Dennis WB6OBB and Marvin KE6HTS are legendary SBARC T-Hunters.
Beginners’ T-Hunt
Once a month, the Santa Barbara Amateur Radio Club sponsors a Beginners’ T-Hunt. This hunt is for those who are proficient in the sport of T-Hunting, and for those that have never done it before.
The idea behind the Beginner’s T-Hunt is to give those who have never done it before a little help in getting started. Usually for the first 30 to 45 minutes, instruction is giving on different techniques (i.e. Reflections, etc.) Then, after you have learned about the topic of the day, there is a small on-foot t-hunt, usually letting you practice how to find the t-hunt letting you use the new knowledge that you just gained.
The Beginners’ T-Hunt is usually held the third Saturday, each month, at 3pm at the Stow House Parking Lot, 304 N. Los Carneros, in Goleta. After the T-Hunt, everyone usually ends up going for Pizza and chat.
For more info on the Beginners’ T-Hunt, please contact Scott Moore (KF6IKO).
ARDF
If the beginning T-Hunt sounds tame, you might want to consider ARDF, Amateur Radio Direction Finding. This is a serious sport in Europe involving well trained athletes since both ability and speed are important. The goal is to use a map, compass, and radio direction finding equipment to locate a number of “control points” and cross the finish in the shortest time possible.
For example, a hunt might take place on foot and involve a total of five transmitters. Each transmitter would be identified by an orange and white orienteering control flag and have a unique ID which would be on for 1 minute and off for 4 minutes in sequence so that only one transmitter would be active at any given time. Competitors would have a pre-determined specified amount of time from their assigned start time to find as many transmitters as possible and cross the finish line. The winner is determined first by the number of transmitters found, and second, by the time (i.e. someone who finds all 5 transmitters in 100 minutes will beat someone who found 4 transmitters in 50 minutes). Arriving later than the allocated allowed time would result in disqualification. Participants would be given a map of the area and a score card which they will punch at each transmitter they find.
ARDF Articles and Events
- ARDFÂ Championships 2004 – Santa Barbara
- SBARC ARDF Hunt, November 10, 2001
- “Beacons in the woods: Orienteering for ARDF” by Bill Pollock, KD6JY
A brief history and some tools and tactics. - “Training for International ARDF Competition” by Gyuri Nagy, HA3PA
- International Specification for Orienteering Maps (ISOM)
- SBARC ARDF Hunt, August 2000
- SBARC ARDF Hunt, March 2000
