, opinions or comments about the latest adventure can make some very entertaining dialog.
73 and see everyone next month – Earl WB6AMT
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December 12, 2020
Earl WB6AMT put on the hunt, and had refreshments and very cold pizza for the participants.
The mountain West of the finish point created a lot of reflections, producing strong signals all over town.
Tommy KB7HTA had the lowest mileage of 37 miles.
Mike WN9ANF had a mileage of 46 miles.
Andy KJ7RFN had attenuator issues and was “Beaconed” (text the address) to the finish point, and Robert N7FLR threw in the towel at the 3 hour mark.
It was little more than 2 hours before the first vehicle arrived, all in all it was a challenging hunt.
Due to the strong winds the antenna’s tripod had to be tied to a sign post.
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November 14, 2020
Robert N7FLR hosted a great hunt today, with a good post-hunt event. Lots of refreshments and pizza’s, sugar free cookies and chips.
The new Vhf & Uhf transmitter seems to be working well, producing a very good set of signals for hunting. The different propagation effects on the transmitted signal are very evident when switching back and forth between the two while moving…..both easy to use.
WB6AMT Earl had a mileage of 7.8 miles
KB7HTA Tommy had 8.4 miles
WN9ANF Mike had 11.3 miles
Mike set up his equipment out of his T-hunt vehicle to show everyone the interference signal that is coming from the new stadium on 438.00 Mhz.
Mike’s antenna is made by Ailunce and runs about $30.00, very light and easy to hold.
Discussions were talked about having a baby transmitter on the 449.850 Mhz frequency which could be fun having two low signal sources to “sniff” out at the finish point.
Look forward to seeing everyone out at next month’s hunt on the 12th of December.
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October 10, 2020
Kristie W7MIX & Earl WB6AMT hosted the hunt located at the end of Southern Highlands Parkway South
.
The following hunters arrived at the finish point ( in order):
N7FLR ROBERT winning mileage of 4.9 miles.
KB7HTA TOMMY 12.4 miles
WN8ANF MIKE 22.0 miles
KJ7RFN ANDY 51 miles (unconfirmed)
N8BSD NATE Mileage unavailable
KB7TII JIM Mileage unavailable
Kristie hid the “Baby” transmitter behind an electrical box down the street a short ways.
Other than the occasional wind/dust storm rolling thru, a pleasant time was had by everyone.
There was a good discussion on the merits of the VHF transmitter (146.565Mhz) and the UHF transmitter ( 449.850Mhz).
Look forward to more folks coming out for next month’s hunt on the 14th.
August 9, 2020
N8BSD Nate hosted today’s transmitter hunt at the Vivaldi Park off of Seven Hills Dr. in Henderson.
This location was very close to the starting point though the signal seemed a bit weak. The reason once we arrived was the antenna was a 10 element horizontally polarized pointed at the hotels on the strip!
Explains why we were seeing reflections coming the strip.
At the starting point Robert N7FLR turns out had a bad cable to his radio AND a problem with the antenna (we thought). He decided to follow Earl WB6AMT.
The hidden transmitter developed a problem after being on the air for about 5 seconds afetr it was keyed every 30 seconds, and then the RF dropped down considerably.
After a lengthy discussion, it was decided that the 6 year old ammo box transmitter may be due for retirement, and a new transmitter combination is in order.
The new transmitter will also have a UHF transmitter to run simultaneously, giving hunters the option of direction finding a VHF or UHF signal.
See everyone next month!
June 13, 2020
WB6AMT Earl hid the transmitter at the Duck Creek Park on Pollock between Wigwam and Windmill. With an 18 foot antenna hidden in the trees, there was plenty of signal to direction find.
Even the construction blocking the entrance to our starting point didn’t deter these hunters.
Tom KB7HTA 8.2 miles
Robert N7FLR 9.3 miles
Wayne N7HWM and Steve N6FSX 10 miles
Kristi KJ7MPF 10 miles
Mike WN9ANF 12.2 miles
N6YKE Eric & KE6JYX Diana No miles logged
KG7QWH Shane & his wife Linda No miles logged
Frank N7ZEV & Frank N2DKI came by to say hello.
