WEBVTT - TechStuff Classic: TechStuff Goes Transmitter Hunting - Part Two 0:00:04.440 --> 0:00:12.280 Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from iHeartRadio. Hey there, 0:00:12.320 --> 0:00:15.680 and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host Jonathan Strickland. 0:00:16.000 --> 0:00:19.079 I'm an executive producer with iHeartRadio. And how the tech 0:00:19.120 --> 0:00:22.599 are you? It's time for another tech Stuff classic. This 0:00:22.760 --> 0:00:26.639 time we are concluding a discussion that we started last 0:00:26.680 --> 0:00:32.120 Friday with tech Stuff Goes Transmitter Hunting Part two. Joe 0:00:32.200 --> 0:00:35.640 McCormick joined me for this episode Joe as a host 0:00:35.680 --> 0:00:38.400 of Stuff to Blow your Mind, and we had a 0:00:38.440 --> 0:00:42.800 discussion about transmitter hunting that I hope you will find enjoyable. 0:00:43.200 --> 0:00:47.879 Take it away past Jonathan and Joe. So we need 0:00:47.920 --> 0:00:51.720 to move into more of a discussion about radio specifically, 0:00:51.960 --> 0:00:55.160 because even though radio is a subset of electromagnetic radiation, 0:00:55.680 --> 0:01:00.279 it covers an enormous range of frequencies and therefore. 0:01:00.720 --> 0:01:03.840 And not all frequencies behave the same on Earth. 0:01:03.920 --> 0:01:04.240 True. 0:01:04.319 --> 0:01:07.040 Yeah, so you've got different bands you might have You've 0:01:07.080 --> 0:01:11.119 seen terms like HF or VHF, FEU HF. These are 0:01:11.640 --> 0:01:16.920 specific subbands of frequencies on the electromagnetic spectrum, all what 0:01:16.959 --> 0:01:20.280 we would call radio frequencies. But so yeah, you've got 0:01:20.280 --> 0:01:24.119 like high frequency, very high frequency, and a lot of 0:01:24.120 --> 0:01:25.600 what we're going to be talking about today is going 0:01:25.640 --> 0:01:27.640 to be in the VHF part of the spectrum. 0:01:27.680 --> 0:01:30.840 Yeah, that very high frequency. So yeah, this radio spectrum 0:01:30.840 --> 0:01:33.280 is pretty broad and it goes well beyond the types 0:01:33.319 --> 0:01:36.959 of radio that the typical person can listen into, unless 0:01:37.000 --> 0:01:39.880 you happen to be one of those folks who you know, 0:01:40.000 --> 0:01:42.920 maybe you operate a maritime radio to help with navigation, 0:01:43.120 --> 0:01:45.360 in which case you are using frequencies most of us 0:01:45.440 --> 0:01:48.880 don't touch. But or maybe you are a doctor working 0:01:48.960 --> 0:01:53.080 with experimental medical imaging equipment, in which case you're using 0:01:54.080 --> 0:01:56.800 radio frequencies on the opposite end of the spectrum, because 0:01:56.840 --> 0:02:03.320 maritime radio uses very low frequency radio waves, whereas medical 0:02:03.360 --> 0:02:08.760 imaging uses extremely high frequency radio waves. So the range 0:02:08.800 --> 0:02:12.800 goes from the bottom is that like three herts, which 0:02:12.840 --> 0:02:16.080 means you get three waves passing a given point in 0:02:16.120 --> 0:02:20.239 a second, all the way up to tremendously high frequency, 0:02:20.320 --> 0:02:24.399 which is three thousand gigaherts or three trillion hurts, meaning 0:02:24.440 --> 0:02:29.000 three trillion waves pass a given point within a second. Actually, 0:02:29.000 --> 0:02:32.440 I like extremely low frequency more because the acronym is 0:02:32.480 --> 0:02:38.560 elf so elves. Elves communicate kind of like ense very 0:02:38.680 --> 0:02:42.600 long wave forms. The elves at the bottom of the ocean. Yeah, 0:02:42.720 --> 0:02:46.320 that's where we've stuck them. So again, you know, we 0:02:46.440 --> 0:02:48.560 talked about how all these waves are traveling at the 0:02:48.560 --> 0:02:50.959 speed of light, so it's really just the number of 0:02:51.040 --> 0:02:53.200 waves that pass a given point in a second that 0:02:53.240 --> 0:02:56.120 tells you a frequency, not speed of transmission, because that's 0:02:56.160 --> 0:02:59.200 going to remain the same no matter what. So a 0:02:59.240 --> 0:03:02.120 three hurts frequent and see wave will tell you that 0:03:02.160 --> 0:03:05.040 the wavelength for that particular wave has to be a 0:03:05.200 --> 0:03:10.120 one hundred thousand kilometers in length. That's a long radio wave, 0:03:10.360 --> 0:03:12.760 one hundred thousand kilometers. Meanwhile, and the opposite end of 0:03:12.760 --> 0:03:14.120 the spectrum, if you go all the way to that 0:03:14.160 --> 0:03:18.320 three thousand gigahertz wave, you're talking about one hundred micrometers 0:03:18.320 --> 0:03:24.160 in length. So teeny tiny micrometers are very tiny, huge 0:03:24.200 --> 0:03:28.160 difference obviously in the length of these waves. So that's 0:03:28.200 --> 0:03:31.800 why you know, the whole frequency wavelength relationship is important. 0:03:32.840 --> 0:03:36.160 So we use the different frequencies for very specific purposes. 0:03:36.720 --> 0:03:39.600 It's also important to point out that this is not universal. 0:03:40.040 --> 0:03:44.760 There are usually some sort of governing body within a 0:03:44.800 --> 0:03:49.040 country that designates what frequencies can be used for what purposes. 0:03:49.440 --> 0:03:52.960 In the US we have the FCC. So if you're 0:03:53.000 --> 0:03:56.400 looking at the terror hertz side of things, that's that 0:03:56.800 --> 0:04:01.880 ultra ultra high or terribly high frequency as is some 0:04:01.880 --> 0:04:06.200 sometimes referred to. It's for medical imaging, that kind of stuff, 0:04:06.480 --> 0:04:10.800 also molecular dynamics measurements, and other high tech information. The 0:04:11.560 --> 0:04:14.920 extremely low frequency would be like radio communication with submarines. 0:04:15.680 --> 0:04:19.159 Can't You can't use very high frequency when communicating with 0:04:19.200 --> 0:04:23.080 stuff that's underwater. The waves attenue are the radio waves 0:04:23.080 --> 0:04:26.120 get attenuated by the ocean water, and that creates problems 0:04:26.120 --> 0:04:30.359 with communication, But it's less of a problem with extremely 0:04:30.400 --> 0:04:33.400 low frequency and very long wavelength radio transmissions. 0:04:33.400 --> 0:04:35.200 Now, what about the kind of radio we think of 0:04:35.279 --> 0:04:38.880 as standard radio, as in radio accessible to the average 0:04:38.880 --> 0:04:42.719 consumer AM FM. That kind of stuff, so AM would 0:04:42.760 --> 0:04:45.680 be in the medium frequency. Medium frequency ranges from three 0:04:45.720 --> 0:04:49.120 hundred killer hertz to three thousand kill herts or three 0:04:49.160 --> 0:04:52.680 megaherts if you prefer AM radio specifically in the United 0:04:52.720 --> 0:04:55.960 States is in an even more narrow range than that, right, 0:04:56.000 --> 0:04:58.960 that's all of medium frequency AM radio in the US 0:04:59.000 --> 0:05:01.640 goes from five hundred third five killer hurts to one thousand, 0:05:01.800 --> 0:05:04.640 seven hundred killer hurts or one point seven mega hurts. 0:05:06.040 --> 0:05:08.400 If you wanted to talk about short wave radio, that's 0:05:08.400 --> 0:05:10.640 from five point nine mega hurts to twenty six point 0:05:10.680 --> 0:05:11.520 one mega hurts. 0:05:11.720 --> 0:05:14.680 CB goes to twenty six point ninety six mega hurts 0:05:14.720 --> 0:05:17.920 to twenty seven point four one mega hurts, and so 0:05:17.960 --> 0:05:18.640 on and so forth. 0:05:18.680 --> 0:05:21.400 So so FM radio is going to be that's mega hurts, right, 0:05:21.440 --> 0:05:24.080 So it's going to be around around one hundred mega. 0:05:23.960 --> 0:05:27.560 Hurts, yes, exactly. So yeah, because power ninety nine, that 0:05:27.560 --> 0:05:29.720 would be at ninety nine mega hurts right, ninety nine 0:05:29.720 --> 0:05:32.520 point one I think originally maybe. 