| 2017 NJQRP Skeeter Hunt Soapbox |
| W9OB - Second time I signed up but first time I operated. Weather in WI was overcast, light wind, low 80’s and minimal humidity. Oh sorry, I should have just said PERFECT!!. I was going to bicycle to the park but opted to take the dog at the last moment. Hey, everybody deserves a day outside. The bands proved to be only so so. Lots of digging to get my QSO’s but the exchanges were really nice being a fusion of contest and QRP QSO. QRP is so nice to operate as signals are mostly way way down and nobody minds multiple fills. The endfed proved it’s worth as usual. Easy to set up and take down while providing nice resonant operation on 20 and 40. 20 meters had much QSB and sigs would fade very quickly. Primary opening for me was to the SE. Nothing to the west. 40 offered up a couple of Q’s but fairly quiet, to my surprise. I could only operate the first 2 hours so possibly propagation filled in. Signals were getting stronger as the contest went on. Great time and I enjoyed the effort. Thanks Larry and the NJ club for putting on the event.
MJ, WO9B |
| WA2JSG - 5 watts using a Kent straight key and Butternut vertical antenna |
| W3BBO - Decided to operate from home (picture attached) using the HW-8 which puts out 2 Watts on 40 meters and 1.5 Watts on 20 meters. Even though band conditions were the worse, I'm still impressed with what a couple watts can do! Not to mention what great ears my fellow QRPers have! Many thanks for the contacts, and thank you, Larry, for making this a fun end-of-summer event! |  |
| K4BYF-
My trusty old K2 and an EFHW hanging from a palm tree. Conditions: Very
poor, weak sigs & lots of QSB. Heard only the same stations I
worked. Finally gave up about 3:00 PM when the afternoon thunder storms began. I think this is the lowest score I have turned in for this event. 72 de Jack |
| K9CW - This was my first Skeeter hunt. It was fun! I was pleased to hear some familiar QRP Fox Hunt callsigns. 73 de Drew K9CW |
KI4MCZ
- You could call this my soapy box: This was a great event with
some pretty good ops and some surprisingly strong signals. A lot
of fun! Thanks to John, K4BAI, for alerting me and some others about the Hunt. Unfortunately I was not able to work him this time. This event seems to be very open to new ops (CW and/or QRP/contesters) so I’ll try to get the word out. Sorry I didn’t have time to get a number, but I’ll be ready to do some serious skeeter swatting next year working portable. 72, Donald Nelligan KI4MZC a.k.a. “Don” in CW |
| WA1GWH - Conditions were poor and varying. Lots of deep QSB. Worked way out to WI and TN twice each. 40M CW only with a dipole at 15 ft and 4w from my Cyclone 40 4SQRP kit. 72 and thanks for the contacts! Garry WA1GWH near Syracuse, NY |
| KA0IQT - For this year’s Skeeter Hunt, we set up at Lake Ray Roberts in North Texas, (KFF-3051) It was a beautiful afternoon, although a bit on the toasty side, with temperatures around 94 and a heat index well over 100 degrees. As one of the operators (KG5RMI) was a Technician Class licensee, we initially tried 10 Meters SSB. Propagation was not cooperating so we moved to 20 Meters CW. Where we worked a few stations. (Since we had called CQ on SSB, we entered as Mixed, even though all QSOs were made on CW.) The primary purpose of this outing was to demonstrate HF operations to two relatively new Hams, so more time was spent discussing the equipment and set-up than actual operating. The equipment included a KX2, Alex Loop antenna and a PowerFlex 10W foldable solar panel that was used to charge an external LiFePO4 battery for demonstration purposes. All of the QSOs were made using the KX2 internal battery. This was another fun Skeeter Hunt and we are looking forward to next year’s event. If there is an award for the most ants on the operating picnic table, we would like to apply for that award. 73 Jim KA0IQT Skeeter # 83 |  |  |
| N3AQC KC2EGL - Enjoyable day even though 20 meters was rather dead in this area. Also I didn't get attacked by insects this time as I did in the FOBB a couple weeks ago. K3WWP - Beautiful weather. Not a lot of activity, but still we made 46 QSOs in 19 SPCs overall. All on CW, of course with our jumper dipoles about 25-30 high, our KX3s, and PX3s. It was nice having Tom WB3FAE with us to help out with setup, some operating time, logging, and tear down. |
