Don - K3RLL
After being driven away from my favorite spot in a picnic pavilion behind a church at 1450' ASL by an irate old gentleman who insisted that my "antenna thingie" was killing his grass, I operated the Skeeter Hunt from an abandoned school at 1400' ASL in rural PA. My 'mountaintop view' for the Skeeter Hunt with my trusty NorCal Doublet on a 20' fishing pole sitting on a HB tripod. Note the exclusive, highly-specialized, patent-pending tripod anchor (weight).
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Blaine - KØNE
Fired up the Icom 703+ in the bicycle trailer, solar powered, in a Lincoln, NE city park. (EN10QU) Temperature was 84f, about 20 degrees cooler than FOBB. Antenna was a vertical and all contacts were on 20m. Band had a lot of QSB, and really changed at 2027z during attempted QSO with K3LO. Lost the QSO because several WAE contesters showed up around 14.060 and started working stateside. None of them heard my calls to them, and that was it for the skeeter effort. I Listened for Rooster and Peanut, but never heard them. Left a recorder running on home station on 14.060 and heard WG0AT there, but not from the portable. I did work the big Skeeter, W2LJ. Does that count for extra points? All in all, a beautiful day at the park. Thanks for all the QSO!
Derek - W4FI
I had problems with a defective coax for my segmented dipole. I ended up using a W3EDP long wire antenna with a far less than optimal installation. I made all but 1 40M QSO on 20M. 72 de Derek, WF4I
Paul - W4KLY
Not a lot of contacts, but wanted to submit the log in any case. Had a great time working the contest but didn't have as much air time as I would have liked. I'm looking forward to next years contest. There were several of us from the North Georgia QRP Club (NOGAQRP) working the contest. Thanks for handling the logs. Hope mine is in a format that will make your job easy.
Jim - W4QO
A great day in GA, gentle breeze, shade, 89 degrees. Used two half wave antennas (20M/40M) tied end to end with matching units one foot apart
and fed in the middle with one coax via a Tee Connector, hung at 40'. Loads of fun!
George - N2JNZ
Had fun working 3 contests that weekend !!! Worked WAE with 37 contacts , SKCC WES with 30 contacts and 8 Skeeters. First weekend with my K1 and enjoyed it !! K1 , 5 watts to a ZeroFive 40 meter vertical. Thanks all !!!
 |
 |
Tom - N3UFJ
Well I did manage to make 1 contact for the event. A whole list of crap happened but at least I did make the attempt. I was running Ten-Tec R-4020 through a Elecraft T-1 tuner into a Alpha Delta DX-CC 40-10 Dipole up 30 feet at the home QTH. As hard as it was pouring here I qualify for "Marine Mobile" I think hi hi hi.
Jim - W1PID
http://www.w1pid.com/skeeter/skeeter.html
Randy - KS4L
Condx pretty bad here. Only 3 contacts on 20m with my K3 @ 5w and my inverted vee from my home QTH. Tnx for the contest and for the Qs!
Pickett - AD4S
Location - "Wandarosa Wilderness" near Dacula
Rig - K1 @ 5W
Tuner - KI6JS SOTA
Antenna - Buildathon 2012 66' long wire.
Key - Palm Paddle
I missed the part about homebrew paddles.. maybe next time. NOTE: I swear that I heard K7SZ come back to me on 15 meters. He lives about 3 miles from the "Wilderness". He thinks it was a bootlegger..!! I think he was working 40 meters with a bad harmonic.. har de har..!
Bob - W3BBO
That was fun...much more fun than the family reunion! Hi. I used my K2 and claim the 2X multiplier for a total of 326 points! Most of the action seemed on 40 meters, though I picked up a couple on 20 and one on 15 meters. Called CQ o 28.060 a few times, but the band was dead. Have fun sorting out the logs and hope you can read this one.
Dave - WØCH
Thanks for a fun operating event! I hope that this can be an annual event. Due to a domestic conflict, I got a late start, but enjoyed the afternoon.
