Way back when I started T Hunting in San Diego, I heard of some unique
hides. One of them was of a balloon floating out of sight, in the dark.
That was about 10 years ago. I have never seen one actually used. I just
happened to wander through a Walmart the other day. They had a pallet of
helium tanks for party balloons right at the front door. I couldn’t resist.
I had already agreed to take the place of Bill (KM6ORF) and hide on 12/3.
The place was Town Center Community Park at the southeast corner. The time
was perfect. Sunset was at about 4:41. It gets dark early this time of
year. The sky had thin clouds with a slight wind out of the northwest.
Unfortunately, the moon was nearly full. I would have preferred it to be
completely dark.
The first transmitter set up was a MicroFox 2 hung on a few 30 inch helium
balloons. My wife Hadiya helped me prepare the balloons and keep anything
from getting away. It was ready just in time for the hunt to start. I
figured with the balloons, the little MF2 had line of sight to Grossmont. I
turned it on just before the start as a test. It could be heard by the
hunters.
I declared the hunt started. Doing something different, I asked for the
hunters to take a picture of each transmitter and text me with it as proof
of finding the transmitter. The phone would provide a timestamp.
Prior to the first hunter arriving in the area, I setup the other two
transmitters. One was in a 30 cal ammo box at the northeast corner of the
bridge leading to the YMCA. It had an HT set to 1W. The antenna was simply
a foot long rubber duck on the box. As a decoy, I placed a 18” mag mount on
the other side of the bridge. The cable hung down to be seen but it wasn’t
connected to anything.
The last transmitter was a MicroFox 15S. It was placed behind a wooden
fencepost. Its size and low power make it easy to hide and hard to find.
It took a while for the hunters to start showing up. At about 5:40 we
noticed a hunter truck (K6VCR ?) come down Park Center Dr. It paused
briefly, turned around and headed north. They were probably following the
transmitter at the north end of the bridge. People began showing up on foot
about 5:45. Some had parked in the lot next to the YMCA. Joe (N6SZO) and
Greg (W6BAF) arrived at the south lot about 6:05.
Greg reported to me directly that he had found all three and verbally
described each one. I told him I had set a request for the hunters to take
pictures and send them to me. While he was getting the pictures, Tom
(K6VCR) sent me 3 pictures all at once at 5:51. I guess I wasn’t clear. I
wanted a text message with a picture attachment for each transmitter as they
were found not all at once. I got a similar text from Greg at 6:03. It
turns out that Joe L (KE6PHB) got misleading reflection and headed for
Poway. They got turned around and headed back to the site about 6:15.
Finally, I gave them a hint at 6:33. They showed up at the site a few
minutes later. It didn’t take long for them to find all three.
Once all were present we tried to find something other than another pizza.
Olive garden does not take reservations. We couldn’t agree on trying
another place so we defaulted to Oggi’s pizza. They always seem to have a
table for us. A good time was had by all.
Pictures courtesy of Joe Corones (N6SZO) and Tom (K6VCR)
Respectfully,
Robert (N9SCD)