0:05:32.360 --> 0:05:34.760 Starts high eighties, I think, yeah, and. 0:05:34.800 --> 0:05:36.960 Goes up to like one oh seven I think somewhere 0:05:36.960 --> 0:05:41.480 around there. So different countries have allocated their broad broadcast 0:05:41.480 --> 0:05:44.520 spectrum in different ways, so not everyone follows those exact 0:05:44.560 --> 0:05:49.640 same rules. There's usually some overlap. Now, when you know 0:05:49.760 --> 0:05:53.800 something about the wavelength of the radio frequency, that tells 0:05:53.839 --> 0:05:56.200 you what you need, how you need to build your 0:05:56.240 --> 0:06:00.680 antenna right, Because the length of your antenna is dependent 0:06:00.839 --> 0:06:03.919 upon the frequencies you're looking for. You want your antenna 0:06:03.960 --> 0:06:08.080 to be the right length to resonate properly with the 0:06:08.200 --> 0:06:11.440 radio frequencies you're searching for. There's no such thing as 0:06:11.440 --> 0:06:15.440 really a perfect universal antenna that can equally pick up 0:06:15.480 --> 0:06:20.600 all frequencies across the radio range. Now, you might wonder, 0:06:21.160 --> 0:06:24.120 how can you have like a pocket AM radio, because 0:06:25.200 --> 0:06:30.280 if AM radio is broadcasting in the medium frequency and 0:06:30.440 --> 0:06:35.279 has pretty long radio waves, and you need to have 0:06:35.279 --> 0:06:38.160 an antenna that is the right length to pick that up. 0:06:38.200 --> 0:06:41.200 Typically we're talking about half the length of the wavelength 0:06:41.200 --> 0:06:45.000 of the radio frequency you're looking at right, So if 0:06:45.000 --> 0:06:48.560 you're talking about like a wavelength that's one hundred meters long, 0:06:48.920 --> 0:06:51.679 then you're looking at a radio antenna that's between forty 0:06:51.680 --> 0:06:54.280 and fifty meters. How the heck do you fit that 0:06:54.360 --> 0:06:58.320 on like that? That seems ridiculous. Well, the antenna for 0:06:58.560 --> 0:07:02.800 AM radios are typical wire that are and that wire 0:07:02.880 --> 0:07:05.080 is wrapped around the core. Because it doesn't matter if 0:07:05.120 --> 0:07:08.200 the wire's straight or not straight or whatever, you can 0:07:08.279 --> 0:07:11.920 you can coil it inside a device and have it 0:07:11.960 --> 0:07:14.200 completely housed within the radio. So if you were to 0:07:14.240 --> 0:07:17.120 open up an AM radio, chances are you'd find a 0:07:17.160 --> 0:07:20.560 wire where one end is not attached to anything and 0:07:20.600 --> 0:07:23.120 it's just wrapped around around around around around a core 0:07:23.160 --> 0:07:26.840 of some sort. That's the antenna. It's it's not like 0:07:26.880 --> 0:07:31.440 it's providing any sort of electrical stimulation apart from convert 0:07:31.480 --> 0:07:34.520 you know, pulling in radio waves and having that induce 0:07:34.600 --> 0:07:41.520 an electric current. So that's why AM radios don't necessarily 0:07:41.760 --> 0:07:47.680 have a visible, incredibly long antenna. And this is important 0:07:47.680 --> 0:07:49.440 when it comes to things like transmitter hunting. 0:07:49.560 --> 0:07:53.320 Yeah, because if you look at transmitter hunting sites and 0:07:53.360 --> 0:07:55.760 we'll get into the specifics of the sport here in 0:07:55.800 --> 0:07:59.720 a minute, you see a lot of jargon that obviously 0:07:59.760 --> 0:08:02.680 has to do with stuff about like antenna length and 0:08:02.720 --> 0:08:05.040 frequencies and stuff like that. One of the common things 0:08:05.080 --> 0:08:08.240 you'll see is like the idea of a two meter hunt. Yes, 0:08:08.680 --> 0:08:12.720 the two meter arena is often considered the sweet spot 0:08:12.840 --> 0:08:15.600 for transmitter hunting. Now what does that mean When a 0:08:15.640 --> 0:08:18.480 HAM radio enthusiast talks about two meters. 0:08:18.360 --> 0:08:21.320 They're telling you specifically about the size of the antenna 0:08:21.440 --> 0:08:24.080 that they are using. To two meters is a pretty 0:08:24.120 --> 0:08:27.400 decent sized antenna, right, like you know, a meter's like 0:08:27.800 --> 0:08:30.520 here in the United States, we don't necessarily think in 0:08:30.600 --> 0:08:32.960 terms of meters that frequently because we're not on the 0:08:33.000 --> 0:08:37.480 metric system. But yeah, that's the reason is because the 0:08:37.640 --> 0:08:41.920 frequencies that are being used by ham radio enthusiasts are 0:08:41.960 --> 0:08:47.000 falling in the VHF radio frequency band, that very high frequency. Now, 0:08:47.080 --> 0:08:49.920 that frequency band goes from thirty mega hurts to three 0:08:50.040 --> 0:08:53.920 hundred megaherts, and the radio wavelengths go from ten meters 0:08:53.960 --> 0:08:57.480 down to one meter. And we're using descending sizes because 0:08:57.520 --> 0:09:03.400 remember as frequency increases, the wavelength decreases, right, So if 0:09:03.440 --> 0:09:08.560 you're if you're hunting for a radio signal that's somewhere 0:09:09.679 --> 0:09:14.840 in that that four to five meter range, you need 0:09:14.880 --> 0:09:17.520 a two meter antenna in order to pick them up 0:09:17.640 --> 0:09:23.560 effectively to have it be particularly sensitive to those transmissions. Now, 0:09:23.640 --> 0:09:27.400 the specific range within VHF designated for amateur radio use 0:09:28.000 --> 0:09:30.199 is in the United States one hundred and forty four 0:09:30.240 --> 0:09:33.440 megahurts tow one hundred and forty eight megahertz. It's a 0:09:33.440 --> 0:09:35.640 little different in Europe where it's one forty four to 0:09:35.720 --> 0:09:36.800 one forty six. 0:09:37.040 --> 0:09:39.600 So stingy with it over there and not quite as 0:09:39.640 --> 0:09:44.120 wide a range. Give us our two megaherts come on, yeah. 0:09:43.559 --> 0:09:45.439 And well, to be fair though, it's not the only 0:09:45.600 --> 0:09:48.760 band for amateur radio. Amateur radio actually has bands and 0:09:48.880 --> 0:09:53.520 several different frequency ranges. It's just for the VHF frequency range. 0:09:53.600 --> 0:09:58.640 It's this specific UH range of frequencies from eight in 0:09:58.679 --> 0:10:01.600 the US one forty four to one forty six in Europe. 0:10:02.280 --> 0:10:07.080 But you can also find amateur radio frequency bands in low, medium, 0:10:07.120 --> 0:10:09.120 and high frequency as well as all the way up 0:10:09.160 --> 0:10:12.080 to like terribly fast, terribly high frequency. You can find 0:10:12.120 --> 0:10:15.440 them up there too. Now, because of the wavelengths involved, 0:10:15.480 --> 0:10:17.400 that two meter antenna is best able to pick up 0:10:17.440 --> 0:10:21.960 those transmissions because it resonates more readily with transmissions in 0:10:22.000 --> 0:10:25.360 that frequency. Yeah, like it can pick up stuff outside 0:10:25.400 --> 0:10:27.840 of it, but not as effectively as the stuff it 0:10:27.880 --> 0:10:31.480 was designed for. It's that's the sweet spot. So you 0:10:31.480 --> 0:10:33.560 can build your own if you wanted to. There are 0:10:33.600 --> 0:10:37.400 a lot of different resources, both online and in libraries 0:10:37.440 --> 0:10:39.960 that will teach you how to build an antenna. I 0:10:40.000 --> 0:10:42.240 watched one that actually was so cool that I think 0:10:42.280 --> 0:10:44.240 I might do it as a project here at how 0:10:44.280 --> 0:10:46.280 stuff works and do a video about it. What kind 0:10:46.320 --> 0:10:48.040 of antenna was it would be? It would be a 0:10:48.120 --> 0:10:50.360 quad antenna. I'll talk about a little bit a little 0:10:50.360 --> 0:10:50.760 bit later. 0:10:50.880 --> 0:10:52.920 Mostly guys, now, I've been thinking about trying to build 0:10:52.960 --> 0:10:53.800 a yacky antenna. 0:10:53.960 --> 0:10:56.160 Yeah, well, that would be great, both of them. 0:10:55.960 --> 0:10:58.679 As some of the Hams pronounce it, yaggy yaggy. 0:10:59.120 --> 0:11:03.800 Yeah, I think that that project would be really kind 0:11:03.840 --> 0:11:08.920 of fun. And also I like the way a quad 0:11:09.840 --> 0:11:11.920 antenna can look. I'll talk more about that in a 0:11:11.960 --> 0:11:12.400 little bit. 0:11:12.520 --> 0:11:15.320 Anyway, Well, well, I challenge you to an antenna built off. 0:11:15.440 --> 0:11:18.400 That sounds great. Yeah, let's do it. Totally do it. 0:11:18.440 --> 0:11:20.600 To be fair, it's way easier to do it now 0:11:20.679 --> 0:11:22.560 than it was in the old hobbyist days, where you 0:11:22.559 --> 0:11:24.679 had to do all the calculations by hand. Now there 0:11:24.679 --> 0:11:27.800 are so many online tools that will allow you to 0:11:27.920 --> 0:11:31.080 just plug in what you're an attempting to do, and 0:11:31.080 --> 0:11:33.080 they'll tell you exactly how long each element. 0:11:33.160 --> 0:11:35.960 I've been to exactly one of these calculators. I found 0:11:36.040 --> 0:11:38.920 one online that says like, Okay, here's the frequency I 0:11:39.000 --> 0:11:42.920 want to look for, here's the decibel gain I want. Yeah, 0:11:42.960 --> 0:11:45.720 and then it'll tell you the relative size of your 0:11:45.800 --> 0:11:47.800 of your elements for your antenna. 0:11:48.280 --> 0:11:52.320 Yeah. So, if you are a transmitter hunter, chances are 0:11:52.360 --> 0:11:55.520 you have multiple antenna or as I put, a veritable 0:11:55.640 --> 0:12:01.640 array of antenna, oh, perhaps a literal arrayna's, depending upon 0:12:01.679 --> 0:12:04.200 what you're depending upon how much money and time you 0:12:04.240 --> 0:12:05.360 have to put into the hobby. 0:12:06.040 --> 0:12:06.160 Uh. 0:12:06.440 --> 0:12:10.400 But then we also have another element that you put 0:12:10.440 --> 0:12:12.360 in our notes. Yeah, they're a question. Yeah. 0:12:12.400 --> 0:12:17.160 So sometimes you'll hear or you'll read about people in 0:12:17.200 --> 0:12:21.360 the transmitter hunting community talking about harmonics. Yeah, you know, 0:12:21.480 --> 0:12:23.480 so they'll say, maybe, oh, I got very close to 0:12:23.520 --> 0:12:26.120 the transmitter and I was I was overwhelmed. 