RARC APRS Fox Hunt

Starting Dec 6^th, 2009 the RARC will be conducting APRS fox hunts every other week for 2 months.

How to play:

There will be 1 fox. He or she will have an APRS transmitter in their vehicle transmitting their position every minute. The fox will be driving randomly around Rochester. The net control station will be guiding up to 4 hunters and trying to get the hunters to intercept the fox before 30 minutes has passed.

The fox is the only vehicle allowed to use APRS. If the hunters have a tracker only (not D700/D710 or laptop) they can still play. You just cannot use a radio or laptop that will give you the location of the fox.

Spectators may follow along by listening to the traffic on the repeater picked for the hunt and see the location of the fox by going to aprs.fi:

http://aprs.fi/?call=n0hzn-7&mt=m&z=11&timerange=3600 
(Just change the call sign to the call sign of the fox that day.)

The hunt will last for 30 minutes. The hunters signify to the NCS that they are ready and the fox will let NCS know he/she is ready. Once the first APRS report is received the clock starts.

NCS will try to guide the hunters to the area where the fox is located. The fox may listen to the NCS and change direction as many times as he/she wants. The only rule for the fox is he/she needs to stay inside the Rochester city limits.

All participants must obey all traffic signals, stop signs and posted speed limits.

The fox will place a number 1-9 of his/her choice in white on their rear window. The number height and width should be the same size as the numbers on the Minnesota license plate.  At the beginning of the hunt the fox will inform NCS (only the NCS) which number it is. The hunters will be awarded a win if they report the correct number back to NCS. This will also allow the hunters to get fairly close without having to be right behind the fox.

At the end of the 30 minutes the NCS will announce that time is up and for all hunters and the fox to pull over as soon as they can find a safe place to do so. If possible make it near an intersection.

NCS will then ask for each of the locations of the hunters and then the fox. NCS will then determine which hunter is the closest to the fox. APRS programs will assist with this.

Scoring:

If a hunter actually spots the fox he/she will be awarded 6 points.
After that, the closest hunter will be awarded 4 points
2nd closest 3 points
3^rd closest 2 points
4^th closest 1 point

NCS will be given 2 points plus a bonus point for every hunter they direct and actually find the fox within the 30 minute time span.

We hope to hold the hunt every other week for 2 months. At the end of the 2 months the point totals will be added and winner declared.

The winner of each hunt will become the fox for the next hunt. If you want to become a hunter or NCS please contact Steve WØSTV. The spots will be filled first come first served. There is 1 NCS and up to 4 hunters.

There may be some changes made as we go since we have never done this before.

Any questions, contact Steve WØSTV or John NØHZN or Rob KCØFOW