Foxhunt

Event Introduction

Foxhunt, is a fun filled package on the lines of a traditional English activity involving tracking and chasing a fox by trained hounds. The difference at Engineer Gold is that, the FOX is a Radio Transmitter and the HUNTERS are budding engineers. The event has an antenna building workshop, which gives a unique opportunity for the participants to get a startup of antenna design. Participants are required to track down (one or more) stationary transmitter (FOX) that could be situated anywhere in the campus, using a tunable radio receiver and an antenna built by them.

Rules and Regulations

• Prior to the event, a workshop will be held to demonstrate building of an antenna. Participants who wish to attend this workshop will have to pass a written test.
• The actual event is open to all participants who have an antenna.
• The event will be divided into 2 rounds.
• The first round is open to all teams and requires them to locate a stationary fox (transmitter). The fox will intermittently transmit clues about its position.
• Five teams will qualify for the second round wherein a short time slot will be provided for each team to locate a second fox. This second fox will be confined to a smaller geographical area and this will be time bound.
• Note that only one team will be allowed into this particular area during its time slot.
• In case of any dispute, the decision of the organizers will be final and binding.

General Information

• A team can have a maximum of 4 members. It is recommended that a team consists of at least 2 members.
• The workshop will be limited to 12-15 teams.
• Contestants are encouraged to bring their own receiver set and antenna. In such a case they do not have to write the prelims. The circuit and antenna should be shown to the organizers in order to evaluate the complexity of the setup as compared to the setup provided by the organizers to other participants. The organizers will take the final decision to allow/disallow an antenna into the hunt. A write up about the design and expected field pattern has to be provided to the organizers in this case.
• The receiver circuit can be built by modifying standard FM receivers. We have built and successfully tested designs of a model Yagi-Uda and Loop antennas. The details about these is available here.
• Usage of commercial antennas is strictly prohibited and will lead to disqualification.
• Use of mobile phones is forbidden during either round and will lead to disqualification.

Participants (for the workshop) are required to bring the following

• 9 Volt batteries and corresponding connectors (preferably two).
• Earphones/Headphones or an 8 Ohm speaker.
• The other materials will be provided by us.

Judging Criteria

• Time taken to track down the fox, the number of symbols successfully decoded, cost of the circuit will be the criteria.
• Decision of the judges is final.

Contact details:

• Varun Kumar N : +91-9844316252
• You can email your queries to foxhunt@engineer.org.in