0:12:26.160 --> 0:12:27.040 What could I do? 0:12:27.240 --> 0:12:30.439 You know, I suddenly I couldn't isolate the direction of 0:12:30.480 --> 0:12:33.400 the signal anymore. And somebody else might say, well, try 0:12:33.440 --> 0:12:37.200 looking for the third harmonic. I love that because it 0:12:37.320 --> 0:12:39.880 sounds very cryptic and in the know. 0:12:40.280 --> 0:12:44.200 Yeah, sounds a little Star Trek esque in a way. 0:12:44.440 --> 0:12:50.000 So harmonics are integer multiples of the fundamental frequency, which 0:12:50.000 --> 0:12:52.040 is a fancy way of saying you start with whatever 0:12:52.080 --> 0:12:56.440 frequency you're looking for, because generally speaking, transmitter hunters there's 0:12:56.480 --> 0:12:59.840 a specific frequency that they know they are searching for, 0:13:00.000 --> 0:13:03.439 Otherwise it would be needle in a haystack. Right. Plus 0:13:03.480 --> 0:13:07.960 they're limited anyway by the range that amateur operators are 0:13:08.040 --> 0:13:11.800 allowed to use. So you start with whatever the target 0:13:11.840 --> 0:13:15.000 frequency is and you multiply it by integers in order 0:13:15.040 --> 0:13:17.440 to get the harmonics. So the first harmonic is the 0:13:17.440 --> 0:13:21.880 fundamental frequency, because you just multiply by one, got it. So, 0:13:22.000 --> 0:13:26.000 third harmonic you multiply by three. Fifth harmonic you multiply 0:13:26.080 --> 0:13:29.959 by five. Both of those are particularly useful in transmitter hunting. 0:13:30.440 --> 0:13:34.240 So the typical frequency you'd be hunting for is one 0:13:34.400 --> 0:13:38.440 forty six point five six y five mega hurts. Now, 0:13:38.760 --> 0:13:40.920 if you want to find the third harmonic, you multiply 0:13:41.040 --> 0:13:44.400 that number by three. That gives you four hundred thirty 0:13:44.480 --> 0:13:48.400 nine points six ninety five megahurts. The fifth harmonic you 0:13:48.480 --> 0:13:50.840 multiply by five. That gives you seven hundred and thirty 0:13:50.840 --> 0:13:53.920 two point eight two five megahertz. Now, each of those 0:13:54.000 --> 0:13:58.160 harmonics has a weaker signal than the fundamental frequency. 0:13:57.720 --> 0:14:00.080 But it would be related to the fundamental. 0:13:59.679 --> 0:14:02.720 Three related to it. But it is a weaker signal. Now, 0:14:03.200 --> 0:14:06.640 if you're when you get close to one of these transmitters, 0:14:07.400 --> 0:14:10.319 chances are the signal strength is such that you are 0:14:10.440 --> 0:14:12.400 it's hard for you to get any useful information. 0:14:12.679 --> 0:14:14.480 Yeah, right, Like, say you might if you have a 0:14:14.480 --> 0:14:16.840 directional antenna, which we'll talk about in a minute. Yeah, 0:14:16.840 --> 0:14:18.760 you might be sweeping it all around and you're just 0:14:18.880 --> 0:14:22.640 maxing out your receiver no matter what direction you pointed in, right, because. 0:14:22.440 --> 0:14:24.760 The signal it's not like you're right on top of 0:14:24.760 --> 0:14:28.840 the transmitter, but you're close enough where the directionality is 0:14:28.880 --> 0:14:32.240 no longer useful. It's kind of like you can hear 0:14:32.280 --> 0:14:35.400 someone yelling off in the distance and you're blindfolded, so 0:14:35.440 --> 0:14:37.800 you know generally what direction they're in, but as you 0:14:37.840 --> 0:14:42.120 get really close and they're yelling and it's an echoe area, 0:14:42.600 --> 0:14:45.880 you can't really tell where the noise is coming from necessarily. 0:14:45.880 --> 0:14:49.080 It's kind of like that as an analogy. So if 0:14:49.080 --> 0:14:51.920 you're able to switch to one of these harmonics because 0:14:51.960 --> 0:14:54.320 it's a weaker signal, you can get a little more 0:14:54.360 --> 0:14:57.000 precise with that directionality. You can use it. If you 0:14:57.000 --> 0:14:59.800 have an antenna that can switch to one of these signals, 0:15:00.120 --> 0:15:03.880 or you have an antenna specifically made to detect those harmonics, 0:15:04.360 --> 0:15:08.280 then you are able to switch to a weaker signal 0:15:08.320 --> 0:15:10.960 which is not going to overwhelm your antenna so quickly, 0:15:11.000 --> 0:15:14.520 and you can hone in on the direction a little 0:15:14.600 --> 0:15:16.880 more precisely than you would if you had to rely 0:15:17.080 --> 0:15:21.040 on your chief two meter antenna. 0:15:21.200 --> 0:15:21.280 Right. 0:15:21.360 --> 0:15:26.240 Yeah, So that's why harmonics are important. Uh, and we'll 0:15:26.280 --> 0:15:28.680 talk a little bit more about the Yaggi antennas in 0:15:28.720 --> 0:15:33.600 a second. Yagi antenna more formally is the yagi Uda antenna, 0:15:34.040 --> 0:15:36.400 which sounds like it should be a Star Wars character, right, 0:15:36.560 --> 0:15:43.320 yagi Uda? Oh you seek yagy udah. Yeah, it's a 0:15:43.360 --> 0:15:45.600 directional antenna that looks kind of like one of those 0:15:45.640 --> 0:15:48.480 old TV antennas, like the old aerols that you would 0:15:48.480 --> 0:15:52.400 see on top of houses, typically in the movie like 0:15:53.040 --> 0:15:54.720 Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. 0:15:54.800 --> 0:15:57.760 Yeah, it has it has one long boom in the 0:15:57.760 --> 0:16:00.440 middle as well. Yeah, to a central pole on which 0:16:00.480 --> 0:16:03.960 are mounted parallel elements. And these elements are what does 0:16:04.040 --> 0:16:07.600 the shaping and receiving of the signal or transmitting. You 0:16:07.640 --> 0:16:09.320 can have a transmitter or receiver. 0:16:09.200 --> 0:16:12.760 Sure, yeah, antenna they're meant to be both transmitters and receivers, right. 0:16:13.120 --> 0:16:16.440 Typically the antenna that I use and most people use, 0:16:16.480 --> 0:16:20.200 I would imagine are simply used as receivers, except when 0:16:20.200 --> 0:16:22.480 you get into things like phones and stuff. Obviously, any 0:16:23.240 --> 0:16:26.920 phone type device has both a transmitter and receiver. Otherwise 0:16:26.920 --> 0:16:31.040 it's just a radio, so not terribly useful if you 0:16:31.080 --> 0:16:32.960 want to make a call, not that anyone does anymore, 0:16:33.040 --> 0:16:33.680 but I digress. 0:16:33.800 --> 0:16:36.960 Well, anyway, we'll talk about the specific centementute. But the 0:16:38.240 --> 0:16:41.320 point of these parallel elements on the Agie antenna is 0:16:41.360 --> 0:16:45.760 to create this directional effect. Yes, where a signal is 0:16:46.360 --> 0:16:49.600 detected if you are pointing right at it, but it 0:16:49.680 --> 0:16:53.520 is killed if you are pointing perpendicular to it right right. 0:16:53.640 --> 0:16:56.000 So the idea being that if you turn to your 0:16:56.080 --> 0:16:59.040 right and the signal suddenly drops out, you know that 0:16:59.760 --> 0:17:02.920 the the direction to the right is not the way 0:17:02.960 --> 0:17:04.639 to go. You start turning to the left and you 0:17:04.680 --> 0:17:07.320 find where the signal drops out, you can eliminate that. 0:17:07.680 --> 0:17:13.240 It narrows down the range where the transmission can actually originate. 0:17:13.600 --> 0:17:17.080 And since transmitter hunting is all about finding that transmitter, 0:17:17.800 --> 0:17:21.320 that's important. And we're going to talk more about transmitter 0:17:21.480 --> 0:17:24.800 hunting and really dive into the hobby and the sport 0:17:25.119 --> 0:17:27.840 in just a moment, But first let's take another quick 0:17:27.880 --> 0:17:41.200 break to thank our sponsor. All Right, we're back, and Joe, 0:17:41.280 --> 0:17:44.800 I want you to tell me more about this sport 0:17:44.880 --> 0:17:49.120 of transmitter hunting, a sport I did not know existed 0:17:49.400 --> 0:17:52.520 until you brought this topic to my attention. 0:17:53.480 --> 0:17:56.919 Yeah, so I at some point want to try this. 0:17:56.960 --> 0:18:00.320 I've never done it myself, but I've been reading about 0:18:00.359 --> 0:18:02.080 it over the past couple months, and I've watched a 0:18:02.119 --> 0:18:05.720 few videos of people trying it out on YouTube and 0:18:06.040 --> 0:18:09.440 it looks very interesting. So the sport is known as 0:18:09.480 --> 0:18:15.000 transmitter hunting, also t hunting or fox hunting, and a 0:18:15.040 --> 0:18:18.600 standard game goes like this. You got one participant who 0:18:18.680 --> 0:18:21.879 is the hider. This is sort of the dungeon master 0:18:22.160 --> 0:18:26.000 of the fox hunt. Gotcha, and the hider puts together 0:18:26.119 --> 0:18:29.359 a radio transmitter appropriate for the scale of the hunt. 0:18:30.080 --> 0:18:34.000 So you might use a small handheld transmitter stashed inside 0:18:34.040 --> 0:18:37.760 an old ammunition can for a small scale hunt on 0:18:37.920 --> 0:18:42.359 foot or in a small several mile area with cars. 0:18:43.040 --> 0:18:45.480 And in this scenario, you would set the transmitter to 0:18:45.520 --> 0:18:48.840 repeat a signal at steady intervals, so it might be like. 0:18:49.440 --> 0:18:53.840 Bpity beep beep beep, bpit beep, beep beep, gotcha. 0:18:54.119 --> 0:18:56.960 And then you'd hide it somewhere, maybe in a public 0:18:57.000 --> 0:19:00.920 park or another a reasonably small search area. For large 0:19:00.960 --> 0:19:03.960 scale hunts, you could actually build a powerful antenna capable 0:19:03.960 --> 0:19:06.959 of transmitting miles and miles across state lines. There are 0:19:06.960 --> 0:19:09.680 people who do this in you know, these long all 0:19:09.800 --> 0:19:12.920 day car hunts. Where they're going a really long way 0:19:12.920 --> 0:19:14.840 to try to find a transmitter somewhere out in the 0:19:14.880 --> 0:19:16.800 desert or something. It looks like a lot of fun 0:19:17.119 --> 0:19:19.800 and you use it. You hunt it using cars or 0:19:19.800 --> 0:19:22.520 maybe fan boats. Wow, you know, so. 0:19:22.640 --> 0:19:25.119 You can you can do this in the Everglades. I 0:19:25.440 --> 0:19:28.560 would That's just the way I would like to do it. Yeah, 0:19:28.600 --> 0:19:31.400 I just all I can imagine is now we talked 0:19:31.400 --> 0:19:34.360 earlier about possibly making a movie. This movie would now 0:19:34.400 --> 0:19:35.680 have to star Burt Reynolds. 0:19:36.440 --> 0:19:39.119 But if you are hiding a transmitter, there are some 0:19:39.280 --> 0:19:42.480 social and safety concerns you probably want to keep in mind. 0:19:42.800 --> 0:19:43.320 Makes sense. 0:19:43.680 --> 0:19:46.320 Imagine, for example, you are out at a public park 0:19:46.359 --> 0:19:49.480 with your children and you see some creepy loaner with 0:19:49.520 --> 0:19:53.240 an antenna attached to their van pull up beside the 0:19:53.280 --> 0:19:55.840 park and then put a bunch of electronics inside an 0:19:55.840 --> 0:19:58.359 ammunition can and hide it in the bushes next to 0:19:58.400 --> 0:19:59.120 the sandbox. 0:19:59.359 --> 0:20:01.520 I would say that that would raise at least one, 0:20:02.000 --> 0:20:03.639 possibly two red flags. 0:20:03.920 --> 0:20:06.359 Right, So you probably first of all, need to be 0:20:06.359 --> 0:20:09.880 careful where you hide your transmitters. You need to if 0:20:09.920 --> 0:20:12.320 it's you know, in a place where you would need permission, 0:20:12.440 --> 0:20:16.479 get permission first. In any case, if you're doing transmitter hunting, 0:20:16.560 --> 0:20:19.000 I've heard that it is a good idea to notify 0:20:19.000 --> 0:20:20.760 the police ahead of time that there are going to 0:20:20.800 --> 0:20:23.760 be people running around with antenna's and that you're going 0:20:23.840 --> 0:20:26.280 to be hiding a thing and let the police know 0:20:26.359 --> 0:20:28.960 where you're hiding it so that it doesn't get mistaken 0:20:29.000 --> 0:20:32.919 for a bomb or some other nefarious device. Yeah, it 0:20:33.000 --> 0:20:35.040 also looks like it's a good idea to put some 0:20:35.160 --> 0:20:39.680 writing on the device warning people that it's not dangerous. 0:20:39.640 --> 0:20:44.399 Right, although honestly you wouldn't believe it. Yeah, I mean, 0:20:44.440 --> 0:20:48.160 I like if I were if I were the type 0:20:48.240 --> 0:20:51.120 to make a device that was intended to be harmful 0:20:51.200 --> 0:20:54.000 to people, I can't imagine that I would have the 0:20:54.040 --> 0:20:58.000 ethics to avoid writing this totally will not harm you. 0:20:58.720 --> 0:21:00.840 It's like, I'm pretty sure a box of hot pocket 0:21:00.920 --> 0:21:01.840 says this is not. 0:21:01.920 --> 0:21:05.000 Dangerous on it. Yeah, I mean it, but it was 0:21:05.119 --> 0:21:07.720 trust them, but definitely go to that extra effort. Yeah, 0:21:08.040 --> 0:21:10.840 we were talking offline about this before we came in 0:21:10.880 --> 0:21:13.920 here to record the episode, and the world is a 0:21:14.000 --> 0:21:18.119 very different place than what it was when. Uh. Transmitter 0:21:18.200 --> 0:21:22.919 hunting was really one of those hobbies that that people 0:21:23.000 --> 0:21:26.800 could essentially go anywhere and play. No one really noticed 0:21:26.800 --> 0:21:29.560 because they didn't even It was just be beneath the 0:21:30.000 --> 0:21:34.200 public consciousness. Joe found a book and lent it to 0:21:34.240 --> 0:21:36.480 me that I got to read, and in it they 0:21:36.560 --> 0:21:40.960 describe a situation where one person who was hiding a 0:21:41.040 --> 0:21:44.520 transmitter didn't have the time to actually do it himself, 0:21:44.840 --> 0:21:49.160 and so entrusted the transmitter to two other people who said, oh, yeah, 0:21:49.200 --> 0:21:51.520 we'll totally hide it where you told us, and instead 0:21:51.520 --> 0:21:54.040 they went and hit it under an overpass. And I 0:21:54.040 --> 0:21:57.920 thought those days are over. You would get into so 0:21:58.040 --> 0:21:59.320 much trouble now because you. 0:21:59.359 --> 0:22:02.160 Rememberary prank back then now freaks people out. 0:22:02.240 --> 0:22:06.200 Yeah, you remember the Moononites. Those are characters from Aquitine 0:22:06.280 --> 0:22:10.840 Hunger Force, where they Cartoon Network had done this promotional 0:22:10.880 --> 0:22:14.639 stunt where they put very simple led displays of the 0:22:14.640 --> 0:22:19.239 Moononites over certain bridges and it freaked people out. They 0:22:19.240 --> 0:22:22.760 thought perhaps it was like a weird warning about an 0:22:22.800 --> 0:22:26.720 explosive that had been attached to said overpasses. Turned out, 0:22:26.720 --> 0:22:29.080 of course, no, it was just a promotional stunt, but 0:22:29.200 --> 0:22:30.960 no one knew that at the time, and in the 0:22:31.000 --> 0:22:33.600 world that we live in today, it's probably better to 0:22:33.640 --> 0:22:39.639 take those extra precautions and to let whatever authority oversees 0:22:39.680 --> 0:22:42.320 the area that you're planting the transmitter in to know 0:22:42.359 --> 0:22:44.480 about it ahead of time, get approval, that kind of thing, 0:22:45.240 --> 0:22:47.480 and take these extra steps to make sure you don't 0:22:47.880 --> 0:22:48.760 inside a panic. 0:22:49.840 --> 0:22:52.040 By the way, you mentioned this book, and I just 0:22:52.080 --> 0:22:54.960 wanted to throw out the name of it, sure, because 0:22:55.080 --> 0:22:55.879 I was looking at this too. 0:22:55.920 --> 0:22:56.880 It's a book I order. 0:22:56.800 --> 0:23:01.440 Called Transmitter Hunting Radio Direction find being simplified. It's from 0:23:01.440 --> 0:23:04.480 the late nineteen eighties and it is a radio hobbyist 0:23:04.560 --> 0:23:09.200 manual by Joseph Moell and Thomas in Curly. 0:23:09.440 --> 0:23:11.760 An exhaustive hobbyist manual. 0:23:11.800 --> 0:23:13.800 Well, they've got a lot of projects and stuff back 0:23:13.800 --> 0:23:16.840 then for building different antenna types, but also just sort 0:23:16.840 --> 0:23:19.480 of an overview of what the sport looks like, you know, 0:23:19.480 --> 0:23:22.800 when people practice it. Sure, so when you get into 0:23:22.840 --> 0:23:26.320 a transmitter hunt, you've got the transmitter hidden somewhere, yeah, 0:23:26.560 --> 0:23:31.280 and you've got some boundaries established, and then the players. 0:23:30.960 --> 0:23:31.800 Are set loose. 0:23:32.000 --> 0:23:34.040 They're like the dogs on a fox hunt, which I 0:23:34.320 --> 0:23:36.439 assume is where the name comes from and not some 0:23:36.640 --> 0:23:40.720 other counterintuitive naming scheme. But they know what to listen for, 0:23:40.960 --> 0:23:43.720 so they've got the frequency established, they know what the 0:23:43.960 --> 0:23:47.560 signal is, but they've got to somehow find the physical 0:23:47.600 --> 0:23:48.879 location of the transmitter. 0:23:49.000 --> 0:23:49.160 Yep. 0:23:49.960 --> 0:23:53.760 Now, once you think you have isolated the direction from 0:23:53.760 --> 0:23:55.600 which a signal is coming, and in just a second, 0:23:55.640 --> 0:23:57.640 we'll talk about ways you could do that, some different 0:23:57.680 --> 0:24:01.560 equipment you could have. Typically you'll have some kind of 0:24:01.560 --> 0:24:04.880 antenna or device that gets you a bearing, so you've 0:24:04.920 --> 0:24:08.439 got a line to where you think the signal is 0:24:08.480 --> 0:24:10.880 coming from, and then from there there are a couple 0:24:10.920 --> 0:24:14.440 of primary ways you can hunt. One is the simple way, 0:24:14.480 --> 0:24:17.480 which is just chasing the bearing. Even this is not 0:24:17.560 --> 0:24:18.719 as simple as it sounds. 0:24:18.920 --> 0:24:22.920 Idea is that you found you've found a direction, and 0:24:22.960 --> 0:24:26.959 you're like, okay, well the transmission is coming from the southeast, 0:24:27.240 --> 0:24:29.520 so let's just get in the car and travel as 0:24:29.560 --> 0:24:32.719 close to southeast as we possibly can for a while, 0:24:32.840 --> 0:24:34.440 and then we'll jump out and check again. 0:24:34.560 --> 0:24:37.480 Yeah, so you just follow it and then keep checking 0:24:37.520 --> 0:24:41.720 the signal. The other way would be what's known as triangulation. 0:24:42.400 --> 0:24:46.000 And so there imagine you would need a map. 0:24:45.800 --> 0:24:48.920 For this, Yes, an actual physical paper map would probably. 0:24:48.720 --> 0:24:52.320 You're going to make marks on as accurate distances and measurements. 0:24:53.240 --> 0:24:56.000 So you get a bearing from one known location. You 0:24:56.040 --> 0:24:58.040 know where you are, You mark your location on the 0:24:58.080 --> 0:25:00.440 map and then you get a bearing. So you draw 0:25:00.480 --> 0:25:02.920 a line on the map, saying, okay, it's coming from 0:25:02.960 --> 0:25:05.600 this direction. Then you go to another place on the 0:25:05.640 --> 0:25:08.360 map and you mark your location there and you get 0:25:08.359 --> 0:25:10.959 a bearing again. You say, okay, it's coming from this direction. 0:25:11.080 --> 0:25:13.560 Draw another line. Then you go to a third place, 0:25:13.640 --> 0:25:17.199 get a bearing again, and maybe do that another time. So, 0:25:17.680 --> 0:25:20.879 if everything is working correctly, those three or more lines 0:25:20.920 --> 0:25:24.560 should begin to intersect right the location of the transmitter. 0:25:24.600 --> 0:25:27.639 There should be a convergence around the general area. Now, 0:25:27.680 --> 0:25:30.879 it may be because of geography and buildings and such 0:25:31.440 --> 0:25:35.320 that the signal you're picking up is a reflected signal 0:25:35.400 --> 0:25:39.560 and not really indicative of the actual source of transmission. 0:25:39.600 --> 0:25:42.720 Right Like, let's say that the source of the transmission 0:25:42.760 --> 0:25:45.320 is off by a few degrees from where you get 0:25:45.359 --> 0:25:48.320 your bearing because of this reflection. Well, as you do 0:25:48.359 --> 0:25:51.639 your triangulation, you might notice that that this intersection is 0:25:51.640 --> 0:25:53.760 a little weird, like, not all the it's not like 0:25:53.800 --> 0:25:55.960 all the lines are converging on a single point. It 0:25:56.040 --> 0:26:01.119 might be that they create a trapezoid of possible, and 0:26:01.119 --> 0:26:02.760 then the idea is that, all right, well, now we're 0:26:02.800 --> 0:26:06.080 going to need to get further closer to that trapezoid 0:26:06.080 --> 0:26:09.000 because we know that the transmitter is most likely within 0:26:09.119 --> 0:26:12.000 that area somewhere, but we have to narrow it down 0:26:12.040 --> 0:26:12.520 from there. 0:26:12.880 --> 0:26:15.040 Either way you go, if you're just homing in on 0:26:15.119 --> 0:26:18.240 a bearing or if you're trying to do triangulation, it's 0:26:18.280 --> 0:26:21.679 not as easy as it sounds, because, as you alluded to, 0:26:21.720 --> 0:26:24.800 the propagation of radio waves can be affected by all 0:26:24.880 --> 0:26:29.240 kinds of stuff, many variables like terrain, presence of water, 0:26:29.600 --> 0:26:34.240 reflective obstacles like fences, power lines, or even concrete buildings. 0:26:34.760 --> 0:26:37.960 So a hill can block your line of sight to 0:26:38.040 --> 0:26:40.639 a transmitter. Yeah, so the hill, a hill can be 0:26:40.680 --> 0:26:42.280 in the way. You might jump out of. 0:26:42.200 --> 0:26:44.600 Your vehicle and you're trying to pick up the signal 0:26:44.640 --> 0:26:47.920 and you can't pick up anything or whatever. You pay 0:26:48.680 --> 0:26:50.919 so a week that you can't really get a reading 0:26:50.960 --> 0:26:53.400 on where it's coming from, and instead of freaking out, 0:26:53.440 --> 0:26:54.960 it just may mean that you have to travel a 0:26:55.000 --> 0:26:56.720 little bit further to get the hill out of the way. 0:26:56.800 --> 0:27:01.160 Also, apparently, sometimes water and shorelines can change the apparent 0:27:01.200 --> 0:27:03.320 direction from which a signal is coming. So if the 0:27:03.320 --> 0:27:06.680 signals coming at you over water and then there's a shoreline, 0:27:06.720 --> 0:27:10.959 it can sort of shear the direction of it. There 0:27:11.000 --> 0:27:16.400 are some obviously, things like metal fences, power lines, buildings 0:27:16.480 --> 0:27:20.240 can create these reflective surfaces that will bounce the signal around. 0:27:20.920 --> 0:27:25.960 Some environments, like cities are absolutely jammed with radio reflective objects. 0:27:26.359 --> 0:27:30.000 So if you're in a city, the very buildings around 0:27:30.040 --> 0:27:32.640 you are just like bouncing the signal back and forth 0:27:32.680 --> 0:27:34.800 like a pinball, and this can create what's known as 0:27:34.840 --> 0:27:39.199 a multipath environment. So multipath is going to be one 0:27:39.240 --> 0:27:42.159 of the biggest problems to overcome if you are looking 0:27:42.200 --> 0:27:44.880 for a hidden transmitter, especially in a city or other 0:27:46.000 --> 0:27:49.560 area crowded with reflective obstacles, and it just means that 0:27:49.600 --> 0:27:52.919 you're getting the signal, you're tracking from multiple different directions, 0:27:53.359 --> 0:27:55.639 and you've got to have some experience and knowledge of 0:27:56.080 --> 0:28:08.240 how exactly to work around problems like that. Yeah, so 0:28:08.320 --> 0:28:11.159 a good hunter needs to have experience and skill, but 0:28:11.400 --> 0:28:15.600 they also are going to need, not necessarily need, but 0:28:15.840 --> 0:28:20.160 it really helps to have some specialized equipment, including special 0:28:20.240 --> 0:28:21.639 antennas and receivers. 0:28:21.800 --> 0:28:25.840 Now, as the authors of that book, Joe mentioned point 0:28:25.880 --> 0:28:31.639 out multiple times, and experienced and skillful hunter can use 0:28:32.200 --> 0:28:36.200 seemingly inferior equipment and still produce a better result than 0:28:36.240 --> 0:28:39.960 someone who has lots of money and has dropped it 0:28:40.000 --> 0:28:42.360 on a bunch of high tech equipment but has little 0:28:42.400 --> 0:28:45.840 to no experience actually using set equipment. So there is 0:28:45.880 --> 0:28:48.560 a lot of art to this. It's not just science. 0:28:48.640 --> 0:28:51.880 There's a bit where you know, knowing kind of having 0:28:51.920 --> 0:28:56.240 an intuition about how radio waves work and the geography 0:28:56.360 --> 0:28:58.920 that you are in, and kind of getting an idea 0:28:58.960 --> 0:29:02.200 of how that could be affecting what you are receiving. 0:29:02.880 --> 0:29:06.240 It might be way more helpful than just a high 0:29:06.280 --> 0:29:08.880 tech antenna that is the costs a lot of money. 0:29:09.000 --> 0:29:13.280 Yeah, I have read the authors of this book say, 0:29:13.280 --> 0:29:15.240 and it does seem true to me based also on 0:29:15.360 --> 0:29:17.440 other things I've read that one of the most important 0:29:17.760 --> 0:29:21.520 pieces of equipment in a transmitter hunt is a map. Yes, 0:29:21.520 --> 0:29:24.840 it's having a good map, especially like a topographical map 0:29:24.880 --> 0:29:27.640 that includes surface features and buildings. 0:29:27.640 --> 0:29:29.720 And they also say that, you know, it can become 0:29:29.760 --> 0:29:36.200 incredibly challenging because the game doesn't necessarily confine itself to 0:29:36.480 --> 0:29:39.600 the area of any given map, so you might need 0:29:39.720 --> 0:29:43.800 multiple maps and that also becomes a bit of a 0:29:43.840 --> 0:29:46.080 challenge because unless the maps are both produced at the 0:29:46.120 --> 0:29:50.000 same scale, you can't just overlay them, you know, and 0:29:50.480 --> 0:29:53.120 tape them together or whatever it may be. That it 0:29:53.240 --> 0:29:56.240 requires a lot of math on your part. Yeah, so 0:29:56.880 --> 0:30:01.320 that's a strike against it for me. Well, let's do 0:30:01.400 --> 0:30:04.200 a real brief overview of some of the main types 0:30:04.240 --> 0:30:07.800 of antennas you might encounter absolutely transmit on. So we've 0:30:07.840 --> 0:30:11.880 mentioned by name several times the yagi or yaggy antenna yep. 0:30:12.560 --> 0:30:14.760 So this is a directional antenna. There are a couple 0:30:15.200 --> 0:30:18.760 major kinds of directional antennas, but a directional antenna, as 0:30:18.800 --> 0:30:24.080 we've said, it is designed to isolate the directionality of 0:30:24.120 --> 0:30:26.640 the signals. So if you point it at a right 0:30:26.680 --> 0:30:29.720 angle to the signal, you shouldn't be getting much of anything. 0:30:29.840 --> 0:30:32.160 Right if you point it in the opposite direction, most 0:30:32.240 --> 0:30:35.440 of them should say you know nothing or not much. 0:30:35.480 --> 0:30:38.160 But if you finally find the direction of the signal, 0:30:38.440 --> 0:30:41.720 the strength of the signal that comes through the antenna 0:30:41.720 --> 0:30:45.160 two year receiver should spike yes, and so a yaggi 0:30:45.240 --> 0:30:49.200 antenna is made of a series of metal elements arranged 0:30:49.360 --> 0:30:51.600 in parallel. So if you're trying to picture this, think 0:30:51.600 --> 0:30:54.320 of one long pole could be like a broom handle 0:30:54.400 --> 0:30:58.120 or PBC pipe or whatever. And then there are metal 0:30:58.240 --> 0:31:01.680 rods or wires of very lengths, and the lengths are 0:31:01.840 --> 0:31:05.040 very specific and very important, yes, and they are determined 0:31:05.040 --> 0:31:07.960 by the frequency of the signal that you're looking for. 0:31:08.800 --> 0:31:12.840 The relationship of the links of the various elements are 0:31:12.920 --> 0:31:17.520 very important, depending upon what their job is. Yeah. 0:31:17.600 --> 0:31:20.360 So there is the most important elements. The main one 0:31:20.440 --> 0:31:23.840 is the driven element, and this is the electrically active part. 0:31:24.600 --> 0:31:26.840 This is the one that connects to the wires that 0:31:26.920 --> 0:31:30.240 go down to your receiver handheld radio receiver. This is 0:31:30.680 --> 0:31:33.959 what is resonating with that frequency. But then there are 0:31:34.000 --> 0:31:37.480 these other elements that are known as the parasitic elements, 0:31:37.760 --> 0:31:40.480 and they're not connected to the receiver, but they're there 0:31:40.720 --> 0:31:45.480 to manipulate the types of waves that the driven element receives. 