Amateur Radio Direction Finding: What is a Fox Hunt?

 

Every weekend, in cities and towns all across the country, ham radio operators gather on hilltops for a very special kind of contest — the Fox Hunt. A small, low power transmitter is hidden and the rest of the crew tries to find it. Sound simple? It can be very challenging and a whole lot of fun. The direction finding skills learned in this activity can be very valuable in locating a repeater jammer, or a lost hiker.

The ARRL has many resources in the QST Archives pertaining to direction finding available to Members Only. Several are linked from this page: Direction Finding.

You may find a good PowerPoint presentation on Fox Hunting at this link on the ARRL Web: Simple VHF Direction Finding.

Another good article with pictures, that is available to everyone, talks about Fox Hunting during the JOTA event — ARDF: Fox Hunting at JOTA. In this ARRL Video: Larry Wolfgang, WR1B, discusses Jamboree On The Air (JOTA). JOTA-Video – Length: 5:00 minutes.

These Videos about Amateur Radio Direction Finding/The Fox Hunt may be viewed from THIS page. Additional footage on the subject is available from YouTube as Related Videos. (The thumbnails that you see after viewing a video.)

SHb.png Anatomy of a Fox Hunt: Part 1 — Ken shows you the Foxes and how he hides them. :: by KJ4CTZ

SHb.png Anatomy of a Fox Hunt: Part 2 — Attenuators & Antennas.

SHb.png Anatomy of a Fox Hunt: Part 3 — The Hunt is ON

SHb.png US ARDF (Radio Fox Hunt) Preview Amateur Radio Video News (ARVN)

SHb.png Fujion F-3000E Digital Radio Direction Finder

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Off-Site Links about Amateur Radio Direction Finding: