| 2018 NJQRP Skeeter Hunt Soapbox - Page 2 |
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| Kind of cool and breezy
with intermittent rain. Operated from a park pavilion. Rig was a
KX3 5w, antenna was an 20/40 meter end fed tossed into a tree. Logged
on an iPad. |
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Set up by the USGS
certified wetland in my from yard again this year. Band conditions were
some what better than last year. The antenna was my HB 20M short folded
dipole at 30 feet. I was able to get the rope over a much higher branch
this year. The weather conditions were great. I added a solar panel to increase battery life. It helped. I sent invitations to all the hams in the county. Three showed up to watch and rag chew, none were willing to participate. That made for a fun afternoon. The rig this year was the trusty K2 and I used the 1949 Deluxe Vibroplex. 72, Merlin |
| Editor's Note : KD0V was
the ONLY Skeeter to be heard by Jim Larsen AL7FS, who was monitoring
the Skeeter Hunt from Alaska. |
| Operated from my daughter's
house in Greenfield, MA outside with KX2 to QRP Guys/N2CX tri-band
vertical. Only had 25 minutes to operate as it was my grandson's
9th birthday and he had several additional ideas for fun that
afternoon. He did help me set up the antenna and sat next to me
while I operated.. |
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| What a difference a year
makes! The past year’s Skeeter Hunt was my first ever attempt at
both portable and QRP operation. Rookie mistake made that one a
listening session. So, anything more than a zero would be a
success. Set up along the Jefferson City, MO Greenway, adjacent to the drainage comprising the headwaters of Wears Creek. Certainly not a significant water feature. Drove a fence post a minuscule few inches into the hardpan in order to provide base support for my 40’ SpiderbeamTM fiberglass pole. Aligned my Arial 51TM Model 404UL OCF dipole on a magnetic north south line. Ran an additional 25 feet of coax to a folding table I placed under an Alps MountaineringTM Tri-Awning. Used my Yaesu FT 450D for this trip along with a Ham GadgetsTM Ultra PicoKeyer and Palm RadioTM Mini Paddle. I had both a 12 Ah SLA and a Bioenno 3 Ah LiFePo battery for power supply and backup. Enough name dropping and product plugs! I began my set up just shortly after eleven, so I barely had time to turn on the radio for the noon opening gun. Started on 20 meters. Seemed like everyone was on top of one another at the beginning. One of the advantages of using the FT 450D was narrowing the pass band. Listened. Still working on my paddle fright. I am more comfortable using a straight key. Made my first QSO nineteen minutes into the fray. Had a total of four in the first hour, five more in the second, two more in the third, and three in the last hour. My last five QSO were on 40 meters. Seemed like most of the activity was on 20 meters. Heard nothing on 15 meters. Was sparse on 40 meters. Eighty meters was not an option for my rig/antenna options used on this trip. Heard a lot of duplicates during the third hour, thus diminishing returns. Forecasted weather held off, so I stayed for the duration. Had exchanges with nine states: AZ (2), GA (1), NY (1), CO (1), PA (3), MO (1), TX (2), WI (1), and IN (1). Also had a SOTA/BZZ QSO with a ham on a mountain north of Montreal, QC. I tried without success to complete another QSO with a Skeeter in Florida. I could hear him clearly but after a number of call repeats we both moved on. There were 11 other registered Skeeters I could hear but did not work. Some were too fast or moved on before I could call, others were in pileups and I simply lost patience and moved on myself. Still it would have been nice to have added NJ, FL, MI, MS, and NC to my state list. A number of the Mid MO Amateur Radio Club were participants. I only heard two of them; worked N0JBF successfully, but not N0SS. Still, this was by far my best effort to date. There were several noteworthy operational events. Successfully slowing down to complete a QSO. Recognizing “QRZ” at the end of another’s QSO and subsequently dumping my call in at the pause resulted in a quick QSO. I also had the good foresight to have some fuses along. Needed one to resolve the silence provided during my portion of an exchange with N0JBF. I also am pleased with my solution of keeping my paddle from flopping around during use. I mounted the paddle with 3M Dual LockTM to an inexpensive cutting board which can double as a writing platform. In this instance it was further stabilized using a piece of DycemTM between the board and the table. It was much better than using DapTM Bluestik reusable adhesive putty based on a recent experience operating in heat indices north of 100 F. Finally noting that some of the folks on the air were focused on their SOTA operations. Small, but major victories based on past experience. So again, given my past efforts, a great outing. Many thanks to the encouragement received from the other “students” in the Saturday morning Mid Mo Amateur Radio Club CW Class. Also special thanks to the patriarchs of the class: K9ZTV and W4RK who continually challenge me to improve and above all get on the air. I also appreciate the event organizers whose efforts make these opportunities possible. --Thanks everyone! 73, AD0YM |