0:31:45.560 --> 0:31:50.560 Yeah, this is what gives these directional antenna their directionality. Yeah. 0:31:50.600 --> 0:31:55.479 So there's a reflector element that goes behind the driven element. 0:31:55.600 --> 0:31:59.240 So if you're pointing at the signal source, the reflector 0:31:59.280 --> 0:32:02.240 element should be closer to you and behind the driven one, 0:32:02.960 --> 0:32:06.080 and it reflects the signal back and focuses the reception 0:32:06.200 --> 0:32:09.200 field to the direction that the antenna's pointing. And then 0:32:09.240 --> 0:32:13.280 there may be multiple director elements, which are more elements 0:32:13.320 --> 0:32:18.200 in parallel ahead of the active element to help manipulate 0:32:18.240 --> 0:32:21.040 the shape of the wave forms and enforce directionality. 0:32:21.280 --> 0:32:24.400 So if you're looking at these different elements, first of all, 0:32:24.400 --> 0:32:26.960 if you're trying to envision this in your head, imagine 0:32:26.960 --> 0:32:31.080 that broomstick, all right, the broomstick you are holding out 0:32:31.280 --> 0:32:36.200 from yourself. These elements are perpendicular to the broomstat stick, 0:32:36.360 --> 0:32:40.400 but parallel with each other, right, So at the closest 0:32:40.520 --> 0:32:44.520 end to you, you have this reflector element. It's going 0:32:44.560 --> 0:32:48.240 to be the largest of those elements. Then you have 0:32:48.360 --> 0:32:50.960 the just slightly not just slightly and not by a 0:32:50.960 --> 0:32:53.760 whole lot, and it sort of is acting kind of 0:32:53.800 --> 0:32:57.480 like the dish in a satellite dish antenna sort of 0:32:57.480 --> 0:33:01.680 in that same style. So it's it's slightly larger than 0:33:01.680 --> 0:33:04.080 the driven element. That's the one that you were you know, 0:33:04.240 --> 0:33:06.640 is actually hooked up to the sensor so that it's 0:33:06.760 --> 0:33:10.760 pulling in the signal. And then at the far end 0:33:11.160 --> 0:33:14.520 you have the director elements. These are the shortest of 0:33:14.600 --> 0:33:18.120 the elements. And again it's not dramatically shorter, it's just 0:33:18.240 --> 0:33:22.280 a little shorter. All of the size sizes of these 0:33:22.320 --> 0:33:25.640 depend upon the frequency you're searching for. I mean, if 0:33:25.680 --> 0:33:29.080 you want to build a yagi for a very specific purpose, 0:33:29.800 --> 0:33:32.760 you would look at the frequency you're looking for, and 0:33:32.840 --> 0:33:36.920 there's a mathematical formula you use that gives you the 0:33:36.960 --> 0:33:43.000 ideal driven element size, reflector elements size, and director element sizes, 0:33:43.360 --> 0:33:46.760 And it's essentially you take a number and you divide. 0:33:46.840 --> 0:33:50.440 Also also their distance from each other. That is also Yeah, 0:33:50.480 --> 0:33:53.880 the spacing is also important. The spacing between these elements 0:33:54.000 --> 0:33:56.440 is very important. You can't just put them anywhere along 0:33:56.520 --> 0:33:59.160 that broomstick. You need to have them spaced out properly. 0:33:59.440 --> 0:34:01.280 So both of the those things are very important in 0:34:01.360 --> 0:34:04.160 order for you to get an antenna that is going 0:34:04.160 --> 0:34:07.240 to resonate properly with the frequency you want and therefore 0:34:07.880 --> 0:34:11.040 help you narrow down its direction. Yeah. 0:34:11.080 --> 0:34:14.680 So then there's another very popular form of directional antenna 0:34:14.880 --> 0:34:17.960 that is accomplishes the same goal but with a different 0:34:18.000 --> 0:34:20.280 type of construction, and that's the quad antenna. 0:34:20.440 --> 0:34:24.080 Yeah. They're also typically used to detect frequencies in the 0:34:24.120 --> 0:34:28.000 high frequency or very high frequency ranges. So they consist 0:34:28.080 --> 0:34:33.600 of the driven element and the direction and a reflective 0:34:33.640 --> 0:34:37.239 element or directive elements, I should say, just like the 0:34:37.440 --> 0:34:42.160 yagi is, but they're arranged in a slightly different way. 0:34:42.200 --> 0:34:45.480 They use loops of wire, these loops that are not 0:34:45.520 --> 0:34:48.439 necessarily in a circle, They just need to be closed off. 0:34:48.920 --> 0:34:53.800 So the example I saw was a cubicle two element 0:34:53.880 --> 0:34:56.440 quad antenna, and actually it's technically a three element, but 0:34:56.480 --> 0:34:59.600 because you've got the driven you've got the reflector, and 0:34:59.640 --> 0:35:04.279 the the direction one the directive element. I liked it 0:35:04.320 --> 0:35:06.240 because it kind of looks like a tie fighter. 0:35:06.360 --> 0:35:08.799 Oh yeah, they look like tie fighter wings the loops do. 0:35:09.040 --> 0:35:11.759 Yeah. Now that's just the cubicle version. There are other 0:35:12.080 --> 0:35:19.280 variants of the quad antenna. These are these are slightly 0:35:19.360 --> 0:35:21.760 different look, I mean, a very different look from the yagis. 0:35:22.680 --> 0:35:26.839 They have a very sensitive directionality to them, and they 0:35:26.880 --> 0:35:30.320 also tend to have a slightly higher gain than Yaggi's 0:35:30.360 --> 0:35:33.560 by about two decibels. Decibel is a sliding scale, by 0:35:33.600 --> 0:35:36.080 the way, it's a logarithmic scale, right, not so two 0:35:36.080 --> 0:35:38.879 decibels on its own means nothing. You need to have 0:35:39.280 --> 0:35:41.319 another point of reference for you to understand what. 0:35:41.280 --> 0:35:43.400 To decibles, but if you've got a weak signal and 0:35:43.480 --> 0:35:46.520 you need to amplify it, that could be important. 0:35:46.560 --> 0:35:51.120 Yeah, So quad antennas are a popular way of trying 0:35:51.160 --> 0:35:54.360 to track down a signal, especially if you need a 0:35:54.360 --> 0:35:56.760 little bit more sensitivity than you would with a yagi. 0:35:57.800 --> 0:36:00.800 So both of these are popular. They also come in 0:36:00.840 --> 0:36:03.600 different sizes. I mean, obviously it depends upon what frequencies 0:36:03.640 --> 0:36:06.680 you're looking for. The quad antenna is interesting because the 0:36:06.760 --> 0:36:10.560 length of the loop is dependent upon the frequency you're 0:36:10.680 --> 0:36:14.560 you're searching for. So the squares in the tie fighter, 0:36:14.680 --> 0:36:18.080 like the wing size of the tie fighter, are dependent 0:36:18.120 --> 0:36:21.200 upon that frequency. And the reflector is actually going to 0:36:21.239 --> 0:36:25.480 be slightly larger than the other ones. So I was 0:36:25.520 --> 0:36:27.279 watching a video on how to make this, and that's 0:36:27.280 --> 0:36:29.279 when I said, I kind of want to make one 0:36:29.320 --> 0:36:33.320 of these. And you know, the mobile ones are slightly 0:36:33.360 --> 0:36:36.440 smaller than the ones you might mount at your house 0:36:36.480 --> 0:36:38.400 if you happen to live out in the country and 0:36:38.440 --> 0:36:41.560 you can have a forty meter tall antenna in your backyard. 0:36:43.200 --> 0:36:46.759 But they are and it definitely doesn't look like something 0:36:46.840 --> 0:36:49.239 that's easy to carry around. I mean, they're not, they're 0:36:49.280 --> 0:36:53.240 not small. A lot of people who are serious about 0:36:53.239 --> 0:36:54.520 this hobby they have. 0:36:55.560 --> 0:36:57.560 They have mounts attached to their cars. 0:36:57.640 --> 0:37:00.840 Yeah, yeah, so you'll see vans with the things attached 0:37:00.920 --> 0:37:03.560 or jeeps that kind of thing, with these things attached 0:37:03.640 --> 0:37:07.040 to the vehicles themselves mounted on them, and they're not 0:37:07.120 --> 0:37:11.360 meant to be taken off. So that's another popular one. 0:37:11.400 --> 0:37:14.080 Another one is the Doppler direction finder. 0:37:14.400 --> 0:37:16.040 Now this is going to be somewhat different than the 0:37:16.560 --> 0:37:21.440 directional antennas. It still ultimately establishes directionality, but it makes 0:37:21.600 --> 0:37:24.560 use of the eponymous Doppler effect. 0:37:24.680 --> 0:37:28.040 Yes, named after a Christian Doppler who was known for 0:37:28.200 --> 0:37:33.920 running down the hallways going e I got Dylan laughing 0:37:33.960 --> 0:37:38.320 on that one. Who's just so absurd that Dylan Stern laughing. 