| The weather was fine which made for good driving conditions for the hounds and a relaxing afternoon for the fox. The fox was located approximately 75Kms from the start which was Kmart Burwood carpark. The start was delayed about 20 minutes due to navigational error by the fox in getting to the location. Hounds had a weak but readable signal at the start and head off towards the North East. 3 teams were competing on the day with none of them having their usual team in place. As this was a distance based event there was a nominal finish time of 4pm but no penalties were laid out if this was not met. The only limitation we had was that there was a rally that evening in the area and some of the roads were to be closed. |
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The fox consisted of a FM rig running about 40 Watts into a horizontal dipole at about 4m in height. The signal was on for 20 seconds and off for 40 seconds running CW except for the regular voice ID given. The VK3EM team consisted of Luke and partner with a short wheel base cruiser. They had no ability to take bearings on the run so instead had to setup a long yagi every now and then. Unfortunately the whip on the bull bar which was being used for liaison had a nasty break which made it difficult to communicate with others. The VK3YQN team headed up by YQN himself had no problems and managed to stop for a counter meal at the pub for lunch. I think the GPS they were using really helped out with the Vic roads and Melways they were using. The VK3ZPF team also had gear problems with their rotating system failing and a flat tyre on the 4WD. |
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The fox was located in a clearing near a junction of several tracks between
the Melba and Maroondah Highways NNE of Mt St Leonard. The fox spent the day
relaxing in the sun and reading the paper with a BBQ lunch before there was
any word from the hounds. The first team to arrive consisted of Bruce VK3TJN,
David VK3XAJ, Ian VK3YQN and Simon VK3TUG. Their distance was measured at 115.2Kms
and while they waited for other teams to arrive they took advantage of the
supper provided by the fox. The next hound to arrive was the VK3ZPF team some
time later with a distance of 159Kms. Luke VK3EM came in about 20 minutes
later just as the sun was disappearing behind the trees with a distance of
about 113Kms. As two of the teams had such close distances, a calibration
run was required on the way home to determine the overall winner.
To best represent the distances traveled the fox standardised on the VK3JMD Kms so the results are: 1st VK3YQN 114Kms 2nd VK3EM 119Kms 3rd VK3ZPF 160Kms |
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Copyright 2001 - Peter Fraser - all rights reserved.