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| AE4RM - Bands were terrible. Saw nothing on 40, 15 or 10. 20m signals were weak at best. Did snag an Az and I would consider that DX today! |
| K3RRL - KX1 to 3-band jumper inverted vee on 20’ Crappie Pole set up in scenic 60 acre Redbank Valley Municipal Park. While bless with another beautiful day in rural Pennsylvania, apparently the sun was not shining on propagation here. RBN was showing 7 – 18 dB but apparently the bright sunlight was keeping the Skeeters, NJ and otherwise, away from World Famous Redbank Valley today. Was somewhat drawn between annual opportunity of chasing Skeeters and getting my Mustang to our car club Cruise-In but it all worked out. If not for Dave AB9CA, 20m would have been a total loss and 40m ran out of Skeeters within an hour, so it was an easy decision to fold up my portable station, pack in all back in the trunk and head off – radio gear and all - for the last part of the car show this afternoon. No ‘skeeters’ there either. (SMILE) |
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| AH6AX - This was my first foray into Skeeter Hunting. I had fun and am now looking forward to another Skeeter Hunt in the future. 73 & Aloha from MD! Larry AH6AX MD |
| WB3GCK - I operated from my truck in Valley Forge National Historical Park (KFF-0761). I made the strategic error of parking in a spot with no shade. Big mistake. In the course of almost 3 hoursof operating, I was baking in the truck. At one point, my KX3 rolled back its power to 3 watts. After repositioning the rig in the truck, things eventually went back to normal. Even though I was wearing my lucky Skeeter Hunt t-shirt, I didn't do as well as last year. Nonetheless, this is always a fun event. Thanks to Larry W2LJ for organizing the Skeeter Hunt. |  |  |
| K4UPG
- Weather was marginal at start and looked like a thunderstorm was
headed my way. So waited it out and didn't get on the air until after
3PM EDT. I used an EFHW sloper and ducked under a small pavilion in our housing area's lakeside park on Lake Fredrica just north of the Orlando airport. I wasn't hearing well and seemed that power out was down so I decided to do some checking. Sure enough my jumper from HB1B to tuner had a broken center pin. Yikes! So I pulled out a spare and got back on the air after a short break. I made 5 contacts with Skeeters in 4 states and then the weather became a factor again. Shortly after 4 the temperature dropped 10 or 15F and wind whipped up. Shortly after that the rain began and a quick check of weather radar on my cell phone showed lightning had fired up about 11 miles away. Ten miles is my boundary and signalled time to get wire out of the trees. Got home and put the gear in my outdoor storage as the rain began in earnest. Another fun time, gave some points to the serious contesters. Band was not in great shape, I attempted to call several familiar QRP ops but never got a reply. Thanks for the effort to put this event on each year. I'm hooked, and love the simplicity and opportunity to hear our tribe. Seemed like a pretty good turnout! |
| N8BB - Thanks for the event. I had a fun afternoon chasing even with the poor conditions I finally got back outside where it was great to enjoy the birds and great weather. I ran my KX3 and batteries with an end fed antenna, wasn't great but worth the time. Will look for more events to play in like this. Thanks again. N8BB Werner |
| N2FYE - My second Skeeter Hunt. Hot and humid today, so participated from home again. Condx were rough, lots of QRN and some fairly deep QSB. I seemed to be getting out okay, but couldn't hear very well. So I worked the loudest stations on the bands. Kenwood TS-480 at 5 watts into G5RV Junior inverted vee at 25 feet. Maybe next year I'll try a 40m dipole to see if that helps. Still having fun, see you again next year. Andy N2FYE |
| AD4S - Whew.. hot day today. Operated my 17 year old K2 @ 5W (I built in 2000) from the Gazebo at the Harbins Wilderness in Dacula, GA. Had to quit at 2.5 hours because of the heat. The antenna was a EFHW with a KI6J kit tuner. |