0:37:38.520 --> 0:37:40.920 It's rare that I get our producer to laugh at something, 0:37:40.960 --> 0:37:44.279 but that was one of them. No. So, Doppler was 0:37:44.320 --> 0:37:49.160 a nineteenth century physicist, apparently in my world, a slightly 0:37:49.200 --> 0:37:52.759 absurd one, and he came up with the equations to 0:37:52.840 --> 0:37:58.680 describe the apparent frequency shifts we perceive that happened from 0:37:58.760 --> 0:38:01.680 the relative motion of us center of a signal and 0:38:01.719 --> 0:38:05.000 the receiver of a signal or a wave. Now you've 0:38:05.040 --> 0:38:07.879 heard me talk about this before you probably experienced it. 0:38:08.200 --> 0:38:12.600 The easiest way to give an example is with sound waves. 0:38:12.880 --> 0:38:15.680 So if you've ever noticed a siren on an approaching 0:38:15.719 --> 0:38:19.480 emergency vehicle being much higher pitched than it is when 0:38:19.480 --> 0:38:21.680 it passes you, So it's coming at you, it's a 0:38:21.719 --> 0:38:24.600 higher pitch noise, it passes you, it's a lower pitch noise. 0:38:24.960 --> 0:38:26.719 Or if you happen to be next to it and 0:38:26.760 --> 0:38:29.680 the two of you are either motionless or you're moving 0:38:29.719 --> 0:38:32.640 at the same speed in the same direction, it may 0:38:32.719 --> 0:38:36.720 sound like a pitch that's somewhere in between. That's because 0:38:36.719 --> 0:38:39.400 of the Doppler shift. When the vehicles moving towards you, 0:38:39.440 --> 0:38:44.480 it is effectively compressing those sound waves. So it's increasing 0:38:44.560 --> 0:38:48.120 the frequency, which we perceive as an increase in making 0:38:48.120 --> 0:38:50.520 the pitch go up. When it's moving away from you, 0:38:50.600 --> 0:38:54.719 it's elongating those sound waves, and so our perception of 0:38:54.760 --> 0:38:57.200 that is that it's a lower frequency and the pitch 0:38:57.280 --> 0:38:59.880 goes down. Same sort of thing is true with electro 0:39:00.080 --> 0:39:02.560 magnetic radiation. Actually it's also true with light I mean, 0:39:02.600 --> 0:39:05.200 which technically is part of electromagnetic radiation, but it's not 0:39:05.320 --> 0:39:07.480 radio waves. The same thing is true for all of 0:39:07.520 --> 0:39:10.839 these things. Yeah, so you shift exactly. Yeah, it's how 0:39:10.840 --> 0:39:14.360 we measure how fast we're moving away from or toward 0:39:14.920 --> 0:39:21.600 other galaxies, for example. So using a very special type 0:39:21.600 --> 0:39:26.760 of antenna you can take advantage of this property of physics. 0:39:27.000 --> 0:39:30.920 So Toppler direction finders typically have several rotating elements and 0:39:30.920 --> 0:39:35.279 it's usually between three and eight vertically oriented antenna. The 0:39:35.320 --> 0:39:39.400 antenna pick up these signals that then are sent to 0:39:39.719 --> 0:39:44.879 a processor that determines where is the signal really coming from? 0:39:44.920 --> 0:39:47.960 The incoming signal, where is that coming from? And typically 0:39:48.040 --> 0:39:52.040 there's like a circular display that it's just a circle 0:39:52.080 --> 0:39:55.960 of led lights is the simplest version, and whatever direction 0:39:57.480 --> 0:39:59.840 the signal appears to be coming from with respect to 0:39:59.880 --> 0:40:03.520 the the front of your vehicle, a light will pop up. 0:40:04.320 --> 0:40:07.120 So it's not telling you that, oh, you need to 0:40:07.160 --> 0:40:11.080 go northeast. It'll tell you, oh, the signals coming this 0:40:11.200 --> 0:40:13.520 many degrees to your right, or this many degrees to 0:40:13.560 --> 0:40:15.600 your left, or it's actually coming from behind you. That 0:40:15.719 --> 0:40:18.960 kind of thing. So if you were driving due west 0:40:19.840 --> 0:40:22.880 and the signal at the three o'clock position or the 0:40:22.960 --> 0:40:25.200 light at the three o'clock position on your little circular 0:40:25.239 --> 0:40:27.640 display lights up, that would tell you that the signal 0:40:27.719 --> 0:40:30.160 is actually coming from the north. Yeah, because to your 0:40:30.239 --> 0:40:32.880 right would be true north if you're going due west. 0:40:33.480 --> 0:40:36.720 So you look at this signal the circle of lights, 0:40:36.719 --> 0:40:39.520 and whichever one is lit up, that's telling you, all right, well, 0:40:39.800 --> 0:40:42.920 we need to start changing our bearing toward that direction 0:40:43.080 --> 0:40:45.360 if we want to head in the direction of the 0:40:45.400 --> 0:40:46.480 transmission itself. 0:40:46.920 --> 0:40:50.960 Now, another type of direction finder that you could use 0:40:51.160 --> 0:40:54.320 would be something that's known as a time difference of 0:40:54.440 --> 0:40:57.759 arrival antennas. Yeah, and this is another interesting thing. So 0:40:57.920 --> 0:41:02.960 it has multiple receips elements arranged in a pattern that 0:41:03.120 --> 0:41:06.680 passed the signal along to an electronic or computational core 0:41:07.280 --> 0:41:11.840 that compares the time delay between when the different elements 0:41:11.920 --> 0:41:13.800 received the same signal pattern. 0:41:14.000 --> 0:41:17.680 Now this is crazy because remember these signals travel at 0:41:17.680 --> 0:41:22.239 the speed of light, so the differences are not detectable 0:41:22.239 --> 0:41:25.080 by humans, right, Like, there's no way that we humans 0:41:25.080 --> 0:41:26.440 would be able to tell the difference. 0:41:26.520 --> 0:41:29.680 And this is obviously easier if you have, you know, 0:41:30.000 --> 0:41:32.680 something where there are multiple elements that are very. 0:41:32.640 --> 0:41:33.680 Far away from each other. 0:41:33.800 --> 0:41:38.839 Absolutely installations, sure, sure, but yeah, so you can use 0:41:38.920 --> 0:41:42.120 time difference of arrival. Since we know the speed of 0:41:42.239 --> 0:41:45.319 radio transmission is constant. We know exactly what the speed is, 0:41:45.440 --> 0:41:48.440 and we know the difference between the different elements. We 0:41:48.480 --> 0:41:51.400 can use the time delay between when they receive the 0:41:51.400 --> 0:41:54.840 signal to calculate the direction the signals coming from. 0:41:55.000 --> 0:41:58.279 All right, So we've talked a lot about antennas and 0:41:58.320 --> 0:42:03.799 we've we've mentioned receiver quite a few times. Now. Some 0:42:03.840 --> 0:42:06.160 people listening maybe thinking that what you're doing is you 0:42:06.239 --> 0:42:09.239 got a pair of cans on your ears and you're 0:42:09.280 --> 0:42:12.360 listening really carefully for the beaty beeps. But as it 0:42:12.440 --> 0:42:15.319 turns out, most of the time, we're actually talking about 0:42:15.320 --> 0:42:18.360 a piece of equipment that indicates when it's receiving a 0:42:18.400 --> 0:42:20.719 signal and giving you an idea of how strong that 0:42:20.760 --> 0:42:22.640 signal is. Let's talk about that for a second. 0:42:22.719 --> 0:42:25.200 Well, so it is going to be a receiver, radio receiver, 0:42:25.680 --> 0:42:28.000 a radio receiver you might be familiar with, but the 0:42:28.040 --> 0:42:31.279 most useful ones obviously are going to be ones that 0:42:31.320 --> 0:42:34.799 are equipped with what's known as an S meter. So 0:42:34.840 --> 0:42:37.480 you've got your antenna and you've got a wire running 0:42:37.520 --> 0:42:40.799 from your antenna to the receiver or wires running from 0:42:40.800 --> 0:42:45.319 the antenna to the receiver, and the receiver should be 0:42:45.440 --> 0:42:49.080 able to translate the signal into something you can make 0:42:49.120 --> 0:42:51.920 sense of. That might be sounds, or that might be 0:42:52.080 --> 0:42:55.160 a number, and in the case of an S meter, 0:42:55.200 --> 0:42:57.240 it would be a number. It's a gauge that gives 0:42:57.239 --> 0:43:00.920 you a direct reading in a numerical value of the 0:43:01.000 --> 0:43:04.239 strength of the signal. So you're not just relying on 0:43:04.360 --> 0:43:07.839 you know, subjective impressions from listening or some other method, right, 0:43:08.440 --> 0:43:11.239 so you just find the direction where the number on 0:43:11.360 --> 0:43:12.840 the S meter is the highest. 0:43:12.960 --> 0:43:16.520 This makes it a lot easier, and the signal strength 0:43:16.840 --> 0:43:19.880 is going to increase the closer you get to the transmitter. 