| What a great day for
Skeeter on the beautiful St.Clair River near Sombra, Ontario! Despite a mere solar flux index of 66, there were plenty of ops to be worked much to my amazement. Band conditions were appropriate for this point in the solar cycle with plenty of QSB & QRN as we have come to expect. My gear was the usual FT-817 at 5 watts output to a Buddipole Versatee vertical set up at the water’s edge on a tripod. I had one curious dog walker stop by to ask what it was all about. He was surprised I was using morse code which prompted even more questions which I was more than glad to answer. You just never know when you might be speaking to a prospective ham, the highlight of my day besides all the on air fun. Thanks Larry & to all my fellow participants for another great event, can’t wait for Skeeter 2019! 72 Daryll VE3LFN |
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| Busy day and only a few
minutes here and there. Mix of commercial rigs and my DSW 20 and DSW 40
so no bonus for that Worked Rick, NK9G on 20 (TT Argonaut
V) and again on 40 with Small Wonder Labs DSW 40 at 3 watts. Next
year hope to have more time. 72, Peter |
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I send you my log. It’s not a big succes but I had a lot of fun. I was disturbed often by curious peoples, but it was funny. Fortunately I had my NJQRP Skeeter jersey to make children laugh. So many thanks for all body I appreciared. Best 73 De Jean VA2VL |
| I had a blast trying this
and can’t wait for next year. This was my first CW contest. I was
nervous at first but after making the first contact it went smooth.
Thanks for the effort in spearheading this contest. |
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A new lightweight dipole did a great job on 40M - I got the center up at 30 feet without much frustration. It made up for my lack of success on 20M with an EFHW. Only 2 QSOs on 20, as opposed to 18 last year. Rigs: Hilltoppers on 20 and 40M. A 1.3 A-H Li-ion battery (3 ounces) provided the power. Can't wait for the next Skeeter Hunt- keep 'em coming! Thanks, Larry! 73- Dave, K1SWL |
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Thanks for doing this event once again. I got hit with thunder storms but still had an FB time. |
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K1 @ 5W to a 20M dipole up about 25 feet or a 40M EFHW. Hot (98F at 4 PM CDT) but cooler than the FotBBs. I hung the EFHW to try to add some local contacts, but the closest I worked was New Mexico. Pretty steady activity during the entire four hours. Best signals: 20M - K4BAI and WB4OMM, 40M - N5GW. Had a few folks vanish after I sent the exchange, including a PY4. Oh well. My best wishes and thanks to all (including the NJQRP Club and W2LJ). Had fun. |
| Larry tnx for your time and
resources for this very important event. I never thought radio's and
picnic tables would be so popular in this hobby. Your part of
it. AG4P Roger |
| Definitely a fun
event. Next year, if I remember, I’ll get a number and try to set
up portable. At least I got one GA station, KR4AE, Alan, my buddy
up the road from my about 10 miles. That’s hard to do
sometimes! A lot of great QRP ops out there and it was a pleasure
working them. 72’s |
| Had a great 2.5 hours on
Wells Beach, ME.... no QSOs though. Maine has not been good to me
this year!...... still had fun. John |
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| I operated near the lake at
Hagen-Stone Park about seven minutes from my home. Although the
weather forecast for north central NC was “iffy”, the weather gods
smiled and the rains didn’t arrive until after I got home. I set
up on a picnic table under a large walnut tree. The debut of my
new throw weight didn’t go well; it found a semi-permanent home up
about 35 ft. in the tree. L This was also the debut
of the 88 ft. doublet that I constructed for SOTA. I used my KX3
@ 5W, Palm Radio Mini-paddles and a 2.5 Ah A123 LiFePo4 battery.