| AG4P - I either picked a bad location or the bands were not in good shape, the 8 stations I did work have great receiver's, I could tell I was weak, 73 AG4P Roger TN |
| K1SWL - I set up in a State forest in Springfield, NH. Nice spot- blueberries and moose footprints everywhere. Beautiful weather- low 70s, sunny/breezy. 20M was marginal- frequent deep fades. 40M was productive after a bit of antenna-improvisation. Can't wait to do it again! Dave- K1SWL |
| N2APB - Great time! Only caught the last couple hours of the Hunt due to theOrioles' game, and found 40m to be in good shape. Ran the boatanchor station this time <gasp!> Collins R-390 and Johnson Invader 2000. Not exactly a portable combo, but I've got 'em working like a champ! Only ran the exciter lightly loaded and *still* had to use an inline power attenuator to get down to 5 watts! Had a ball! Reminded me of the joy of operating CW. Seem to be using phone mostly these days, other than when trying to snag N2CX out in the Parks. 72, George N2APB |  |
| WB4OMM - FT-2000 running 5W to an A3S beam at 40 feet, GenLog. At the start, there was only some 20M signals I could hear, so I stayed for the entire time on 20M. Most of the signals were very good until the start of the second hour, then the band went dead! 21 Qs in 2 hours. Hoped for more, but alas, it wasn’t to be!! CQed for 25 mins without an answer! Gave up at 1935Z. Oh well….it was fun while it lasted!! 73 to all, see ya’ buzzing around the bands! Steve WB4OMM Skeeter #56. 73!! Steve WB4OMM #56 |
| K5BGB - Tough band conditions! Every now and then a signal would come up out of the noise long enough to grab a Q and just as quickly, it’d drop back into the noise. Spent a big part of the time listening and digging! I’d hoped to operate outdoors but with a heat index of about 112 degrees, I decided to stay in the shack. Ran my 17 year-old K2 at 5 W into a stealth G5RV with its center at 33 ft on a Spiderpole. Contests never have been, are not now, and never will be my thing but a sprint like the Skeeter Hunt is a blast. Looking forward to next year….Thanks a meg for all of your efforts Larry!! |
| N6GA - Signals sure were weak out here on the Left coast. Thomas, AC7A, was loudest, but then, he’s closest. Next loudest were the CO stations, everybody else was in and out of the noise. And that was all day. I kept hoping the band would come to life as the afternoon wore on, but no such luck. My location was a little wooded spot at 8400’ elevation in the San Gabriel Mountains, looking out over the Mojave desert. I got a dipole up about 30’ in the pines. Rig was an original 2-band kit version of the MTR, powered by a stack of three cell phone batteries inside the box. After four hours of mixed CQing and Search and Pouncing, there was still plenty of juice left in the batteries. The only mishap of the day was when one of the leads on the back of the Palm Paddle broke where it soldered onto the connector, making it send either long strings of dots or no dots at all. A big Thank You to Larry and the NJ group for making this fun event happen. 72, Cam N6GA |
| K2ULR - Well... I set up with my KX3 into an EARCHI wire antenna... and wound up with zero QSOs. Clearly 40 and 20 meters were not in great shape. I did hear a 4-land station on 40, and a South American on 20 (working some other contest). Part of my operating time was taken away due to a phone call from my son.. but with conditions as they were, it was not a good outing for yours truly. But fun to set up, in any event. 73 de Ray K2ULR KX3 #211 |
