The purpose of this page is to share my
enthusiasm for Amateur Radio
Direction Finding. ARDF is part of Amateur
Radio 'Radio Sport'... which includes Contesting and Morse Code
copying activities.
Boring History Lesson:
I got started in "Bunny Hunting" (as my Elmer's called it) back in the
1960s as a young ham. My Elmers, the 'old guys who smoked cigars', would
pick me up and take me in their car to find the "bunny". The bunny was
another ham hiding out in his car somewhere in our small town of 15,000. The
Bunny would make an occasional transmission on his TWO METER AM rig and the
hunters would rotate their loop antennas mounted to broom handles and get a
'fix'. Off in the car we would go to another spot and repeat the
process. After a couple of hours of not finding the bunny... it
seemed to me that he was getting bored and was coming up with comments that
would taunt and insult the hunters. It was great fun for a 14 year old
and was my introduction to two meter AM... so I had to have a rig that would
at least hear the bunny if I was left at home. I saved up my paper
route bucks and bought and built a this rig...
Shown is the Heathkit Two-er or
2 meter lunchbox rig or HW-30.
It is a Xtal controlled Xmtr and a Regenerative Rcvr with built in
120VAC power supply. The T-R switch is the lever knob on the lower
right.I still own one of these and it
actually works. |
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In 1974 or so... after haming for about 11 years... I
gave up amateur radio and forgot about it whilst raising a family.
In 2002, at the age of the "old guys who smoked
cigars" I became interested in ham radio again. I studied, passed the
Morse Code test again (at boring slow speed), and became re-licensed .
My YL, Pat WT7N, and I were at a Radio Club of Tacoma meeting and watched a
lecture / demo of ARDF, shown by Art Jury, KF7GD. It was one of
those 'Yreka' moments for me and the spark for Bunny Hunting was re-ignited.
After the Radio Club's show n tell ARDF meeting... I
was asked by one of the officers if I would show a group of radio club
members how to build the needed equipment so these folks could find their
own bunnies at the upcoming radio club summer picnic. The homebuilt
equipment consists of the Active Attenuator and Tape Measure Yagi
directional antenna.
The "Build It" activity was scheduled for a month before the picnic,
interested folks signed up, parts were ordered, prototypes built and tested.
With Chuck AC7QN's help...they came and they built.
The radio club picnic was a big success. Art Jury came to hide a couple of
transmitters and I hid one of my Ammo Can transmitters( home built from a
discarded Handy Talkie and battery.
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Ammo Can XMTRs |
Commercially made International style
XMTR |
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