Fox Hunting
Our next upcoming Fox Hunt is April 21st 2024 at Centennial Park – scroll down for more details!
What is a Fox Hunt?
Don’t worry, your furry friends are safe! When amateur radio operators go “fox hunting” they’re not actually looking for real foxes, instead a low power radio transmitter (aka: the fox) is hidden somewhere (sort of like a geocache) and teams of people head out and see if they can find the transmitter.
These events can be relatively simple or quite elaborate. What makes them fun is that radio foxes can be hidden just about anywhere publicly accessible. This means radio amateurs can test their skills through varying environments ranging from the wide open country side, to a hilly forest or all the way into a deep complex urban center.
In some cases multiple radio foxes are used, sometimes on the same frequencies to confuse those hunting, and other times the fox is literally on the move, attached to a vehicle, bicycle or even some sort of remote controlled device. If you really want a fox hunt to be a challenge, put your fox on a remote control boat or have a bicycle courrier in a big city carry it around.
Why Fox Hunt?
Fox hunting is a great way for amateur radio clubs to engage their members. It encourages team building, cooperation, physical exercise and anyone, even those with physical disabilities to still participate.
Fox hunts can be as simple or complex and competitive or passive as you choose, and they not weather dependent. You can fox hunt in any season under virtually any conditions depending on how brave (or foolish) you are.
While fox hunts are fun, they do have real world implications. Amateurs learn valuable skills while fox hunting, and these skills can be used to find sources of RFI (radio frequency interreference) and better understand how signals propagate, reflect or attenuate in different environments and conditions.
Sunday April 21st 2024 - Upcoming Fox Hunt Details
Sunday July 30th 2023 - Fox Hunt Photos & Summary
Thanks to everyone who came out Sunday for the fox hunt.
Our base camp was located in King’s Mill Park North and the two foxes were situated north and south of basecamp. The southern most fox was a 15mw byonics unit and the northern fox was a 1 watt byonics model.
The northern fox was not found by any hunters and offered a significant challenged due to orographic blocking, multipath reflections and signal strength. The natural path of the Humber River also offered a natural obstacle constricting hunters and the path options that were available.
The southern fox was found quickly by Ian VE3INP in 15 minutes and later found by Wayne VE3FMB and Walter VA3WJO after about 40 minutes of hunting. Jason VE3PLJ and Carlos VA3CRL also successfully found the southern fox after about 40 minutes of hunting.
Congratulations to Ian VE3INP for locating the fox in the shortest amount of time and we’d like to thank all those who stopped by to say hello. We also extend a thanks to the fox hunt committee for their hard work and commitment that made this event possible.
Sunday April 23rd 2023 - Fox Hunt Event Details & Archived Photos
All club members are welcomed and encouraged to take part in the new clubs inaugural fox hunt.
Please take a moment to fill out the RSVP form below if you intend on attending.
The Fox Hunt will take place from 10AM to 5PM at Marie Curtis Park / Lakeshore Park – https://osm.org/go/ZXt9_Ypy
A map of the parkland showing the Base Camp (check-in location) as well as a brief presentation is available below the RSVP form. There will be beverages, food and snacks at base camp. Participants may make a donation to the club in the form of cash (donation box on site) or via an e-transfer to treasurer.skywidearc@gmail.com – we ask for a minimum donation of $5 to help recover costs.
A detail info sheet can be viewed or downloaded here
The Fox Hunt utilizes the W3W (What3Words) system. More information about What3Words can be found here and the W3W application can be downloaded for iOS & Android through their respective app stores. You do not need to use the W3W system to take part however it does make finding individuals and locations easier.
Slide Show - Base Camp, Trail Types & Equipment Requirement
After evaluating a number of parks for size, terrain, accessibility, facilities, etc the above parks which border one another and offer excellent diversity of terrain have been chosen.
Three radio foxes will be present in the park at varying power levels and varying difficulty levels. The foxes will be spaced 20 KHz apart. If one of the foxes is found by all the participants, it will then be moved to a new location and re-introduced into the hunt. An event captain will be available on the 147.400 MHz simplex frequency and clues will be offered. This is the club’s inaugural hunt and a friendly points system will be used. The participants will be awarded a virtual club trophy.
Some aerial photos and a small gallery is available below to give participants an idea of the variation of conditions across the parkland.
The Foxes & Frequencies
The Foxes will be operating on the following three frequencies:
147.4125 MHz
147.43125 Mhz
147.450 Mhz
Clothing and Equipment Requirements
Participants in the fox hunt should dress appropriately as this event is rain or shine. Long pants and waterproof footwear such as that which is suited to hiking is strongly advised. For participants who are interested in hunting the most difficult fox, it is advisable that they be prepared to entered heavily wooded terrain where mud and slippery conditions on unkept trails are likely. A hiking pole for those with potential balance issues is strongly advisable where poor trail conditions may be expected. While the selected parkland has not had any tick or Lyme disease reports, it is advisable all participants take precautions and check themselves should they venture into wooded areas.
More information about ticks can be found below:
City of Toronto Tick Surveillance
Participants should consider bringing a beam or other antenna that offers directionality in the 2M portion of the VHF band. It is also advisable that their radio have a signal meter and a means of attenuation.
For those interested in building their own antenna instructions can be found at the links below:
https://www.instructables.com/The-Tape-Measure-Antenna/
For some basics on Fox Hunting please watch the video below.