| KB1ZHU - Hello Larry and all intrepid hunters This was my fourth and most fun Skeeter Hunt, also the most productive. I was at KFF-0448, on the shore of Great Bay, NH. Radio was Yaesu 817-ND, and antenna was a Marconi top fed inverted L (from J.D. Heys' little. Red book "Practical Wire Antennas" - the only antenna book I own). A quarter wave for 80 meters it allowed me to tune all bands from 80-10. Aside from moving the support vehicle once because of a tree, all went well with help from the YL. Should have known it was going to be fun, as we were setting up three fellows walking stopped by to the words, ' I know you'. One a ham, one served in the same National Guard unit at the same time, and one an old business friend from years ago. Interestingly, the only two POTA contacts I made were in the 'pre-game shake down cruise' to see if all was working OK. 8 contacts in about an hour before contest, and 17 contacts during the contest. All at 5 watts. The weather couldn't have been better, and had a corner of the only covered pavilion. Will go back again soon just for fun! Supporting the 30' mast The OM talking to my first contact Victor, KK4IP in NC. No, not shameless plug for DieHard batteries, but it HAS served me very well over several years. Always ready to go as Mr.Sun keeps it charged up in the generator enclosure. Again next year for sure....72(3) to all. Don. KB1ZHU |  |  |
| VA3NU - This was my first try at the Skeeter Hunt. Only able to participate for one hour and band conditions were not predicted to be good, 40 meters turned out to be the band of choice for this location. Was surprised with four contacts and a number of almost contacts with QSB wiping them out, never to be heard again. As always it was much fun and a lesson in propagation. Larry VA3NU 72 |
| K2TD - Rig Elecraft KX3 5 watts (kit built by me). Antenna 66' end fed for 20/40m. Power from a Power Dome 400 power station (17 AH battery). Logged on an iPad. Operated from Rancocas State Park nature center, Westampton, NJ. Pleasant day, pleasant place, good company. Conditions stunk. The only park we heard was us. Regards, Bob Nelson K2QPN |
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| AB9CA - Rig was K1 at 5w to either N facing wire beam or W facing Inv Vee. Calling band condx dismal is being charitable. They were pretty awful. Usually when I call with 5w I get something on the order of 10 to 12 RBN spots. During the Hunt I was getting zero. Sometimes it took 5 min of calling to get a single spot. Surprised I heard anyone and that anyone heard me. Guess RF is more powerful than we think. Worked few western stations. AC7A in AZ, N6GA in CA, KX0R in WY, and 3 CO stations near the end. Only 2 pesky Texans. PA, OTOH, gave me 5 and ON 3. MO WI NH IL 2 each. And 1 from MI MD CT NJ MN VA. Not sure where the 9 POTA stations were located. One did send that he was in VA. Despite the poor prop it was an enjoyable afternoon. Looking forward to next year. A big THANKS! to Larry for all the time he puts into this. Gotta be a considerable effort. We do enjoy it! |
| N5GW - See the two pix of my wheelbarrow portable station in the woods of the TN Cumberland Plateau. It is written up on page 47 of the August 2016 Issue (#218) of the NAQCC Newsletter. |  |  |
| NX8Z - Hi, Larry. TU for issuing me a Skeeter Hunt number, and a shout-out and thanks to you and the others who put on the Skeeter Hunt. Although a ham for many years, I have not done much contesting. My brain doesn't seem to work fast enough. HI! A contest, though, will at least increase the odds that someone will hear you and QSO. A lot of times the bands seem empty. Anyway, I got all set up for the Skeeter Hunt. I loaded the SH exchange into the CW memories on my xcvrs, got a SH log set up, and rolled at starting time. 40 and 20 for me were absolutely nothing but noise. I could not hear any signals except a couple of non-SH QSOs that were in progress. I did not hear any BZZ's at all. I sent a fews CQ BZZ's which were not answered. But... thanks for getting me in the loop. I will try again next time. Maybe we will have better prop then. Keep up the good work. TU, God bless, and 73! |
| WA4GIR
- It was to be another warm day here in sunny North Carolina, but we
operated from the Reedy Creek Section of the William B. Umstead State
