The late Swiss radio amateur, Rudolf Baumgartner HB9CV, might never have been able to predict, more than 70 years ago, the popularity that his simple, portable antenna would gain among enthusiasts of amateur radio direction-finding.
Known widely as the HB9CV antenna, his design has offered fox-hunters the ease of grab-and-go usage, making it a go-to antenna for low-power VHF signal-hunting in the field.
Rudi would be pleased to see it being used by hams who want to out-fox the fox, but imagine his reaction upon learning that the simple two-element antenna has also been used to outfox criminals.
A recent episode of the UK-based TV programme, "Trace, Track, Get My Car Back," aired on BBC-One, showcased recently how versatile this popular transmitter hunter can be when vehicles, including rental cars and even building-site machines, go missing -- that is to say, when they are stolen. While typically, many companies outfit their vehicles with GPS for tracking, when that is shielded, the system defaults to an RF-based backup for the last mile. That's when car-recovery experts - in this case, from Global Telemetrics - are deployed with Rudolf's reliable creation.
Like eager hams on a fox hunt, they begin their careful search. Unlike eager hams, there are no trophies or certificates but it's something of a prize anyway if they locate the vehicle before it can be shipped out of the country.