Everyone practiced social distancing as possible.Those missing dinner enjoyed Subway sandwiches, pizza’s, potato & macaroni salad, chips, plenty of refreshments and Blueberry loaf cake.
This was a great start to our Summer Transmitter hunting season.
The cool weather last night made for a very pleasurable Post-hunt meeting for all.
Tom will be out of town until the Fall, July transmitter hider and host will be Robert N7FLR.
South Starting Point will be used at 7 PM with staging at 6:30PM.
Scroll down to March 2018 to see the last time this site was used for that T-hunt.
YOUR ALL INVITED SO COME ON OUT…YOU DON’T EVEN NEED TO HAVE AN ANTENNA TO JOIN IN THE FUN!
May 9, 2020
Tom KB7HTA & his wife Myreta put on a great hunt today, even though we are still in a lock down mode in Las Vegas at this time. Everyone brought their own chairs so that we could practice social distancing.
Mileages were:
WB6AMT Earl 13.3 miles This month’s lowest mileage winner.
N7FLR Robert 17.1 miles
N8BSD Nate 18.0 miles
KJ7MPF Kristie No mileage taken
N2DKI Frank DNF
Even though everyone was at the finish point within 2 hours, our pleasant time “Social Distancing” lasted until about 5:55pm.
See everyone next month!
February 8, 2020
Mike (WN9ANF) put on the February transmitter hunt. Mike hid the transmitter in the park, not far from the intersection of Durango & WB Washington Ave. The main ammo box transmitter fed a gain base station antenna mounted on a 10 foot tripod, while the baby transmitter was up in a tree along WB Washington Ave. Transmitter’s elevation of 2551 ft ASL produced a good strong signal across the valley.
Team HWN Wayne & SFX Steve had a total mileage of 16 miles ( Declared the winner)
Team HC Glenn had a total mileage of 18.1 miles.
Team AMT Earl & YYWhiskey Jason total miles were 18.35 miles.
Team HTA Tommy’s total miles were 18.5 miles.
Team AI Peter & OFF Joe mileage not available.
January 11th, 2020
WB6AMT – EARL and NO7E – CHRIS put on today’s hunt. Chris was assisted by Misty, his guide dog.
The transmitter was a 4 watt ammo box into an 18 Ft 9db gain antenna located close to the Ethyl M’s Chocolate Factory at the East end of Sunset Blvd. and Mountain Vista.
Team ANF – WN9ANF 15 Miles – Lowest mileage and winner of the T-hunter’s prize. 4″ embroidered logo jacket patch.
Team FLR – N7FLR, KG7OFF, AI6HU 20.1 miles
Team HWM – N7HWM, N6SFX 16 miles
Team HTA – KB7HTA, MYERTA 19 miles
Yeam ZEV – N7ZEV, KC7IIT 17 miles
Team TII – KB7TII unknown
Early dinner was three massive deli sandwiches, 5 different kinds of chips, salsa, bean dip, Chocolate chip & Oatmeal cookies and plenty of refreshments.
The first transmitter hunt of 2020 was definitely a success. Thanks for everyone’s participation!
See you next month.
December 14th, 2019
WN8ANF MIKE put on today’s hunt.
The transmitter was a 4 watt ammo box transmitter into a 1/4 wave whip hidden behind the Metropolitan Police Training building.
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November 16th, 2019
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October 12th, 2019
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September 14th, 2019
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August 10th, 2019
WB6AMT put on today’s hunt.
The transmitter was a 4 watt ammo box into an 18 Ft 9db gain antenna. Located behind the warehouse at Wynn Rd. and W. Oquendo.
All seven teams that started out, finished.
Mileages for the teams were:
KI6CCW Thomas – 15.0 miles
WN9ANF Mike – 15.8 miles
N8HC Glenn – 20.4 miles
KB7HTA Tom/ Wife – 20.5 miles
N7FLR Robert/ AI6HU Peter – 26.0 miles
N7ZEV Frank/ KC7IIT Linda – 35 miles
N7HWM Wayne/ N6SFX Steve – 35 miles
The baby transmitter was located about 200 ft from the main transmitter on a little bush about 20 inches tall in the dirt field.