I took along a second battery but never needed it. It was also
the first time that I tried out my new ear buds; I was very
pleased with them. I started out on 40M CW alternating between
calling “CQ BZZ” and Search & Pounce. Band conditions
appeared to be very good and I heard many stations but, unfortunately,
didn’t work them all. There was a very loud tone around 7.040 MHz
that was present throughout the contest. Later I went to 20M CW
and was able to work some stations further west. 20M was
the quietest I’d heard it in some time – noise level S0 to S1 - maybe
it was the location? Missing was the strong tone on 14.063 MHz, a
popular SOTA frequency, that’s generated by my home A/C – I sure didn’t
miss that. Later, I took a brief listen on 15M CW and on
40M SSB but didn’t hear anyone and so moved back to 40M CW until the
end of the contest. I operated for the entire contest
period. When I was tearing down, one of the wires of my new
doublet broke near the center connector. I was sure happy that
didn’t happen before the contest but also happy that it occurred before
I hiked up a mountain for a SOTA activation. Overall, the doublet
was quite satisfactory and after some repairs / modifications it should
enhance my SOTA activations. I had a Par End-fed 40/20/10M and a
couple telescopic masts in the trunk of my car for a back-up but was
glad that I didn’t need them. It was a fun time and I look forward to operating this contest next year. After participating in several Skeeter Hunts I finally got to work you. I really enjoy your blog. No luck attaching pix here but will attempt tossed separately. 72 de Derek, WF4I Pleasant Garden, NC |
| Thank you for a fun
contest! I made my first
ever
CW contacts; it was quite the experience. See you
again
next year! |
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| First time I’ve had the KX3
in the ‘field’, which was actually the beach, about 100 feet from salt
water. The 20m vertical was strapped to a convenient fence. I tried an
end fed 9:1 balun fed antenna, but it was about 2 S-units down from the
vertical. Had it not been for the forest fires, I would
have had a wonderful view to the east. In the peanut gallery were
VE7KG, VA7VF and VE7XFA, none of whom could copy CW :-(
- VE7XF |
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| This year for the Skeeter
Hunt I operated portable from a park here in Colorado. The radio
used for the operation was my trusty Weber Tribander (which I built
from a kit) powered by a 12v 7Ah gel cel. The antenna was a full
size (16 ft) 20m vertical mounted on a tripod with 4 radials.
Conditions seemed better than last year; a little QSB at times but
decent overall. I worked stations all over the US, and was
pleasantly surprised to work 2 Canadians as well (BC and ON). All
in all I had a great time and look forward to next year. Many
thanks to Larry for all the work he puts into this great contest!
72 de Brady AC0XR |
| Not feeling well enough to
go /P. So operated 1 1/2 hours from the shack with with K3/5W/Hex Beam
next to a feeder stream to Joe Pool Lake. All contacts were to the N.
East from TX, strange ? |
| Thanks for the last-minute
number. As it turns out, I wasn't able to get on as long as I hoped,
but did get on for a short period and had a good time. As I was running
way behind, I considered setting up something in the back yard;
however, I figured the short time I had left could best be spent
working some stations. It turned out to have been a good decision
because the bottom fell out and I, and my rig, would have been soaked!