Unfortunately, I was unable to operate from a field location today. When I read the rules, I did not see a prohibition against using my
skeeter number while operating from the home station, so I hope I am not in trouble for this. (Nope, not a bit! - W2LJ)
Dave - AB9CA
Got a late start so may have missed a few. Rig was K1 (built by myself), power was an 8 pack of AA cells, ant was vertical attached to camping trailer. Condx did not seem to be good. When I worked KX0R in CO he was quite loud, but later, when WK8S called, he was ESP. I operated from an RV park and had a significant noise issue. It would disappear for a short while but come back. I moved up to around 14066 where it was quieter but no one came calling. Lower in the band I could work only the very loudest. I know at least a couple tried to answer me but I could not pull you out. Sorry.
Chuck - AF4O
Great event! Thanks Larry! Lots of activity. Seems I had a pipeline to Colorado on 20m early on then the band shifted a bit and finally faded. ThenI went to 40m to finish out. Went to my often used spot in Chickasaw Forest here in Tennessee. HB-1A, L Tuner, Baby Black Widow keyer, and a wire in a tree about 80-100' high. Weather was warm. I often moved my truck to keep it in the shade :-). Sat in the bed and used the toolbox for my table. Bugs were way down from normal this time of year probably due to the dry weather.
TJ - WØEA
Thanks for putting the event together, had a great time!
Ben - NN9S/4
I'm a Chicagoan visiting my inlaws in coastal North Carolina this week. Set up in a local park overlooking a farmer's field, using a 5 watt Tentec R4020, A123 battery, and a PAR 40/20/10m endfed dipole. Threw the dipole over a 30' branch, sloped it down 45 degrees to the picnic table, and worked for 2.5 hours. Happy to have reached Larry W2LJ at the end!
Kelly - K4UPG
I ran my Sierra at 2.4 watts out into an end fed half wave suspended as a sloper from the 31 ft Jackite pole in a WNW direction. I normally use the trees to get a bit more height for my wire, but the Jackite goes up and down faster and with storms coming, I chose the simple and fast way to git 'er done. Turned out to be a good choice. Band conditions were pretty good on 20m and I was hearing a good bit of activity. After 1800 the Caribbean, Central and South American SSB stations were causing a good bit of QRM down here in FL. They all seem to run power and gain antennas so we learn to listen through the chatter here in FL. The approaching storm was obvious as QRN increased with distant lightning stirring up the noise and crashes. Nonetheless, the signals were pretty good despite the distractions and there were some SKCC, FISTS and other cw fans out there having fun too which made the band busy.
I built a simple key and attaching a photo of my K4UPG Knee Cap Key. Used the lid of a bulk black peppercorn jar and made a simple non-iambic key with paper clips, standoff and a bit of wire. It actually worked fairly well, but not good enough to use for the whole contest. As a long time CPG (Contest Point Giver) I decided that was a good way to give myself some points so took advantage of the bonus points! It did inspire me to try a more substantial lid and make a strap to use it as a leg key for portable ops. It was fun to hear so many familiar calls and work a few of our fellow Polar Bear Ops who were out for the fun too. Sure appreciate the effort to put this event on the calendar and process the results. Thanks to the NJQRP group for the support of our niche in the hobby and to you Larry for the time you devote to contests, blogs and getting us all out and on the air.
 |
 |
Phil - W3HZZ
What a nice event! The weather cooperated - temperature in the 80s, nice breeze.
Tried a new location - a pocket park, called "The Dell" in an upscale community. Shaded, new picnic tables, babbling brook, and only a few ants, flys, and skeeters. Unfortunately, I had left my slingshot somewhere, so I couldn't get the 66' and 33' wires up very high. They wound up as slopers. And The Dell was below street level. And, even though the nearest home was 300 yards away, there was intermittent QRN - a pump motor, perhaps - that really hammered me.
