Report
of the 2003 Victorian Foxhunting
Championships
Held
April 12th 2003
The 2003
championships were conducted by the
VK3OW team with a number of helpers and were centered around
Bullengarook in the
Wombat State Forest. The following is a report as seen by one of the
teams (VK3VT
- not the winners!) The hunts were well thought out and as all teams
were in
4WD vehicles there was no confusion about terrain and beaching low
slung
machines. The catering was excellent and a really good time was had by
all who
attended - our thanks to Ewen, and the team.
1300 Hunt 1 Foxhunt 70/2/10/6/23
any
order
From the start
location we headed basically
north looking for the two metre transmitter.
It soon became apparent that this location was an
excellent choice by
the organizers – there is not a straight road of any length and things
are
definitely not set out on a grid pattern!!
After a lot of driving and shooting down a number of 4WD
tracks we
located the fox. As
we were not sure of
the gear for 6 and 10 Metres we decided to chase the 70cm fox next. This proved to be almost
due south of us and
we headed off on a much more direct route.
After traveling for what seemed like ages we arrived at
the 70cm fox and
caught up with our fellow NERG members Betsy VK3HBK
. As
this transmitter was
on top of a hill with good views and was almost at the bottom of the
map we
decided to have a listen on the other three frequencies. We could hear a signal on
23cm and this
seemed the closest and we could also hear something on 6 and 10. We put
the 6M
loop on the car and had the 23cm receiver – IC T8A; and antenna – Doug
VK3JDO’s
corner reflector; in the car and just waved the antenna out the window. Soon we had good signals
on 23cm and
followed this finding Ewen up a track reasonably close to the start. We then went looking for
the 6m fox and were
reasonably close when time ran out. In turned out the 6 and 10m units
were
relatively close to the 2m transmitter – where we had been on the first
leg!.
Only one team – VK3VR/MZ/JMD/TVB found all transmitters – great result
guys. We
placed second.
Hunt
2 Foxhunt 80M
This was a
fairly conventional affair but
the lack of a grid road system meant that a wrong decision early could
see you
in trouble. After a
few incorrect turns
we were on the trail and found Henk in the township of Woodend.
1500
Afternoon Tea
Good stuff and
very welcome!
Hunt
3 Foxhunt, 23cm
We took a wrong
turn early so were at the
rear of the field – our experience in Mount Gambier is that the signals
are
usually weak but these were strong which led us to believe that the fox
was
near by. After some
time driving we
came to the Steve the fox in a maze of twisting back streets near the
foot of
Mount Macedon. It turns out there was a high powered amplifier being
used with
a directional antenna and this provided the strong signal we had so
many
kilometers away!
Hunt
4 Foxhunt 6M.
Our borrowed
equipment always gave us a
direction but we were very hard pressed to locate the fox – it looked
like the
direction given may not have been that of the fox, or not all the
time!! Very
frustrating.
1820 Dinner, casseroles and desserts.
Good food and a
chance to tell our stories
from the day’s events.
1930
Hunt 5 Foxhunt 2/70/6/10
in fixed order
The first leg
was looking reasonably easy as
we headed up towards Mount Macedon – our directions were pointing at
the cross
and we were all ready for quick trip up the hill and back but the fog
was most
unexpected and we were crawling all the way.
Our choice of the cross was wrong and so we had to
return and take
the Lionshead road track following the YQN team. This meant that we did not
have to
scout the track in the fog. After finding the fox at the NERG field day site right at the end of the road, we
managed to change
over antennas quicker than YQN and so had to gingerly follow the track
back. Second leg
was a beaut spot under the
freeway bridge and beside a pine plantation. Very Mount Gambier like. We
were second here so had
caught up. With
renewed vigor we were on
the way to the 6m fox – once again the gear gave directions but rarely
pointed
at the fox – by using signal strength and hints we were able to find
Ewen and
then head off on 10m. This
was back
near the township of Macedon as Henk was the fox on the first and last
legs. A bit of
4WDing was required to
get to this fox – a chance to try out my new toy!
We returned to
the venue for an excellent
supper and the presentation of the results, trophy and prizes, our team
secured
one second and two third places and 3rd overall. Team VK3JMD were the winners, not sure of other placings as the results table we had was blank!!
73
Greg VK3VT