My goal was to pick an area that wasn’t used very often and that would allow a few transmitters to be placed taking advantage of the extra daylight we now have for the hunts. My plan was to head down early and scope out a few spots but on the day before the hunt, I found out about an overland expo in Pamona that I wanted to attend. With that taking up most of the day, my time was now limited. Knowing that one of the spots I had in mind was guaranteed to be doable and it was near my preferred dinner selection I decided to use it.
Damon Lane County Park in El Cajone was chosen. I decided that I could use the trucks T-Hunt antenna as the main transmitter and that if I got down there at the very last minute then I could transmit at select spots along the way and potentially confuse the T-Hunters making them think I was north when in fact I was south.
I arrived at the site at about 4:45p. I pointed the main transmitter at El Cap to try and get a bounce adding to my “it might be north” theme. To my surprise after calling Tom, he almost had a direct bearing to me. Other hunters reported similar bearings. As usual, the Kraken had no signal. Tom stated that he thought that the 94 would be the best rout in to where I might be located. In zooming out the map I realized that if the hunters took that rout then the hunt would be too easy. My plan to draw the hunters north, perhaps down Mapleview Lane to Lake Jennings would have made the hunt harder as they would have all the hills along the 8 causing reflections, but it seemed that had failed.
5pm and the hunt started. I started programming the two micros to the correct second frequency and was ready to place them. I didn’t want them on the main so they didn’t all overlap. Then a quick check of the map. Shoot!! ZM and team are all ready at the park! Really? That was way too quick. At least they’re at the other end and it’s a decent walk. Quick to hide the two micros. They were just waking up as I was placing a decoy. Another check of the APRS. Wait why are Robert and Bill in Mira Mesa? Is the Kraken that bad? As it turns out since they had no signal at the start but heard me real good north on the way down, that’s the direction they decided to head. So guess my plan worked out after all. One micro was hidden under a foot bridge along a stream in the park. The other was placed in a doggie poop bag dispenser box with the decoy below it on the ground.
This T-Hunt was a "Historic Moment" in San Diego T-Hunt history with the first time that we have had "Two, Three Generational Hunt Teams" hunting on a San Diego T-Hunt. W6ZM with his son and grandson and AJ6XP with his son and grandson. It’s good to hear that this hobby might be passing on to the younger generation after all. At least we can hope. T-Hunting is a good active way to get more kids involved in Amateur Radio as talking on the radio or having a walkie-talkie just doesn’t do it anymore. Everyone has cell phones.
ZM and his son and grandson arrived at 5:35 PM. They found the first micro under the bridge rather quickly. Second to arrive was Team PHB, SZO, and ?? At 5:39 PM. The second micro in the dispenser wasn’t so easy. It took multiple teams to locate it along with some re-landscaping to make sure I didn’t burry it. Third to arrive was Tom RCW at about 5:45. He came up just as the first two teams were pulling the micro out of the doodie box. At that point Noah, Grandson of Bill W6ZM decided to switch teams and help Tom find the micro under he bridge. Fourth in was the kraken team at 5:57 PM. They had realized that north wasn’t the correct direction and headed back south using the bearing the other teams had helped them with. Last but not least was AJ6XP, his Son and Grandson at 6:23 PM. They didn’t find the one under the bridge as easy as the other teams.
Afterwards we headed to La Casa Blanca for dinner. After arriving and to my great disappointment there was a sign in the door saying they were closed due to a family emergency. Some quick replanning and we headed to Marieta’s instead. Decent food and a fun time was had by the hunters heckling the hider. Thanks to all for coming out and looking foreword to the next one.
Congratulations to W6ZM Bryan & Noah for being the first to arrive.