But the idea was being out with the skeeters. Not about making the big number of Qs. I used my one month old MTR on 20 and 40. Output is around 4 watts to End Fed Half Waves, no higher than 20 feet, used the tuner we built at the NOGA buildathon. There seemed to several Skeeters just calling CQ and not listening. They should have heard me, but only listened for 3-5 seconds between calls. I worked two European stations who were in other contests, just to have a reality check that it wasn't my puny signal. Highlight was working 2 NOGA members on 40 and working Larry, W2LJ. Thanks New Jersey QRP.
Pete - W1PNS
I was using an FT-817ND and a 33-foot wire vertical running up a 31-foot Jackite pole. Rain was in the forecast, so it was back to my foul-weather FBB site -- King Street Memorial Park and the shelters. This skeeter bit or got bit from Colorado to the west to Germany and the Netherlands to the east. Again, thanks for holding this event!
Newt - N4EWT
I had a chance to play a little before Jim and I had to setup for the Second Sunday Tech meeting at PDK - the subject yesterday was 'All About the KX3'
Here's my breakdown:
Location - Dekalb Peachtree Airport Admin Bldg. Lawn
Rig KX3 Kit @ 5W
Antenna - Buddipole rigged for 40M Dipole @ 12' oriented E-W
Internal ATU, attached paddle
Thanks for putting the event together!
Jack - AI4SV/2
I drove up to New Jersey because I've heard NJ has QRPskeeters, as compared to the QRO skeeters in Virginia, so that seemed
more appropriate. Murphy was my copilot. I set up in Ocean County Park and became well acquainted with a few string-eating pine tree with rough bark. I've been using the same wire for an antenna for quite a while and it picked this trip to snap. After a few more character-building incidents, I was finally set up by 18:20Z. My rig was a TenTec 1320, and puts out about 4.5W. Until about 19:30Z, 20m was short -- I was working East Coast. After that, conditions changed, and suddenly WAE calls came pouring in, blotting out weaker signals and forcing me upwards toward PSK territory. It was tempting to twirl the dial down and try for some DX contacts, but I managed to stay on task. On the positive side, I started hearing West Coast signals including a few from California, although the furthest west that I worked turned out to be Colorado. I gave my 40m Rock Mite a brief try. It did a great job bringing in a top-40 radio station but did not land any QSOs. Thanks to skeeter participants and organizers - it was a fun event. See you next year. 72 - Jack, AI4SV
 |
Bob - K2QPN
The skeeter hunt was held in my back yard - where mosquitoes are normally plentifully. AK2S, K2SQS, and I attended. We worked multi op single transmitter.
Lunch was servered. Menu was hoagies, potato salad, and watermelon. We had a great time and look forward to other sprints.
Rig: Elecraft KX3 5Watts (kit)
Antenna: NorCal doublet held aloft by a 20 foot crappie pole.
Power: 5n1 Power Center (17AH battery) charged by a 10 watt solar panel.
Marc - W4MPS
Although I didn't think band conditions weren't great, the event was a lot of fun. I wound up with 29 QSO's, of which 23 were Skeeters. Lots of QRM from QSO Parties and contests but no lack of Skeeters out there to find. The only one I heard but failed to contact was the Goatman WG0AT. He was only about an S-2 in NC, and I couldn't get through Steve's pileup. I didn't have a chance to get out into the field, so I just worked from the home QTH using my KX-3 at 5W, powered by an A123 battery pack, into an 80 Meter Loop antenna. I'm taking the KX-3 on its first field trip this week to Ocracoke Island, and I was anxious to see how the battery pack would hold up. It ran all 4 hours and never got below 13.1V. So I was really pleased about that.
Although I didn't make a specific paddle for the event, I did go into the mothballs to recover a homebrew paddle from 1964, photo attached. This paddle has a lot of sentimental value for me. It was a gift from my Elmer, Jim Martin - W2VPL (East Brunswick, NJ) in recognition of my successfully passing my Novice exam. This piece of equipment has not been used in over 40 years. It's a solid brass plate with micro switches to trigger dots and dashes. The lever is made from circuit board material. So I cleaned it up a bit, hooked it up to the KX-3, and it worked like a champ. The play is wider than I'm used to, so there were a couple of sending errors here and there, but FB nevertheless. Using the paddle and thinking of Jim throughout the contest kept a smile on my face the whole time.
