Oceanside All Day Hunt
It was Memorial Day Weekend and Hiders Conrad KG6JEI and Greg KI6RXX where up to hide. Being that it was Memorial Day Weekend, I was worried that I would be stuck working so I wanted to pick a location that was close to home making the placement and collection of the transmitters easier. So, we decided that we would place the main transmitter near the beach and attempt another Catalina bounce. This time the distance was longer than from Malibu, but at least we knew the transmitter was working. The one with the Top Gun theme was chosen and seemed fitting being that the Top Gun sequel was being released that weekend as well. Also, the Top Gun house was just down the street. The remaining transmitters would be spread throughout scenic Oceanside. Luck turned to be on my side and instead of working, I got both Friday and Saturday off.
On Friday we started placing the transmitters that are on Timers and scoping out final spots and testing to make sure we would not have any orphan T’s. After placing the first two transmitters we went to scope out our third chosen location on the bike path behind some houses in North East oceanside. While walking with the transmitter in hand (Amo Box T) a lady spotted us as she was walking her dog on the trail. The look on her face was of pure fright, like we where some fort of suicide bombers or something. She was trying to decide how she was going to pass us. I said hello to her and I tried to explain to her what we were doing and that it was basically a game of hide and seek, but unfortunately, I think she didn’t believe me or more plausibly she no speakie English. She did not say a word to me. She hoped on her phone as we walked away after placing the transmitter. When we got to our vehicles, we had surmised that she called her daughter because another younger woman was walking up in her direction also on her phone. When I said hello to her, she didn’t respond either. We debated if we should hang around, but ultimately decided we should get off to hiding our next transmitter. As we went in that direction, we decided we would have a good view from across the river to see if they were tampering with our equipment. They where not, but appeared to be on the phone. Hmm, perhaps the local police. We headed to our next proposed location and after scoping it out and determining that it wasn’t going to work, we left to head for greener pastures. That when I received the phone call from an unknown number. “Hello, this is officer Doe from the oceanside police department. Are you the owner of this box placed behind the fence in the bushes?” It’s a good thing I have a description of our activities on the sides of the box and my contact info. After explaining to the officer what we were doing, he seemed ok with it and thanked me for the explanation. He wanted to know when we would finish our activities and if we had transmitters hidden else ware and if there where any outside the city. I do wonder which side of the box he saw first during his investigation, the side with my pleasant explanation or the side with the fake German warning signs and how far away he waked from the unit before calling the number on it.
The next morning, we headed to the beach to place the main transmitter and I sent Conrad off to hide the one at the rest stop. My dad Greg KM6CZK, came out to help. About just past the point of no return, I get a phone call from Conrad. “Where is the sign in sheet?!?!!, Did you give it to me!?!” Oopsi, I had not and traffic was starting to back up south bound. After setting up the main, a 13 element yagi, 10:00 AM came around and Tom reported not being at the starting location yet so I called RJN. Starting on the radios lowest power setting, Doug reported that they could not hear the signal so I upped the power. Still no signal. Up the power again. Still no signal. Ok another notch. Now maybe CYY can hear something on SSB but it’s really weak. OK, let’s try the highest power setting at 80W. Ok CYY reports a weak signal and Doug reports a 2/10 signal report. Doug has a bearing that is almost direct to us. Shit really, a direct bearing? After hanging up with the hunters I decided that I would lower the power one notch to try and make it more difficult. Shortly after a phone call from Tom who had arrived at the start. Nothing is heard. Ok back to high power. Tom reports a direct bounce off of Catalina Island. OK cool it worked and the hunters are off.
After Conrad returned from placing the rest stop T, I headed out to hide the remaining transmitters and to place the sign in sheet at the rest stop, then returned to the beach and main transmitter. A total of 10 transmitters where placed. Later Dennis KD6TUJ, shows up to hang out and help. Then the phone rings. Another unknown number. “Hi this is John Doe with dispatch for the oceanside police department. We have an alert out on your hide and seek event for all the officers just incase they get any more questions. We were wondering when you would finish and if you could give us a courtesy call to let us know you are done so we can remove the alert.” No problem I say after apologizing for any trouble we may have caused.
Some of the hunters seemed to drive direct to us, while others spent time deciding weather they should really go south or not. Some stopped for lunch along the way. Tom at one point, to the hider’s great amusement, actually started to head north. Perhaps he was looking for higher ground to get a better signal. Perhaps he was scoping out a hide location of his own while hunting. Unfortunately, traffic on the i5 south bound was a bear but this made finding the rest stop T easier. However, it was not found by all teams, one blaming traffic into the rest stop. All teams eventually found the main T and then dispersed to find the others. After all teams found the main, we took it off line to make finding the other T’s easier. Bill W6ZM and his son cam out and hunted from Chula Vista but they did not drive to the starting location nor did they track milage.
After all teams had reported that they had given up hunting, we started collecting the T’s. Unfortunately, the one under the freeway had gone missing. While looking for it I had another encounter with OPD. They were checking out my vehicle setup. When I told them what I was doing they said that because of the alert they knew who I was. I told them that my transmitter had gone missing and they said that a lot of homeless hang out in the area and that it wasn’t the best spot for a hiding location. I told the officer that I thought I had the transmitter hidden really well and he respond, well apparently not good enough, I guess. All I could do was laugh. He wasn’t wrong. Off to collect the remaining T’s then to bed. Thanks to all that came out. It was a fun event and we hope that you all had fun as well. All the T’s were found by more than one team, including the one that went missing, however no team found them all. One team reported before finding their last T, that they knew where to hunt it because they had looked at APRS. Should they be disqualified or does no rules apply? Those that claimed to have found the stolen T were listed as such but that does not change the ranking or who wins.
Congratulations to the winner, Doug WA6RJN, who gets to pick who, among those that were hunting, will hide for the October hunt. Results and photos below.
