24 May 2023 – LRS Direction-Finding Contest (DF Hunt) – GM3HAM – Lothians Radio Society

Four teams took part in the 2023 D/F Hunt, starting at “The Tardis” on Braid Hills Road.

Fox Peter GM4DTH operated GM3HAM/P from a location in the Pentland Hills.

Results:

1. Melvyn GM4HYR – 39min

2. Mike GM8KCS & Mike Jr MM3MDB – 2h 2min

3. John GM4JRT – failed to finish – less than 1km away.

4. James GM4WZP – failed to finish, via Holyrood Park!

Afterwards, they all met up in the Colinton Inn for a well-deserved diet lemonade.

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Fox Peter GM4DTH report:

This year’s DF Hunt took place on the evening of 24th May. The weather conditions were excellent with sunshine, clear skies and a slight breeze The fox was located on the summit of Torduff Hill, a foothill of the Pentland Hills, which overlooked Torduff Reservoir and had a panoramic view of Edinburgh. The intention was to make this an easy hunt with the aerial located on the skyline. It could be seen, aided by binoculars, from Briain’s (GM8PKL) living room window. It was built as a quarter scale working model of an aeronautical beacon which was the subject of a Lothian’s talk earlier in the session. The radiating element was a wire wound around a 12m guyed fibreglass pole driven against eight 15m ground radials. The losses would have been relatively high limiting the range of the 3W transmitter. The fox reported as was audible at the start location and was also reported to have been received on Nathan’s MM3NDB Kiwi SDR in Dalgety bay in Fife.

All the hunters started at the old police box located near to the Braid Hills Hotel 4.5km (2.8miles) from the fox.

Melvyn GM4HYR was first to locate the fox taking just thirty nine minutes. He was followed by the Brunsdons Mike and his son Mike Jr who took two hours and two minutes. The others failed to finish. One clue was issued, however, due to the wonders of technology it was not received until the following day. Melvyn used his home brew df receiver which was a Lothian’s construction project many years ago. Mike could monitor the fox while driving. He had an old ‘Nova Pal’ marine portable DF receiver and a ‘Belka Dx’ with a tuned ferrite rod as portable receivers. John GM4JRT also used a ‘Belka’ receiver with a tuned frame aerial. This was his his first hunt and was distracted by following the reciprocal bearing and valuable time was lost. He did manage to get within 1km of the fox before it closed down. James GM4WZP using a PYE DF receiver was also distracted ending up in the area of Holyrood Park. Everyone was able to meet up in the ‘Colinton Inn’ in Colinton village along with Colin GM4HWO to discuss the hunt over a beer.

Winner GM4HYR 39 minutes.
Runner up GM8KCS & MM3NDB 2 Hours and two minutes.
Failed to finish GM4JRT & GM4JRT

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