Thanks to you and the NJQRP club for a great sprint. And special thanks to all those Skeeters out there. They did a great job, didn't they? I'm sure I'll be one of them next year.
 |
Mike - VE3WDM
It was a great contest I had a blast being out in the out of doors. It was not my best place for outdoor ops but due to the threat of rain the place I chose allowed me to be on the air for the most time.
 |
 |
 |
Mike - KB4WJA
Had a great time. Great weather. Four of us operated from Hanging Rock State Park, NC.
Pictured Furman W4MJT, Dave KO4KO, Mike KB4WJA. 2nd picture Furman operating YouKits HB1B. 3rd picture Rick N4RE and Furman with Elecraft KX1.
 |
 |
 |
Julio - AK4VL
Had a great time operating this event. Looking forward to the next one! Attached is my little log file :-) Hope this is what you're looking for, I'm a bit inexperienced when it comes to contesting. Thank you so much!
Charlie - N7KN
This is my first serious attempt to actually do CW in a contest. 4 big ones! FT 817 5W / portable with gain antenna. There is always next year!
Eric - WD8RIF
Thanks for sponsoring a great event!
I operated The Skeeter Hunt at my old stand-by location: West State Street Park in Athens, Ohio. The picnic shelter is nice, the trees are conveniently-located, and it's easy to get to by car or bicycle.
I didn't make very many QSOs but spent much of my time trying to learn how to use my new-to-me KX1 and comparing the performance of the KX1 on two
different antennas.
Mid-MO Amateur Radio Club - NØSS
Three members of the Mid-MO Amateur Radio Club of Jefferson City, Missouri, activated call sign "NØSS" during the inaugural 2012 Skeeter Hunt from Pine Ridge Camp Ground in the Mark Twain National Forest near Guthrie, Missouri. NØSS is the club's memorial call sign formerly held by long-time member and well-known CW operator Tom Hammond who became a silent key on August 4, 2011.
Bill Gerth (W4RK), Mike McCrady (NØESE), and Kent Trimble (K9ZTV) operated Kent's KX3, serial number 0021, which had been purchased in kit form and utilized the KXPD3 paddle. Antenna was an 84-foot end-fed wire sloping upward to a forty-foot mast. Power came from a 2.3 AH LiFePO4 battery. Bill designed and built (on-site) a home-brew hand key from a piece of copper strap, a couple of screws, and a hardwood base the documentation for which can be seen in one of the photographs.
Contact was made with stations in Germany, Slovenia, Yugoslavia, France, and Canada. Other notable stations worked included Skeeter Hunt originator, W2LJ, and the famous duo of "Peanut" and "Rooster" at WGØAT.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Flying Pig QRP Club International North Central Tennessee Chapter - WA4PIG
Operators: KM6NN-John N5HOT-Terry NV4T-Doc KJ4MXI-Richard KT4FQ-Jim
This was a great contest and one of the few we worked the whole event. Lots of questions from people walking in the area. The banks of the Cumberland were a cool 80 degrees. The Flying Pigs were in rare form. Great to contact WG0AT and W1PNS. Thanks again for all the fun... QRP Rules.
The Flying Pigs of Clarksville...
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Brady - ACØXR
Hombrew key bonus: Yes. I built a homebrew key out of LEGO bricks, and aluminum foil contacts! Attached are also a few pictures of the key, and the rig which was a Steve Weber Tribander kit. Thanks for putting on the great contest!
 |
 |
 |
Will - NQ2W
I hoisted a 100 foot random wire as high as I could in the trees of my yard along with the help of my trusty step-ladder and some PVC pipe - yep, the tops of those trees are able to be reached - so much for maximizing HAAT. Using an analyzer, I adjusted my tuner for the best possible match for the band being used. Set the battery-powered K1 up on the table on the deck and started listening for skeeters. Using my homebrewed paddle - really designed and built for the Spartan Sprints - I made my first skeeter contact shortly after the opening bell...promising.