Thanks for all the work you put into making this such a nice event--I
look forward to putting a bigger effort into it next year. 72, Dave+ |
| It was the kind of day
everyone wants to live in northern New England..... mid 70's, LOW
humidity, bright sun and a slight breeze! I operated from the
shores of Great Bay (Dover Pt.) NH. Radio was Yaesu 817ND,
antenna was a 42' hunk of wire wound around a 40' push up mast
and six radials, two of which I threw into the salt water. Two neat things happened this year.... first I got more contacts than last year. More important to me was the fact that stations answered my QRP calls for CQ, that's a first for me. Can't wait for next year, thanks Larry! 72(3), 18. Don, KB1ZHU |
| Operated from Cedar Hill SP
with 4r hams but only 1 operated. Poor conditions but great fun, no
skeeters at site but ants attacked the cookies |
| LNR Mountain Topper, QRP
Guys Tri-Band Vertical on Shakespeare 20’ crappie pole The only good thing about August in Texas is the Skeeter Hunt... Between driving to and from the park, only had time for one hour of operating but still worth it to assemble a portable station, get outside, and make 2xQRP contacts. Impressed that QRP and a portable antenna work at all in these conditions. Will try and get my 20m QCX sorted for next year. |
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| First, our compliments to
Larry Makoski, W2LJ, for hosting and managing another fun (sort of, see
below) Skeeter Hunt. On Saturday night, K9ZTV left his 55th high school reunion early in order to drive half the night from Illinois to Missouri for this year's outing. Fortified by burgers and fries picked up by W4RK on his way home from church, no problems were encountered in raising a 60-foot fiberglass telescoping mast and OCFD inverted-vee anchored in a home-brew heavy-gauge steel drive-on stand (see pictures). But then the "fun" started. In between french-fries, we scurried about trying to determine where in the heck the S7 noise floor was coming from. Unplugging every electrical device we could find, it was clear the noise was external to the building we were in but man-made and local. We swapped-in another KX3 but to no avail. Bill (W4RK) started off with a CQ and immediately worked Larry, W2LJ, leading us to believe we were off and running. And we were. Running absolutely nowhere! We were getting decent signal reports but from stations we could barely hear and from whom we repeatedly had to request fills. By 2 p.m. and exhausted from our 5 (count 'em, FIVE) contacts, we said "screw it" and packed up for home. Not even Elecraft with all their high-powered armaments can compete with what we had to deal with. Bill and I have operated every Skeeter Hunt from its inception, with contacts ranging from 45 to 92, but this year was our year for Murphy. Two Colorado, one New Jersey, one Connecticut, and one New York. Embarrassing. But this is what made it all worth while . . . our Mid-MO ARC (Jefferson City, Missouri) sent 11 of its members out into the field for this event, all operating as single stations, several with home-brewed QRP equipment, and half with limited CW experience. It was much more important for them to have had a good experience than for us old-timers. And now you know the rest of the story that wasn't! 73, Kent Trimble, K9ZTV Bill Gerth, W4RK |
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| I returned to Centennial
Hall Park in Beaconsfield, QC for this year's Skeeter Hunt. In 2013 I
was set up right by the edge of Lac St Louis, this year I was back
where there is more shade. I used my KX3, but took the opportunity to try out an antenna I hadn't used before. The antenna is the HFp-V from Ventenna. This is the antenna that my friend Bob, VE2PDT(SK) used to use portable to good effect. I don't know that it will replace my usual doublet, but it got out well enough to make some contacts today. I worked about three of the four hours on 20m and 40m CW. I had much better success on 40m. Thanks to Larry for organizing another Skeeter Hunt, it's great to see such great interest in a QRP event even with the poor propagation. 73 all and CU next year. Malcolm VE2DDZ. |
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| Band conditions this
year were not the best. Many of the stations we heard were Q5 and then
dropped into the QSB abyss, never to be heard again. Despite the less
than optimum conditions, it was a great day for a family picnic at Ray
Roberts Lake State Park. Cody Anne KG5RMI served as spotter, looking