Park near Cary, NC, which has a large picnic area located among tall pines and some hardwood trees. The spot was pretty shady so it was reasonably comfortable as long as you weren't moving. However, you could still work up a sweat setting up, or doing anything resembling work. I went out well before the kickoff and started setting up, about 10:30. The KX3, external keyer, and battery were set up on an existing picnic table. For the antenna, I took the easy approach and just leaned a telescoping pole against one of the leafy hardwood trees and attached a 40-meter inverted "V" antenna to it. The biggest problem was placing the antenna clear of the leaves. I might not have been completely successful, but as dry at it has been around here, I don't think incidental contact would have hurt, especially if it was not at the tips of the dipole where the voltage is highest on 40m. Liz, KO4CK, joined me ready to do the paper logging for me in case I had the problem of making contacts faster than I could write. At the 1:00PM starting gun, I tuned around on 40m listening for "CQ BZZ". Hearing none, I picked a vacant frequency near the QRP watering hole and called 'CQ BZZ". Then something happened to me that has not happened at any field QRP contest, ever! I made a contact on first call. N3AQP, the North American QRP CW club, in PA. They must have been at the ready from the word GO. But then, things settled in to the more usual routine, for me anyway. I was only making a contact about every 15 minutes, alternating between calling CQ and doing search and pounce. I tried 20meters but had less success there so I spent most of the time on 40. Later around 3:30 EDT, things picked up a bit and I was able to make several contacts at a rate of about one every 5 mintues which is enough to keep me happy. By 4:30, I was still hearing people calling CQ, but most of them I had already worked, so we called it a day and headed back for the air conditioning. I enjoyed the contest. It was a relaxed pace, but the contacts occurred often enough to keep me interested. It seemed like folks slowed down for this one and code speeds were even a bit below the normal code speed. I think that actually caused a minor problem as I fall in to the trap of counting dots at those speeds. I found after the contest that Liz had correctly copied at least two of the Skeeter numbers that I had not gotten correct at first. The worst one was when I copied N5GW's Skeeter number as "B4" and thought he was telling me we had worked before. After asking for several repeats I realized he was not sending "B4" but rather "64". I apologized profusely and Liz put him in the log. That was embarrassing. We ended up with 15 contacts including several calls that were familiar to me from QRP publications and forums. Propagation seemed to favor intermediate distances on 40m as most of the contacts were up and down the Atlantic coast from GA to NH. I did not work anyone in my own state of NC although I know several of my KnightLite friends were participating from there. The single 20-meter contact was in MN. I've attached a couple of photos: One showing Liz, KO4CK wearing her QRP tee short with Rooster's picture proclaiming "Old Goats Rule". The other shows me actually in the middle of a contact -- as close to an action shot as it gets. In these photos, you can see the base of the telescoping pole which is resting on the ground next to the picnic table. The ends of the dipole were tied off with twine to some of the adjacent trees. Actually, it wasn't even tied -- the twine was just wrapped once around the tree which was enough to hold the antenna legs at about a 45-degree angle. Thanks to Larry Makoski, W2LJ and the NJ folks for sponsoring this contest. We certainly enjoyed it. Joe, WA4GIR |
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| N0SS - Rig: KX3 (SN 021, built from a kit by K9ZTV) Antenna: OCFD at 60 feet Another fun "Skeeter Hunt." Our thanks to Larry and the NJQRP group for sponsoring this wonderful annual event. We used a home-brewed prototype tire-mount to support a 60-foot fiberglass telescoping mast (unguyed) and an OCFD antenna. Worked perfectly. Conditions from the Midwest were poor with deep and abrupt QSB all afternoon. A few years ago we tallied 92 QSOs. This year we had to dig for a mere 31. Farthest west was California; farthest east was New Hampshire; farthest south was Florida; farthest north was Wisconsin. Sol will wake up eventually, I guess. Site was a funeral home parking lot located 22 miles from our home QTHs. |
