Continuing a tradition of south Riverside County / north San Diego County hides, on 9/23/2023 N6PL/Seth and I chose to revisit some previously unfound hiding locations and add a couple of new ones.
We started the hunt more than an hour late due to equipment problems that were eventually traced to (1) a faulty power/SWR meter that gave us the impression we had intermittent output from an amp with intermittent unacceptably high SWRs and (2) a flakey Anderson power connector. When we jiggled the right power connector and decided to ignore the SWR, things went smoothly.
There were 4 hunter groups:
- KF6GQ / KD6LAJ
- N6MI / AF6O
- K6VCR / KI6RXX
- WA6RJN / WB6MGT
There were 5 transmitters, none of which were found, although all 4 groups did enter the “Area Of Interest” (AOI) around the Ts:
- Main T (IDing as “N6MI") - 180 watts into a 4-element Yagi. Once we were finally on the air, the Main T was heard at the starting point and along most of the route into the AOI.
- T5 - 20 watts into a log-periodic antenna. Was heard well in the Terwilliger / Rim Rock Road area.
- T3 ("Blind Faith”) - 20 watts into a 4-element Yagi. Was heard well in the east Cahuilla Valley area. The classic Blind Faith location, so named because in order to drive to the location, one must drive a long distance without being able to hear the T and along the approach route it can only be heard once one is very close to the T - in other words, one must rely on “Blind Faith” that one knows where to go.
- T2 - 1 watt into a whip antenna. Probably no hunter heard this one. It could be heard from the Main T and from surprisingly many points along the routes to other Ts, but as far as we can tell from aprs.fi no hunter passed through an area where we would have expected them to hear T2.
- T29 (Canine Central) - low power T in the Table Mountain area east of the Cahuilla Valley, with a commanding view of said Valley. This was a last-minute afterthought to draw people into the east Cahuilla Valley area where some other Ts could be heard well. The N6MI and K6VCR teams drove right past it and were in the area for a long time. Since we have no intention of reusing the spot, we’ll reveal that it was on the west part Everett Rd., near a fence line (see photos.)
Weather permitting, in February we tentatively plan hide the same Ts in same locations except we won't have T29 or any similar T. This will be a start-anywhere-any-time hunt. We'll set up on Friday or super early Saturday morning. The winner will be determined by how many Ts you find, with more points for the harder Ts. We will post the point assignments in advance so hunters know how to prioritize. Or maybe we’ll just make the starting point the Common Grounds restaurant in Anza.
Thanks as always to Scott N6MI for the equipment loans.
Paul WB6HPW and Seth N6PL