There was a late dinner of Subway Meatball, Black Forest Ham & Roast beef sandwiches and chips and salsa at the finish point with plenty of refreshments.
The discussions/ kibitzing continued until after 10:30pm with comments this was a fun hunt with just a few obstacles (uh-huh!). With everyone present helping with tear-down and clean-up, it took about 15 minutes.
See you next month.
July 13th, 2019
WN9ANF put on a great hunt this month at the Pioneer Park near the Vegas and Buffalo area of town.
This was a hunt where you definitely benefited by having a map of the area to easily find the entrance of the park. Seemed like every street we went down led to the concrete wall surrounding the park. There was only one small entrance to this park and one street into this section of homes off of Vegas Dr.
Mike hid the gain antenna on a tripod behind the trees and bushes and himself hid every time we drove thru the parking lot as we got closer. The baby transmitter was placed up over the door to the restrooms. Very little light made it almost invisible.
Team N7FLR Robert & AI6HU Peter had a mileage of 27 miles and came in about 1 hour and 20 minutes.
WB6AMT Earl had a mileage of 15.8 miles and arrived close to 55 minutes after starting.
The group sat and enjoyed meat ball and ham sandwiches until almost 10pm.
This was Mike’s first transmitter hunt hiding the transmitter here in Vegas and was definitely a success.
June 11th, 2019
KB7HTA Tom Davis sponsored this month’s hunt at the Paradise Recreational Park & Water Park.
WN9ANF Mike was declared the winner with the lowest mileage of 13.0 miles and the first on the scene.
WB6AMT Earl with N6SFX Steve were not to far behind with a mileage of 13.8 miles.
The baby transmitter was in a tree at the end of the wall where the main transmitter was located about 6 feet above ground. there was group of 5 young boys on bicycles fascinated with watching the guys with antennas sniffing for the transmitter in the tree. (Kind of a give away)
The starting point was from the Southern starting point.
Due to the high temperatures that afternoon it was elected to have our post hunt gathering at Tom’s residence just a few blocks away.
Homemade pasta and refreshments were enjoyed by all as well as a excellent kibitzing session and a tour of Tom’s ham shack and a demo of his mesh node setup.
May 11, 2019
N8HC Glenn put today’s hunt on in the cool shade under the trees at Discovery Park in Henderson. Discovery Park is at the corner of Paseo Verde Parkway & Palomino Dr. in Henderson.
The starting point was at the 215 and Losee Rd location
Tom Davis KB7HTA had the longest travel time ( shortly after Earl ), the lowest mileage of 27 miles and was declared the winner. Tom will be hiding the transmitter next month on the 15th. Tom uses an Arrow dual-band antenna system not mounted to his car.
Mike WN9ANF had a mileage of 32 miles and was the first vehicle to arrive at the finish point in 1 hr and 7 minutes. Mike used a Diamond A144S5 yagi thru his sunroof. With mapping software and a GPS receiver to his laptop in the car.
Earl WB6AMT had a mileage of 32 miles and was the second vehicle to arrive in 1 hr and 22 minutes. Earl used a VHF home built quad and a UHF home built quad antenna sniffing out the 439.695MHz (third harmonic) to zero in on the main transmitter. Don’t know if we will do this again ( the wind load factor was incredible )!
For those folks who missed the hunt, you missed out on Glenn’s famous homemade chili and cornbread.
Come join us next month……they’re getting better!
April 13, 2019
Robert N7FLR and Peter AI6HU put on today’s hunt. Location was at The Green Valley Park on the Southeast side of the valley On Pecos, between Wind Mill and Warm Springs.
The small transmitter was located inside a drink cooler. At first it was thought that it was in Peter’s pants pocket, sitting in front of the cooler (tricky…huh?)
Eric N6YKE and Diana KE6JYX had the lowest mileage of 10 miles.
Earl WB6AMT had a mileage of 13.8 miles.
Tom Davis KB7HTA had a mileage of 24 miles and decided to waylay meeting at the finish point.
Robert had deli sandwiches, refreshments, banana bread and Earl brought 3 bags of different chips and dips and sugar free cookies. We need to have more participants to take advantage of these outstanding events and join in on the fun and practical experience that is gained in t-hunting.
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.
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.
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