Who, What, When, Where, Why...
November 23 t-hunt report
On November 22, 2024, Jim (AF6O) and I (N6MI) headed up Highway 2 (Los Angeles County, the Angeles Crest Highway) to hide a few transmitters for the November 23 all day hunt. The weather was sunny and pleasant (in the mid 70s).
Our primary transmitter was N6MI T-22. This was placed on the dirt portion of Mount Wilson Road. The entrance to the road was through an open gate at the east end of Video Road (near the entrance to the parking lot for the Mount Wilson Observatory). T-22 ran six watts to a four element yagi stuck about five feet up in a tree, pointed southeast, horizontally polarized.
With the many active commercial transmitters on Mount Wilson, we knew it would be very hard to sniff out N6MI T-22. The S-meter on my truck showed a constant reading of about S9. My recent vintage Ram pickup truck could not read the signal from my key fob, due to local interference. (Note to self: Do not turn off the engine on Mount Wilson.)
We hid N6MI T03 about 15 miles to the east, on Mount Hillyer, just off of Horse Flats Road. This transmitter ran about one watt to a four element yagi in a bush, vertically polarized, pointed roughly south.
We hid three other transmitters and went to a fine dinner at Taylor’s Steakhouse on Friday evening.
But then…
On Friday night, the weather changed. Rain. Fog. Wind. A 20 degree drop in the temperature. The other transmitters failed. And someone locked the gate to N6MI T-22, so that a team would have to walk about 1/8 of a mile to the transmitter. (Hey, this is an all day hunt after all.)
I put another transmitter in my truck (N6MI T05, one watt to a whip), and drove between Mount Wilson and Mount Hillyer.
Doug (WA6RJN) arrived at the site very early. He found all three transmitters and went home after seven hours of hunting. Good job.
Paul (WB6HPW), N6PL, and Peter (Paul’s son) arrived in the late morning. After driving around and sliding to T-22 from the top, they found three transmitters. The WB6HPW team arrived at N6MI T03 around dusk on Saturday.
Greg (KI6RXX) drove up from San Diego. He heard N6MI T-22 from the 15 and 79 intersection. This was a great signal report for a six watt transmitter. He arrived at N6MI T03 just after the WB6HPW team. Greg found three transmitters.
Scot (KA6UDZ) started on the hunt in the afternoon. He was on Mount Wilson when he checked out around dusk on Saturday. He had some trouble with the interference on Mount Wilson.
The WB6HPW/N6PL/Peter team won on the tiebreak (the shortest mileage between their first and last transmitter) — but it was very close between the top three teams. The WB6HPW team will hide in April 2025.
Jim and I thank you for hunting.
73,
J. Scott Bovitz
