It was a fine day for a hunt. Clear skies with temps in the low 80's. I had all the transmitters programmed and tested with batteries fully charged. Off to the hunt area near Poway, CA. The original plan was to put out 7 transmitters. The first 5 were clustered within 2 miles of each other but would require roughly 40 miles of driving to get to each one. Now on to the site for the main transmitter some 20 miles further along. Whoops, barricades encountered on the way into the location so hit plan B. Backtrack a few miles to the site that had looked promising via the computer but turned out not to have visibility. Plan C, back to area of the 5 transmitters and select the one with the best view to become T-1. Reconfigured the transmitter and tried the path with RJN at the start point. No go with 30 watts. Back to the truck to get a 100 watt amplifier and the 100AH battery to power it. Now he has a signal and the hunt can start late (10:45).
5 teams participated in the hunt. WA6RJN, KA6UDZ, WA6CYY, WB6HPW/N6PL and KD6LAJ/KM6KHT (unofficial)
The heading most hunters started with lead them North and East, a completly un-intended bounce off of Baldy and San Gorgonio Mountain. I had my 11 element beam pointed at 315 degrees what I thought was the start point which turned out to be 10 degrees West of the start (325 degrees) with Baldy being another 10 degrees East at 335 degrees. With the hunt running late, I wasn't trying to put a bounce into the mix. My signal just went right over their heads and the only thing they saw were the bounces. Most hunters headed North or East before seeing my strong signal (100 watt/11 element beam) from the South.
Somewhere along the way WA6CYY broke his antenna and had to abort.
First to arrive at T-1 was HPW/N6PL at 3:18. Next was RJN at 3:45. KD6LAJ and his new ham partner KM6KHT arrived at 6:30.
RESULTS
With 5 transmitters and 177.7 miles, WB6HPW/N6PL are the winners!
With 4 transmitters and 152.4 miles, WA6RJN
With 1 transmitter (unofficial) KD6LAJ/KM6KHT
Thanks to all that came out, sorry for the late start -Tom, K6VCR
