How (not) to win a Foxhunt
BBRC Foxhunt 5 July 2021
The omens were not especially good as we met up at Upton Car Park on the Monday evening armed with tape-measure yagis, mobile whips plus handies and mobile 2M FM rigs. The weather was threatening and drizzle soon followed. The group was small – just Dave, Mike and Susan and Trevor plus me in three cars. Dave had to be in Maidenhead to collect Eileen at 8 so would need to divert.
After a phone call from the fox we listened on 145.275 with the car rig but the signal was barely breaking the squelch. However using the yagis the signal was audible but not strong. Bearings were taken and the hounds set off after their mileages had been checked.
Often the first bearing from the start is quite accurate, so relying on our bearing of 250 deg, we headed south to Windsor and up Dedworth Road. Gradually the fox’s signal got a bit stronger – about S5 so we thought we were on track. A further bearing was taken about 4 miles west of Windsor which seemed to point further west, however a few miles further on and the signal got weaker so we retraced our steps and took another bearing which pointed north so we drove up through Maidenhead and took a bearing from Furze Platt which pointed towards Cookham. The signal now was stronger but time was ticking and about 8.45 the fox announced he was shutting down at 9pm.
A check on the Cookham pubs proved negative so at 9pm after the last transmission we threw in the towel and opened the envelope. The fox’s lair was the Spade Oak at Bourne End, not far away so we headed there for a beer only to find that Mike and Susan had been there for nearly an hour after pretty well driving straight to the pub in an incredible 10 miles. We had driven over 20. Still you can’t win em all!
The best part of the evening was that we had a convivial pint with Mike, Susan and the foxes Jeremy and Patrick.
Dave had sent me a text earlier to say that with the poor weather and his diversion he had decided (quite sensibly) to go home.
Fox hunts are good fun and if you haven’t tried one you should give it a go. All you need is a 2M handy plus preferably an easily made tape-measure 2 or 3 ele yagi*.
g0ska
Editor’s note – there are instructions on how to make a tape measure yagi in the ‘Projects’ section.