Not so promising...things slowed down and I was only able to log 7 more skeeters in the next hour and a half...so...rather than listen to static, I decided to shut down and pull down the portable antenna, being thankful for the 8 QSO's it provided, and set back up in my normal operating position connected to my permanent antennas. I figured, better to make more contacts and give out NY as a multiplier than to take the X4 multiplier and listen to static. The decision allowed me to make 15 more contacts...lesson learned...gotta have HAAT.
All in all...a very good experience and I'm looking forward to improving my set-up for next year. The antenna and HAAT have to be the mission...the Skeeter (like the Bumblebee) is definitely a cool operating opportunity and I appreciate the efforts of the operators and the organizers. Thanks for the Q's and thanks for the event...fantastic...and I know I'm a better ham because of it. Until next year...72/73, Will, NQ2W
 |
 |
Curt - WA2JSG
 |
Chris - KQ2RP
Had a great time dong this inaugural event from Point Mountain. Heard a good cloud of skeeters on the air. Larry and the NJQRP gang gothis off to a great start. Hopefully it breeds more skeeters in the coming years! Somehow I missed the part about the skeeter homebrew key bonus. There's always next year. Buzz!
Terry - W9UX
Looked like rain so set up antenna in driveway and operated the ATS-3A from front yard until the "real" skeeters got the best of me. Had fun and thanks for interesting QRP event. 72, Terry
Dave - NE5DL
Fun contest, in spite of the troubles I had. Set up on Cedar Hill in TX, with temp about 102 degs, so shade and water were part of the equipment. I used a inverted U (a Cebik design) at 30 feet on a guyed heavy duty fibergalss pole (I was car portable). K2, palm paddles and a 120WH LiFEPo battery, somewhat of an overkill! The wind was so hard that I had to guy my umbrella. After a while the guyed pole blew down and fractured the dipole joiner. I was about ready to give up at the point, but decided to carry on with the now droopy antenna horizontal section at about about 20ft. The hanging dipole wires were about 2 feet off the ground.
I did work the GOAT man, which was nice and the last contact was F5JWH on 15M running in the SKCC WES. He gave a 519 but we made the QSO. Not many contacts because of spending about 2 hours resurrecting the antenna system. Next year will use my Alexloop.
 |
Bryan - WØESE
Just wanted to thank you for putting on the "Skeeter Hunt". I enjoyed it, and expect to participate in future years if it is continued.
Paul - WO5X
I had a very good time setting up but the temp was so very hot today in Arkansas. I had a great time working these stations. Hope to be better prepared next year.
Charlie - W3CQB
Friday I decided to enter the contest. I had not planned to do this. Everything in the garage (shack) is packed up while we are doing some construction work. I found the boxes with the MFJ 9040, 9020, keyer and paddles. And all of the cables to hook them up. I set everything up on the bench and it worked. Then I dug through the storage shed and located a 40 meter and a 20 meter dipole. And coax. Hey, I can do this. I asked for a "skeeter number."
Saturday morning I learned that I was skeeter number 123. Thanks Larry. I lugged all this stuff to a clearing in the woods below the house. Well, the trees were not exactly cooperative getting the ropes up. Then I found that I had two 40 meter dipoles. One of them is now a 20 meter dipole but not resonate in any ham band. Pulling antennas up and down is hard work for an old man. I decided that it was easier to go back to the house and get the T1 antenna tuner than trim the antenna. This tuner will not work if the battery has a "use before" date that is six years ago. Back to the house but there not a single 9 volt battery to be found. I went into town and got a new battery and the tuner worked great.
It is now 3 hours into the contest, I am pooped and the WAE contest is all over 20 meters. 40 meters was in good shape. I made a few QSOs and called it quits. Was all of this worth 6 QSOs? Yep!
