How the Fox Hunt was Won, by Mark WØMH:  For the first time, Paula WØHA and I decided to hunt separately for the fox.  This time, my mother June KCØNGL, wanted to be involved.  You might remember that June was recently licensed after being off the air for 45 years.  

June and I used a five element cubical quad antenna, which was built as a club project about four years ago.  It has a high front to back ratio which makes it good for this kind of work.  To the antenna, I mounted a Yaesu 2 meter transceiver and a home built RF attenuator.  We found the fox signal was east of downtown Brainerd so we proceeded east on Washington street and stopped just south of the East Brainerd Mall.  The signal was south of there so we drove around the Burlington Northern shops and stopped at 20th and Oak streets.  The strongest signal seemed to be coming from the west so we went to a parking lot at 13th and Oak streets.  The fox signal then seemed to be coming from southeast of us.  I suspect there were plenty of signal reflections because when we got to 22nd Street and about five blocks south of Oak street, the signal was almost due west of us.  From there, we drove to Jaycees park only to find two fox hunting parties had arrived before us and were busily scouting the park for the hidden transmitter.  

The signal was strong in the park, but the attenuator worked to keep the signal to the receiver in range of the "S" meter until we were in the middle of the park.  At that point, the fox signal was strong enough so the "S" meter was at full scale all the time.  I disconnected the antenna from the radio and only a small signal strength remained.  Reinstalling the antenna connector on the radio half way gave just enough RF coupling so that we could proceed.  In essence, the BNC connector on the top of the radio was not pushed together far enough to have the center conductor connect. Instead, there was capacitive coupling between the center conductors.  This allowed us to get closer to the fox using the directional characteristics of the cubical quad antenna to guide us.  That got us to within 50 feet of the fox.  Triangulating from three sides allowed me to know approximately where the transmitter was in an unimproved weedy area.  Walking into the weeds, I finally found it.  

Terry KIØFW had done a great job hiding the transmitter in an area where we could walk on three sides of it before searching in the brush to actually find it.  Jim WAØAXB found it shortly afterward followed by Greg NØLJY, his father Skee KCØDCY, Paula WØHA, and Orcy WØQT.  We all had a great time and look forward to the next fox Hunt.