for signals that were above the noise floor. Hopefully, we will do
better next year. 73 to all. Jim KA0IQT |
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| First-timer here - in a lot
of ways. I was encouraged to write up a soapbox, so here goes: I headed out to the Addicks Reservoir here in Houston around an hour before start time, and I set up to operate right next to Langham Creek. The weather included a high of 98 F, dewpoints around 75-76 F, and heat indices around 108-112 F. Even so, there were some breezes here and there, I found a nice shady spot under some oak trees to set up, and I went through nearly a gallon of water during my operation. I used an FT-891 dialed down to 10W, powered by one of my solar setups (50W panel / 8AH batt), through an MP-1 vertical with band-cut radials. The band conditions during the sprint were "poor" with occasional openings to "barely fair." I stayed on 40 meters mostly, because it seemed to be the most open band throughout the course of the contest. But I did hop around to 20 and 15 meters a few times, and even gave the dial a spin on 10 at one point. I do a lot of portable operating, but I don't do a lot of contesting. In fact, this was the first contest that ever I planned ahead of time to participate in. It was also the first one I planned to actually "compete" in - as in, stay put and try to make contacts the whole time. It was also my very first QRP contest ever. I learned a lot. Mostly, I learned a lot of things NOT to do. Like operate phone at QRP levels! (Just kidding - I knew exactly what I was getting into when I chose to do this contest All-SSB. The challenge sounded fun.) I've been interested in QRP operating for a while (and in developing a good fist and ear for code along with it), but there's nothing like being forced to try to communicate via phone under QRP contest conditions to drive the point home! I also learned the value of reading directions. In a typical "middle-aged male" move, I didn't bother to read Larry's excellent tips for the contest until AFTER the contest, including the Suggested "QRP Watering Holes" - I spent the vast majority of my time at the opposite end of 40 meters, around 7.130! About 3 hours into the sprint, I had a few unexpected visitors (including my XYL, KG5UEZ) drop in to my operating site, which was a nice surprise (and they brought me a burger!). Shortly after that, afternoon thunderstorms started rolling in, so I packed everything up around a half hour early. But not before giving a couple of folks a crash-course in portable radio operation. (Too bad I wasn't able to show them how to do it WELL, haha.) All in all, I put on what most contesters I'm sure would say was a miserably poor performance. But I got out into some nature for several hours during a time of the year when I usually wouldn't, and I had a GREAT time! The Skeeter Hunt (and the impromptu post-sprint cookout that it inspired) made my weekend. Thanks to Larry for setting it up, hope everyone else had as much fun as I did, and I look forward to playing again next year! 73 de KF5YHP Skeeter #154 |
| I set up on my back patio
as patio portable again this year. Just off my property there is a
drainage area between our cul-de-sac & the next one. Not a lake,
river, or Creek but enough water in it to breed some mighty hungry
Skeeter's. I'm still itching. I threw up my portable HB 10-40 OCF
about 25 ft into a tree along the drainage ditch. Ends up app. 8 Ft..
Hooked up my FT-817 & 4.5 amp hr. battery and started
swatting. Kept switching between 20 & 40. Tried calling on
15CW but couldn't even raise the Reverse beacon. It was almost a split
for me on Q's. 14 on 40M & 10 on 20M. Had fun. Hope everyone did
too. Thanks all. Mark WG8Y in NC |
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| Well that was FUN! I
operated from one of my favorite portable operating spots in summer,
the shore of Lake Michigan. I started out and hour and 40 minutes
early. Getting old and these antennas don't go up as easy as they use
to. Weather was initially muggy and sticky but by 1800 a nice breeze
came in off the lake and continued to provide some of natures best air
conditioning. 77 degrees and hazy due to the forest fires in British
Columbia and Alberta Canada according to the weatherman. So I
wanted to be as close to the bluff as possible which turned out to be
less than 100' from the water. I put up my 20 meter Delta Loop at about
40', broadside east/west. As usual more is better so I put up my trusty
88' doublet at 40' (east/west) as well and they both performed well.