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| KD0V - My setup was in my front yard. We have a USGS official wetland in our front yard. I call it the swamp. We managed to control mosquitoes this year so I operate outdoors. I used my trusty K2 with an external battery pack, a 1953 Vibroplex Blue Racer with a vari-speed to keep it under 20 wpm, and a short folded 20M dipole, my favorite portable antenna. It was too bad that the band conditions were so poor. There were times when the atmospheric noise would completely go away and no stations could be heard on 20m. I am looking forward to the 2018 Skeeter Hunt. 72, Merlin – KD0V #122 |
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| AC0XR
- The Skeeter Hunt happened to coincide with a bluegrass festival
called Pickin' in the Pines that Eric KG0YS and I were planning to
attend. The festival is held at a boy scout ranch just south of Elbert, Colorado and it's a really neat place. We found a great radio location atop a small mountain and set up there. For equipment, Eric brought his Yaesu FT-301SD, MFJ tuner and a portable Hustler mobile antenna mounted on the bottom half of a music stand! I was supposed to supply the paddles, keyer, and battery... It started out well, we were getting 3-4 watts out and things were looking good, but just a few minutes into the operation the battery started to fail! It was a 12v 7Ah gel cell that I had acquired at a swapfest, and I guess it had been previously well used. Luckily I had brought my 15w solar panel, but it was in my truck as I hadn't thought we would need it. The hike wasn't too long though so I got the solar panel and we started operating again. Then Murphy struck again! My Bencher paddles starting acting up; the dit side was a bit sticky and would still send dits when I released the paddles. Of course, this had to happen in the middle of a QSO. I forget who I was in contact with, but I don't know how he managed to copy my info! Luckily Eric had some extra paddles in his truck, so he also took a trip back down the mountain to get them. After that things went pretty smooth, we worked 20m CW and took turns at the radio (we had separate skeeter numbers). Propagation didn't seem too bad, and I was impressed with the performance of our few watts and the mobile antenna. Signals were of moderate strength and easy to copy, although there was some QSB at times. I think the loudest station heard was KD3CA, who was just pounding in! Towards the end of the contest the solar panel must have not been enough because output power decreased to 1-2 watts and the last station I worked, K9CW, gave me a report of 579C and commented that my signal had "very bad chirp"! Overall I had a great time, the Skeeter Hunt sure is a fun contest. Many thanks to Larry for organizing it. I'm looking forward to next year! 72 de Brady AC0XR |
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| WK8S - I took my wife to a local park (State Parks too far away) and operated the first 2 hours of the contest before I seemed to run out of new contest contacts and about that same time it started to thunder overhead. However, up to that time is was beautiful weather and temperature. My wife and I had a nice picnic lunch so it was a good outing. I ran my K2X at 5 watts to my portable home brew vertical. Thanks for another chance to get outside and have other QRPers around to contact. It was fun. Pete WK8S |
| WD8RIF - Great event, Larry--thanks for continuing to organize it! 73, Eric |  |
| WG0AT - Band cndx were kinda punk with deep QSB but with lots of repeats got the job done regardless! Fun hour or so to see if the rig/antenna was still working? …thanks for another chance to prove that “less is MORE!" 73, Steve/wGOAT |
| WA4ZOF - Bands not in the best of shape. Great fun anyway. Thanks for a great way to spend an afternoon. Maybe next event I'll get outside... TNX Tom |
| N5NAA - My first POTA - thankful that the Skeeter Hunt provided the motivation to finally try it. A fun learning experience for sure. Typical August heat but found a shady spot overlooking the river and the LBJ Ranch. |  |
| NX1K - Operated from County Park in Fox Point, WI. Was about 50ft from Lake Michigan. Used HB-1B, 40m dipole, and W1SFR "light weight" for 20m. Was pleased that both bands were open at various times in the afternoon. Beautiful day for operating. My wife came to help me set up and stayed for the whole afternoon. Several passers-by stopped to ask questions. |  |
