I am thinking of conducting a foxhunt for our local club members next fall. I live in an RV resort near Tampa with an active group of neighbor hams who are here during the "season" (i.e. snowbirds). I reside here full time. Can someone direct me to (ideally) the following: 1. A micro modulated 2 meter fox transmitter kit. (Fothunt must be on 2 meters for the folks to use HTs) 2. A timer that could be used for auto on/off during the hunt I know RigExperts has a xmtr but I would prefer a kit (save $ and just for kit-fun and not have to look all over the place for parts). I also am aware of a timer that MAY work from Nightfire Electronics. If someone has a better solution(s) I sure would appreciate the info! Thanks.
I got three of these transmitters, each programmed with a different ID, and that makes it a lot more challenging than only one. However, you can use just one to make the foxhunt easier. Or you can get up to five, if you can afford that many. http://www.west.net/~marvin/microhnt.htm You need to specify your callsign, the frequency, the transmit on/off timing, and the ID you want. I believe you can order the transmitter and enclosure separately, and make your own antenna. I guess that would make the project sort of a "kit". However, you can also order factory assembled and tested units. You can also get a nice "turnstile" antenna to hang above the transmitter, which knocks down for transport. Prices (incl shipping) are around $115 for an assembled transmitter in metal enclosure and $56 for the antenna. The metal enclosure is only $10 more than the plastic enclosure and it has a nice eyebolt to hang the unit. The standard ID's are MOE, MOI, MOS, MOH and MO5, transmitted as Morse in FM modulation. I have found that participants do not need to know Morse to distinguish MOE from MOI -- just count the number of dits in the last character for transmitters #1 thru #5. If you have only one transmitter, of course, there is only one ID. The only control is an on/off switch. Install a 9v battery and turn the unit on to start the hunt. If you have more than one transmitter, allow a delay before you turn on the next one so they don't send on top of each other. I would check repeater frequencies in your area before ordering, so you can specify one that is clear.
Our county radio club bought some Boefang HTs and one of our members built a small perfboard circuit with an 8 pin dip processor - powered by a 9 volt battery -programmed to key the HT and send a CW call sign and a digit so we could have multiple HTs hidden in plastic ammo boxes. I have no clue what processor he used or how he did it. We replaced the rubber duck with a small dummy load resister. The transmitter is keyed every 30 seconds or so and sends the call sign followed by a number to identify each HT. They are on different UHF simplex frequencies. As a club project we built several 6 element UHF wooden boom beam antennas to have a walking fox hunt with multiple foxes.
Speaking of BF HTs..... This is what I did for a Fox. Pretty quick and simple. You don't have to program an Arduino if don't want to. Any timer would work. http://www.whiskeytangohotel.com/2019/02/ham-radio-home-brew-fox-transmitter.html
Great ideas and help! Thanks. I'm also working on a couple of my own findings. I appreciate everyone's feedback!