Stations were loud and the location is quiet with literally no power
wires. My only QRM was these beautiful boats going by which were not to
bad but I was in the flight path and jets were taking off all day long
which called for a few repeats. Mitchell International Airport is about
2 miles west, and today the take-off pattern was west to east. Here is the beauty of Lake Michigan with a couple of tubs going by. I should be out there. I was ready to go by 16:30 so I listened and i didn't hear squat. Oh Boy I thought. WWV was 67-12 &1. So at 1700 I started calling CQ and after 3 minutes NX1K Mark from the Milwaukee area came back to me from Massachusetts. A few minutes later it picked up and they rolled in. Note from my log... nice to hear some VE's and Ohio for a change, K2YGM With a BIG Signal, W2LJ was weak and watery on 20 but nice signal on 40, W3ATB &N1LT & W1PID together with a decent signal, N3AQC Big Signal. WQ4RP weak but in the log, AK3X Good signal with 3 watts, N4EEV called numerous times but I guess he just could not pull me out. Looks like 59 QSO's. 11 S/P's on 20 with 22 Q's. 17 S/P's on 40 with 37 Q's so not to shabby for a Great afternoon of QRP. On 40 I heard static crashes over and over but radar showed nothing within a 100 miles. I guess some of the boys got hammered out east though. So rig was a Elecraft KX3 @ 5 watts. Antennas were a 20 meter Delta Loop and 88' Doublet. For power I used my power box with 2 5 amp batteries and a buck boost circuit which dropped to 10 volts (battery voltage) by the end of the event. Output is set to 13.8v. My Motto... If Your not calling, they are not hearing You, and after all that calling a 18 Amp Hour SLA is in order. So this was a lot of fun. Sorry conditions were not the best but they were good. Who says You can't work anyone. Glad to see many who signed up but the proof will be in the reported results. Thanks to W2LJ Larry and the NJ QRP Club for dong a great job of organizing and getting the word out. Most of all Thanks to the fellow QRP'ers who made the effort to get in there and operate whether from home or the field. Rick NK 9G |
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Blog report: https://k0emt.blogspot.com/2018/08/2018-njqrp-skeeter-hunt.html
picture and video. I also posted on the FaceBook group. This event was a real confidence builder for me. I had a fun time. Thank you for coordinating it! 72 de Bryan, k0emt |
| Station was a KX 1 and did
a bit of an A/B shoot out with my mag loop and Buddy Stick. It was a
wonderful way to spend some time in the outdoor shack. Larry thanks for organizing this event. It's much appreciated. Regards. Bill VE3XT |
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| I learned a few things from
the 2018 NJQRP Skeeter Hunt. 1) Even though I knew this already, it got reinforced, big time. Take weather forecasts with a grain of salt! When I woke up early Sunday morning, it was raining - hard. I turned on the computer, went to WeatherUnderground to see that "The rain will end at 11:45". OK. Since it was already soggy as all get out, I decided to stay home and operate "backyard portable". Around Noon, I wiped down the table and chairs and then set up the Jackite, the PAR ENDFEDZ and the station. I wisely chose to operate from the patio table, which is covered (more or less) by a big umbrella - which I found out was meant more for protection from the sun than from rain. Setup went great. It was a little damp, but it was OK. Then it came time for the Skeeter Hunt and wouldn't you know it? It started to rain again, even though the rest of the afternoon was supposed to remain cloudy, but precipitation free. You can see that the wiped down chairs got all drippy again. It rained for about a half hour, and at times it got a little heavy. After that, the last three and a half hours of the Hunt were rain free. But not mosquito free! I had to light the citronella candles to keep the little buggers away. Someone forgot to tell them that they were NOT the Skeeters that I was interested in for the day! 2) Pencil and paper don't work well in the rain. I'm old school in that while I DO keep an electronic log, for events like this I log on paper and transfer later. I don't type fast enough to log electronically real time in such a "fast paced" (relatively speaking) event such as a QRP Sprint. And even if I was a competent typist, I'm still lucky that I can walk and chew gum at the same time - so it's paper and pencil for W2LJ. I had to run into the house for a pen. My paper was still a bit damp; but ball point pen worked just fine. From here on out, I am going to keep a pen in my backpack. 