| W4QO - Loads of fun. Wasted a lot of time getting my antenna up as slingshot/reel had not been used in a couple years. Bands rather stinko. |
| NE5DL - On the back patio in Mansfield, TX, and 95 degs is too hot for an old geezer to look for a more remote location. Worked 20M and a couple on 40 M. I found the going tough and couldn't pull out several sigs in the noise. I've put together a collection of parts for my go to portable vertical antena. A camera tripod from Amazon modified with a 3/8-24 mounting stud, New superantennas coil mounting bracket, Wolf River coil, and a 17ft whip from MFJ. Feed point at 5ft with 4x16ft raised radials. From the RBN it has a low angle of radiation. Rig was an Elecraft KX2 with internal Li Ion batteries and Pico paddles. Used an ipad with Hamlog, and the iphone was at hand texting progress to my buddy KF5RY in KS. AF4B took the pictures. From the Dallas area, IN, CA and FL were the farthest Qs, none North East or North West, not matching my RBN results. Not many contacts but had fun anyway. I had to chuckle to myself when checking my log. K5SNA sent 72, me thinking that was his number, but he's not on the Skeeter roster. I now I realize he was just sending "best QRP wishes".I didn't ask for his power ! |  |  |
| K9DXA
- Thanks to Larry for running another neat event in 2017, and thanks to
all for the QSOs! This was my first effort to operate at a POTA QTH, and I did run into a little bureaucratic activity, mainly because the State DNR people did not have an amateur radio request for this State region before. But I did jump through all the hoops. The band conditions were a bit unusual this time. The "money" band shifted this year from 20M to 40M. Still some QSB. Still, I never heard most of the stations on the Skeeter list. I used my trusty K2, battery, and 25 ft telescoping fiberglas mast to hang 20M and 40M inverted vees. That antenna arrangement takes me almost one hour to install when alone. I'll return to KFF1024 if I do another POTA activation. Weather was great all day, and I got adequate shade from the pavillion. |
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| VE2DDZ
- I only operated two of the four hours, but it was great to get
out. I went to Mont St-Bruno park not far from Montreal. This is VEFF-0508, my first time knowingly operating from a WFF region. It is also a SOTA summit, VE2/ML-001. This year I had more success on 40m than on 20m, some stations were booming in, but more were hard copy. Of course there were stations I could hear, but who couldn't hear me. I was visited by a deer while operating, wondering what the dah-dah-di-dah di-dah-dit di-dah-dah-dit was all about. I've seen deer there before, they are quite tame. Thanks Larry and the NJQRP club for organizing the event and CU next year. 73, Malcolm VE2DDZ |
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| VE3EDX - I was operating from my camp about 140 km northwest of Thunder Bay, ON. using KX3 and 18 foot wire vertical. Thanks and will be back next year. 73, Mike VE3EDX |
| AD0YM |
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| WG8Y - Hi Larry, I don't have much to turn in. Had plans on working the whole Swat Fest but my plan was changed when the daughter called needing helpwith a "Hey dad can you help Bob, her husband with something". Then the famous last words. Shouldn't take too long. Hi Hi Well, got back home in time to work the last half hour.I worked from the back yard. FT-817D at 5W, 5amp battery into a homebrew 10-40 OCF & a small home brewed dual core 4-1 balun that I put together on Sat. & hung app. 20ft in a tree for the event. Oh well had fun anyway. |  |  |
| N2CX - Good day! Combining Skeeter Hunt with POTA is a great idea combining two of my favorite ham activities. I picked Island Beach State Park to operate as a tweak to our Guv who closed it during a budget standoff then used it himself while excluding the public. Only 16 Q's in a half hour of operation cut short to avoid heat prostration. 10 minutes of CQ's netted zero results on 20. Pix show my "big pole" and you-know-who eying it... See you all next year! Joe E., N2CX |  |  |