Rick - NK9G
I set up at 9 AM to do some testing of the Off Center Fed Dipole I recently made. The balun is a 4:1 Air wound. And G5RV antenna.
I did comparisons of received signals. My second outing doing this. G5RV Hands Down BETTER!
This was great afternoon Contest / Sprint. Conditions were not all that bad. About 2:15 PM - 2:30 PM (CDST) I went back to 40 after going on the band earlier and it was hot. Lots of signals but I had to leave for a dinner commitment with company from out of town. I am looking forward to this one for next year for sure.
Thanks Larry for your hard work putting this together.
George - KXØR
Location of Skeeter Hunt operation: Unnamed mountain 8900 feet high, 3 miles east of Nederland, Colorado, near the old Magnolia mining area, in Roosevelt National Forest
Gear all built by KX0R: ATS-3B QRP rig, 2 modified BLT tuners, 2 antenna switch boxes, 3-element 20M portable reversible Bird yagi antenna at 40 feet, 20M folded dipole at 38 feet, 2 lithium-ion battery packs
My site was on a forested mountain east of Nederland, CO, at 8880 feet. I hiked up with a big pack full of gear in the early morning – it is about ½ mile from the end of the dirt road, and several hundred feet up, with no real trail. As soon as I started to setup for the event, disaster struck - the 3-element 20M Bird yagi came off the big spool in a horrible tangled mess, and it took me over half an hour to untie and untangle the numerous wires and ropes. Then I found a broken parasitic element connection, and had to repair it without solder – just twisted it onto the relay box terminal.
After the hassles, the Bird beam went up easily, suspended from four tall pine trees at about 40 feet. I added a 20M folded dipole hanging right below and perpendicular to the Bird – never had tried this stunt. The system had three patterns: East or West, relay switched; plus NW and SE, with a separate feedline and tuner.
Details: ATS-3B radio with 5W out, 12V lithium-ion battery, Palm paddles, 2 BLT tuners, two antenna switch boxes, 2 window-line feedlines, each about 55 feet, relay battery, headphones, 20M 3-element reversible Bird yagi, 9:1 homebrew Guanella transformer, 20M folded dipole. All operation was on 20M.
The weather was perfect, cool and dry, with no storms or lightning. The band conditions were OK but not great – many signals were moderate to strong, but many were weak, with lots of QSB. QRM from SSB and digital stations was a real issue at times. Many ops helped with patient repeats until I got their info OK.
It sounded like most people were having a lot of fun – thanks to all who worked with me to complete their contacts!
Comments on using a portable beam:
Portable beams are a BIG HASSLE compared to simple wire dipoles, verticals, and loops. It takes 10 times the time and effort to deal with a wire Bird yagi or Moxon, compared to a dipole or triangular loop. You only get about 3 or 4 db more signal in one direction, and you lose much more signal in the opposite direction! However, 3 or 4 db make a BIG difference with poor band conditions, with QRM and QRN, or when running low power. Running the reversible Bird yagi is pure pleasure – just flip the reversing switch when a station calls from the back side, and he comes up more than 20 db, and the other guys almost drop out. In the forward direction I hear and often work many stations that are so weak that I would not have tried to work them if they were down 3 db! Amazingly they always seem to copy me! What I don’t know is whether the forward gain makes up for contacts lost off the back side. When I call CQ to the east, there must be many West Coast stations who never come back because they can’t copy. When I call CQ to the west, eastern stations can’t hear me and try to take my frequency. Even so, having a beam on a mountain for a few hours is a lot of fun, and it’s very cool to sit under it and run it with the clouds flying by!
