NEWINGTON, CT, May 30, 2006--Two ARRL members from California are dead after the vehicle in which they were riding during a mobile hidden transmitter hunt went over a cliff in rugged terrain near Lake Isabella in Kern County. They were identified as Michael G. Obermeier, K6SNE, of Anaheim, and David A. Gordon-Ross, of Yucaipa. Obermeier, an ARRL Official Observer in Orange County, was 46. Gordon-Ross was 35.

"Mike and Dave were some of the best T-hunters in the biz," said Scott Press, N6SAP, calling both "true assets to this hobby." In his role as an OO, Obermeier reportedly had participated in the infamous Jack Gerritsen radio jamming case in the Los Angeles area.

According to media accounts, a Kern County Sheriff's Department search-and-rescue team located the victims early Monday, May 29. Obermeier was driving the 1991 4-wheel-drive Jeep Cherokee that apparently went out of control on Cook Peak Road while the pair was proceeding to the next hidden transmitter site. After caroming off a rock wall, the vehicle crossed the road and plunged down a 900-foot cliff. They were reported missing after failing to check in with T-hunt organizers.

Greg Pitta, KF6DBJ, reports Obermeier and Gordon-Ross were on a half-day multiple-transmitter T-hunt on Saturday, May 27. "Both K6SNE and N6IDF were expert transmitter hunters, each with hundreds of hunts completed, ranking with top scores in most," he said.

ARRL Amateur Radio Direction Finding (ARDF) Coordinator Joe Moell, K0OV, knew both men. He notes that Obermeier had suffered a sports-related spinal cord injury that left him a paraplegic. "He did all the adaptive work on his vehicles, of which he had quite a few that he used over time for RDF," Moell said. Despite his physical limitations, Obermeier also enjoyed foxhunting from his wheel chair.
Moell says Gordon-Ross had been a proficient mobile T-hunter for many years. He took a brief hiatus after his first child was born in April 2005 (his wife, Melanie, is KF6GWV), but he recently became active again.

According to Moell, the mobile transmitter hunts take place on the fourth Saturday of each month on 2-meter FM simplex, starting out from a hilltop in Rancho Palos Verdes. He says it's not uncommon for the main hidden transmitter to be hundreds of miles away--175 highway miles in this instance.