NFW happened to fall on the weekend when I was putting
on a mock ELT search for the local ARES and SAR teams
so we decided to count that. We ended up with 5 teams
in the field plus a crew at the command post looking
for 2 practice ELT beacons in rugged terrain.
Short summary of what we learned:
1. People need more DF practice/experience.
2. People need to be more conscientious about keeping
track of their location on a map. Some areas were a
maze of logging roads, and it was easy to get confused.
(Yes, we got everyone home eventually!)
3. In rough terrain, even bearings from high points
can be way off - errors of 30 degrees were not uncommon
(besides the problem of reading the wrong end of the
compass needle!) None of the plotted bearings came
within 2 miles of one of the beacons, and the signal
"on the ground" was only audible for a mile or less
from the actual beacon location.
4. Ham equipment that receivers the aircraft band may
not be a good choice for hunting ELT signals. Many
radios had very low sensitivity, and often an ELT signal
could not break the squelch, regardless of how strong
it was.
5. Everyone had a great time and wanted to do it again!