3) An Elecraft KX3 can hold up well to water. Throughout the years, in reading various QRP forums, one of the biggest knocks against the KX3 that I have seen is that it is (I'm paraphrasing here) "flimsy and won't hold up well to the elements". My KX3 got wet. Not dumped-in-a-bucket-of-water wet, but it was covered with enough water, so that when I picked it up, it was dripping. Yes, I was covered by the umbrella, but I was not enclosed and the radio, the battery and everything else, including me, got pretty wet. The KX3 took it in stride without a whimper. After the rain stopped, I did a quick wipe off with a paper towel, and the radio is no worse for wear. It performed like a trooper. In all, I had a blast. I logged 38 QSOs, 33 with other Skeeters. I worked 19 different states and Provinces. 20 of my QSOs were on 20 Meters and 18 were on 40 Meters. I just realized as I'm typing this that I neglected to even listen on 15 meters. This is where the Reverse Beacon Network was hearing me:As noted on a lot of log summaries that have been submitted so far, and I concur, QSB was a big problem. A station which was 579 one second, was gone the next. I had two dupe contacts as the people who worked me weren't sure that I had them in my log. Seems that when I gave them my part of the exchange, I must have disappeared! Another problem that I had was with motor noise. From time to time, one of my neighbors was working on fixing a lawn mower, or something with a small motor. I was plagued with ignition noise at various times throughout the event. The KX3's noise blanker did a good job of wiping a lot, but not all of it, out. I've received a couple e-mails from folks telling me that they tried calling me several times with no luck. Blame my neighbor! If he hadn't decided to play mechanic, I probably would have worked you! My last QSO was at 2047 UTC with KI4MCZ. With only 13 minutes to go; and not hearing anyone new on either band, I decided to tear down the station, wipe everything dry and set it all aside indoors so that it could all really dry out well. Tired and damp, but happy, I proceeded to grill dinner and wind down after a day of hunting Skeeters. |
| This year I operated from
my back yard with the KX3 and portable vertical. In spite of real high
noise level and QSB, I managed to eke out 5 contacts. Hope to be back
next year from a better location. Thanks Larry, 73 |
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| This year's skeeter hunt I
chose the Passaic River located in my back yard (80 feet from my house)
as the location of my operation. Without fail, the skeeters (real ones)
were plentiful and bug spray was essential. The radio was my Elecraft
KX-1 which I built from a kit. The antenna was a 28 foot long wire with
a counterpoise. The wire was tossed into the trees with some mason's
twine and a 1/2 filled water bottle. Originally I was planning to canoe
to a location on the river but the rain changed plans. Operations got
off to a wet start. It rained the first hour so I fashioned a small
shelter out of an umbrella and sawhorse. My 5 year old daughter was
there to help & hang out. Gradually the rain subsided and the
weather was pleasant for the rest of the hunt. 10 QSO's total, 5 states
- GA, NJ, WI, FL and IN. Despite the wx and not-so-great band
conditions I had a great time. See you all next year! 72, James KB2FCV |
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| Very late report! On the road last two weeks and misplaced log until now when unpacking from trip. Note companion on my shoulder. He likes mosquitoes too... "Interesting" effort since I combined skeeter hunt with Parks On The Air. Conditions were poor a the location, a lighthouse in OH, but did manage 8 skeeters and 6 others. Tried WQ2RP after a while and activity had die off so swatted only one skeeter with club call. Better effort next year - I promise! |