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Harry - K9DXA
Thanks for putting this event together. I operated portable while visiting friends near Lac Du Flambeau, Vilas county, Wisconsin. I needed the skeeter image to stay focused during the great weather we had. You can see the 55' insulated hook up wire vertical just in front of the skeeter. Counterpoise was just another 17' piece of hook up wire laying on the ground. We definitely need to do this again next year. 20M was the active band again. Just one QSO on 40M. Thanks to all for a great afternoon.
 |
John Paul - AB4PP
I operated from Durant Nature Park, Raleigh, NC. I walked into the park from the parking area. I used my Wilderness Sierra which someone else made and sold to me. So I cannot claim the X4 But rather the X3 for the points. The antenna was a made up Iditarod, for 40 and 20 meters. (20/40 meter dipole)
I put it up on a DK9SQ mast and hung the ends from the trees . I set up on a park bench. I had some deer and squirrels visit and had plenty of people come by while
I was sitting there. And then there was the friendly snake!
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Rem - K6BBQ
Rig - Yaesu FT-817ND, Paddle - N0SA (TIP-1) Tiny Iambic Paddle, 7.5Ah battery, 10 watt solar panel, Buddipole antenna with 16' mast.
I enjoyed the location for the Flight of the Bumblebees so much that I made my second visit here for the Skeeter Hunt. The salt water makes a big difference and I think if it wasn't for that, I may not have worked Jim, W4QO, not to mention hear him. Over 2.5 hours I had 10 QSOs. One of my four non-skeeter QSOs was with Ed, W7GVE who I had one of my earliest CW QSOs with. It has been a couple of years since our last QSO and we enjoyed a short chat. Here are the stations that I've had QSOs with before - (W4QO, WG0AT, KX0R, N0SS, NK9G, W7GVE).
The weather was great and radio conditions improved some from Saturday. I hope this new event is a reminder to QRPers that just like FYBO and FOBB, when a lot of QRPers get on the air for an event, QSOs with other QRP participants is guaranteed. Having over 100 participating stations meant there was some skeeter somewhere that a station could hear and could QSO with.
Thanks for creating this contest NJQRP.
 |
 |
Steve - WGØAT
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4dmeGdgNLA&feature=results_video
Larry - W2LJ
I had a real good time during the 1st Annual Skeeter Hunt today, although the outlook appeared bleak from the very beginning. Just as I was heading out the door to go to the park, our vacuum cleaner decided to give up the ghost. It made a real funny noise and a burning smell. I tried troubleshooting it quickly; but it turned out we needed a new one. Of course, my XYL didn't want to wait; so it was off to Target to buy a new one.
That chore taken care of, I headed to the park (dressed in my WGØAT "Old Goats Rule - QRP Adventures" T-shirt!) - nearly an hour and a bit into the contest. Fortunately, everything after the vacuum cleaner incident went as smooth as butter!
The weather here in Central NJ was gorgeous! A high of about 84F with sunny, blue skies and lots of white, puffy clouds. The humidity was not bad, and the only Skeeters that I had to worry about were the ones on the airwaves.
The wrist rocket got a line up over a pretty high tree branch on my first attempt. The PAR antenna went up without any trouble at all and and didn't even cause the KX3's autotuner to even so much as burp - 1:1 SWR on both 20 Meters and 40 Meters. The little box to the right of the KX3 is the PAR matchbox. I used my Whiterook single lever paddle today. And of course, you can see Ol' Blue, my battery, up there in the upper left hand corner of the camping table.
And the good SWR on 20 and 40 was a very good thing, because unlike the Flight of the Bumblebees, I was to find a lot of activity on 40 Meters. In fact, a little after 20:00 UTC, 20 Meters became dominated by European stations and I was barely able to hear any Skeeters on that band after that point.
In all, I managed 28 QSOs - 13 were on 20 Meters and 15 were on 40 Meters. Best DX was working Mike DJ5AV from Germany on 20 Meters at 18:55 UTC. I only got a 529 from him; but there were a lot of strong signals on both bands and I received quite a few 579s to 599s in addition to the "normal" 559s.
Tear down was just as easy as set up. After the contest ended, I was able to pack up things and be out of the park in less than 10 minutes.
I would like to thank all of you who took the time to participate in this first ever NJQRP Skeeter Hunt. I think a good time was had by all; and this will definitely become an annual Summer QRP event.
 |
 |
 |