High Desert Institute

Fox Hunting Workshop Series

Parent Project: Fox Hunting: Community Policing

Workshop series (skillshare-ready)

Workshop 1: Mesh hygiene and failure modes

  • What “healthy mesh” looks like (user-visible signs)
  • Common misconfigs that cause regional pain
  • A friendly “no blame” culture: assume confusion, not malice
  • How to collect evidence without drama (timestamps, screenshots, minimal logs)

Workshop 2: RF basics for fox hunting (practical-only)

  • RSSI vs SNR (what they actually mean in the field)
  • Why close-in hunting is different from far-field triangulation
  • Attenuation + directionality as your best friends
  • Safety + ethics + how to approach people

Workshop 3: Using the 4-element kit (hands-on)

  • Pi/RTL‑SDR: what the waterfall is telling you
  • Spotter nodes: how to take a “good” reading
  • Coordinated search patterns (grid, spokes, leapfrog)
  • Real-time logging + map view (even a simple one)

Workshop 4: Live exercise + remediation drill

  • Plant a “fox” test node in a known area
    • Not actually disruptive, just have it broadcast a fox emoji periodically or something like that
  • Run the protocol end-to-end
  • Practice the “operator contact” script
  • Produce an incident writeup