All Day Transmitter Hunt 27 February 2021
Once again, I chose to hide in the Cahuilla Valley area, where a hiding spot I have termed “Blind Faith” has not been found after 3 (or 4?) hides. However, I did NOT use the “Blind Faith” location on this particular hide; there are other interesting hiding spots in the area. I spent some time with Google Maps and Google Earth finding vehicle routes to different locations (Scott N6MI said that the roads in the area are “uncertain and difficult” - which in my mind is the DEFINITION of T-hunting) and assessing the coverage the transmitters would likely provide. I wanted to provide the hunters with strong signals to follow, so I set up N6MI T22, running about 170 watts, at a location with good coverage in the direction of the Pathfinder starting point. All Ts were accessible by 2 wheel drive vehicles (high clearance recommended in some cases). No hiking was required for any T.
Turnout was pretty good (6 teams). From hunters’ reports there were almost always signals from T22 to hunt, though often in misleading directions. Tracking hunters on aprs.fi, I was surprised to see where some of them went. Eventually most/all found their way to the Cahuilla Valley. It appeared that all transmitters had decent coverage once in the area.
There were a total of 4 transmitters:
• N6MI T22 which was not found. Some hunters reported especially strong signals near the Cooper Cienaga Truck Trail
• N6MI, another high power transmitter which was not found either. Some hunters reported especially strong signals near T4.
• T3, a low-power “Gelato jar transmitter” with a spike antenna at a high spot near the end (locked gate) of Rim Rock Road. This T was found by 5 teams.
• T4, a low-power “CD ROM transmitter” with a spike antenna located at a high spot off of Coyote Canyon Road. This T was found by 1 team.
Since Scott N6MI was the only hunter to find multiple Ts, he is declared the winner. Thanks also to Scott for the equipment loan.
Paul WB6HPW
T22? 
N6MI?
Overall layout
T3
T4
T4 detail
T3 detail