Several years ago, we were looking for an aircraft beacon. We quickly determined that it was coming from a predominately residential area and there certainly were no downed planes there. Since there was no downed plane, the resources committed to the event were limited: one CAP captain, one EMA officer and myself.
Ultimately, we used an Icom (I think) portable. We removed the antenna and inserted a small plastic and wire plastic bag tie. Then, holding the radio very close, I turned very slowly waiting for the signal to come and go. It was finally pinned down at a local high school. It turns out someone had donated an old air frame for the school to do with it as they wished. However, they failed to remove the beacon and when the would-be mechanics started playing with their new aeronautical toy, they set off the beacon.
A very crude direction finder but it worked great.
That's how the majority of the CAP ELT responses go these days still, some malfunction or another, heh. And believe it or not we still train to body-block with a handheld or a paperclip in the DF unit as a quick workaround.