0:43:19.920 --> 0:43:22.560 There's actually a very specific amount where you can sit 0:43:22.600 --> 0:43:25.640 there and say, like, all right, I look to see 0:43:26.520 --> 0:43:31.879 when the strength of the signal has doubled. That gives 0:43:31.960 --> 0:43:33.840 me an idea of how much closer I am to 0:43:33.920 --> 0:43:38.120 the transmitter. But using you know, describing that requires lots 0:43:38.120 --> 0:43:41.120 of calculations and variables that I don't really have the 0:43:41.239 --> 0:43:44.439 time to go into right now, But just general rule 0:43:44.440 --> 0:43:46.920 of thumb, you know, you look at that signal strength, 0:43:46.960 --> 0:43:50.080 and that gives you an idea of how much closer 0:43:50.120 --> 0:43:52.640 you are to the transmitter without actually giving you any 0:43:52.640 --> 0:43:55.600 sort of units, Like it doesn't tell you, oh, it's 0:43:56.360 --> 0:43:59.440 a mile away, or it's a thousand yards away or 0:43:59.440 --> 0:44:01.520 anything like that. It just tells you, oh, you have 0:44:01.719 --> 0:44:05.319 halved the distance between you and the transmitter. Whether that 0:44:05.400 --> 0:44:08.920 distance was ten miles or one mile, who's to say. 0:44:10.320 --> 0:44:12.520 It all depends upon the strength of the transmitter. 0:44:12.719 --> 0:44:17.000 So yeah, so you mentioned when you get close. Another 0:44:17.719 --> 0:44:21.600 important factor is going to be that most of your 0:44:21.640 --> 0:44:25.640 equipment is going to be attuned to weak signals. Yeah, 0:44:25.760 --> 0:44:28.240 you want to be able to detect a signal coming 0:44:28.280 --> 0:44:29.720 from a long distance. 0:44:29.360 --> 0:44:31.719 Right, But when you get close to something that is, 0:44:32.719 --> 0:44:35.200 you know you is no longer a weak signal, it 0:44:35.200 --> 0:44:37.120 can overpower your equipment. 0:44:36.840 --> 0:44:39.239 Right, So you might suddenly you've got your receiver and 0:44:39.280 --> 0:44:42.160 you've got your directional antenna and you can point it 0:44:42.200 --> 0:44:44.880 around in a circle, and no matter what direction you 0:44:44.960 --> 0:44:47.920 pointed in, your s meter is maxed out, right. 0:44:47.760 --> 0:44:50.680 Because you're just you're just too close. It's it's it's like, 0:44:50.920 --> 0:44:54.440 you know, the water is completely around you. So detecting 0:44:54.520 --> 0:44:57.879 where the water is coming from is not easy to do, right. 0:44:57.960 --> 0:45:00.239 So in this case, another piece of equipment that some 0:45:00.280 --> 0:45:02.239 people might have that would make a big difference would 0:45:02.280 --> 0:45:07.040 be known as an attenuator and so yeah, in this case, 0:45:07.080 --> 0:45:09.880 an attenuators and electronic element that can help you knock 0:45:09.960 --> 0:45:12.520 down the power of the signals, sort of the opposite 0:45:12.560 --> 0:45:16.359 of an amplifier yeap, and so that your equipment can 0:45:16.400 --> 0:45:19.160 tell which direction the signals strongest and not just be 0:45:19.280 --> 0:45:21.239 maxing out at the top of the s meter. 0:45:21.440 --> 0:45:24.399 Right. This is also when the harmonics can come into play. 0:45:24.600 --> 0:45:27.200 Exactly if you can switch to the third harmonic or 0:45:27.200 --> 0:45:32.160 the fifth harmonic, then you're using weaker signals and it 0:45:32.239 --> 0:45:34.520 is less likely to overwhelm your equipment. 0:45:35.080 --> 0:45:39.000 Now we've been talking about, you know, antenna types and 0:45:39.040 --> 0:45:41.680 stuff like that. If you are a HAM hobbyist and 0:45:41.760 --> 0:45:43.680 you want to build something or you want to spend 0:45:43.719 --> 0:45:46.040 some money and order something on the internet, you can 0:45:46.160 --> 0:45:50.200 have these interesting setups that will give you a big advantage. 0:45:50.760 --> 0:45:53.920 But some of these hams will talk about how you 0:45:53.960 --> 0:45:56.239 don't actually have to have something like that to do 0:45:56.280 --> 0:45:58.880 ham hunting. No ham hunting, transmitter hunting. 0:45:59.400 --> 0:46:02.480 You are the hand I've hunted ham before. 0:46:02.280 --> 0:46:06.319 Ham The most dangerous game it was there was There 0:46:06.440 --> 0:46:08.040 was this time where I spent with a bunch of 0:46:08.040 --> 0:46:10.440 my school friends on an island hunted HAM. 0:46:10.480 --> 0:46:12.320 I don't like to talk about it, though it didn't 0:46:12.320 --> 0:46:14.200 turn out well to serve Ham. 0:46:16.000 --> 0:46:20.680 But one example of an interesting hack for crude tea hunting. 0:46:20.760 --> 0:46:23.080 If you don't have a directional antenna, but you just 0:46:23.120 --> 0:46:27.000 got a standard receiver a handy talkie, you know, is 0:46:27.040 --> 0:46:30.319 this thing that I read about called body blocking or 0:46:30.440 --> 0:46:34.600 body fading, which doesn't involve tackling somebody. No, but this 0:46:34.680 --> 0:46:37.640 is a really interesting idea. So let's say you've just 0:46:37.680 --> 0:46:40.080 got a little handy talking The antenna on this thing 0:46:40.160 --> 0:46:43.840 is omni directional, right, like a standard radio antenna, It directs, 0:46:44.000 --> 0:46:47.280 it listens to all directions equally, right, So if you're. 0:46:47.120 --> 0:46:50.440 Picking up a signal, you can't tell where it's coming from. Hell, 0:46:50.480 --> 0:46:52.600 just you just know that you are within range of 0:46:52.600 --> 0:46:53.160 that signal. 0:46:53.320 --> 0:46:56.320 But here's what you can do. You take your regular 0:46:56.800 --> 0:47:00.640 omni directional antenna and press it tied up again your chest, 0:47:00.719 --> 0:47:04.360 hug it to your body. Now, stand in place and 0:47:04.560 --> 0:47:08.720 rotate your body slowly. You should find, actually that your 0:47:08.920 --> 0:47:12.680 reception will be fine in most directions, but that it 0:47:12.719 --> 0:47:17.319 will deteriorate when your back is facing one direction. And 0:47:17.360 --> 0:47:21.080 that's because you're suddenly that's the direction where you're putting 0:47:21.120 --> 0:47:25.600 your body directly between the transmitter and your receiver. 0:47:25.880 --> 0:47:28.760 So it's called body blocking because you are physically blocking 0:47:28.800 --> 0:47:31.839 the signal from getting to the radio effectively. 0:47:31.960 --> 0:47:34.680 Yeah, it's sort of the opposite of a directional antenna here, 0:47:34.719 --> 0:47:38.560 because you instead of saying go to where the signal 0:47:38.640 --> 0:47:42.120 is strongest, you find the direction where you are most 0:47:42.160 --> 0:47:45.799 able to block the antenna from receiving the signal, and 0:47:45.880 --> 0:47:49.040 then you know that your butt is facing the transmitter. 0:47:49.280 --> 0:47:52.759 Yeah, as is always the case with me. Yeah, I 0:47:52.920 --> 0:47:55.480 like this idea. I like the idea of actually holding 0:47:55.520 --> 0:47:59.920 a competition that only allows for that sort of tan. 0:48:00.000 --> 0:48:02.000 It's been her hunting. I think it could be really interesting. 0:48:02.760 --> 0:48:05.880 It would also be really interesting to see it from afar, 0:48:06.080 --> 0:48:07.680 like be able to see at least three or four 0:48:07.800 --> 0:48:10.440 Like you're just seeing these people turn around very slowly, 0:48:11.239 --> 0:48:14.160 stop and then immediately do a one eighty and start 0:48:14.239 --> 0:48:14.879 running in that. 0:48:14.800 --> 0:48:18.880 Direction, passionately embracing their little handy talkies. 0:48:19.360 --> 0:48:23.600 Yeah. When walking. Yeah, and again, like before you brought 0:48:23.600 --> 0:48:26.040 this topic up to me, I had never I'm not 0:48:26.120 --> 0:48:29.160 a ham radio operator. I've never gotten into amateur radio. 0:48:29.200 --> 0:48:31.920 I think it's fascinating, but I've never it's just not 0:48:32.160 --> 0:48:34.759 that's never been a world that I've explored, so I 0:48:34.800 --> 0:48:37.000 didn't even know that this was a thing when you 0:48:37.040 --> 0:48:39.600 brought this up, and learning about it, I'm like, you know, 0:48:39.719 --> 0:48:42.279 this is it does appeal to me because just as 0:48:42.360 --> 0:48:45.840 geo cashing and letter boxing and those other forms of 0:48:45.840 --> 0:48:49.200 of kind of using technology to help hunt down something. 0:48:50.080 --> 0:48:52.560 It's kind of cool because that, you know, it does 0:48:52.840 --> 0:48:57.480 had that relationship between technology and skill, and that that 0:48:57.560 --> 0:49:00.200 desire for us to uncover secrets. I mean, I think 0:49:00.239 --> 0:49:02.520 that's something that's kind of innate in humans, right. Yeah, 0:49:02.719 --> 0:49:06.160 this desire to the scavenger hunt is a very powerful 0:49:06.200 --> 0:49:08.759 thing because it's just it's fun to go through that 0:49:08.840 --> 0:49:13.359 experience and to uncover mysteries and stuff. That concludes the 0:49:13.400 --> 0:49:16.560 two part episode series about Transmitter of Hunting. I hope 0:49:16.560 --> 0:49:21.000 you enjoyed that conversation from twenty seventeen. This episode originally 0:49:21.040 --> 0:49:24.920 published March fifteenth, twenty seventeen. And uh yeah, I gotta 0:49:24.920 --> 0:49:27.120 get Joe back on the show sometime. It's been a 0:49:27.120 --> 0:49:29.600 while since I've had a chat with him. Hope you 0:49:29.640 --> 0:49:32.080 all are doing well and I'll talk to you again 0:49:32.680 --> 0:49:42.560 really soon. Tech Stuff is an iHeartRadio production. For more 0:49:42.600 --> 0:49:47.360 podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or 0:49:47.360 --> 0:49:53.160 wherever you listen to your favorite shows.