2015 NJQRP Skeeter Hunt Soapbox
Garry - WA1GWH

Worked only 40M starting with my SW-40+ @ 1W but going was too tough.  Used TS-520 @ 4W and worked 13 stations.  40M dipole @ 15 ft.  TNX to all ops for the repeats and for listening hard!  Garry WA1GWH

TU Larry.  You were my third contact.

George - K4EOR

Don - K4YND

Had planned to go to a park, wife unplanned the park. I set up in the back yard with a end fed ParZ tossed in a tree and a K2. Wasn't too hot and was able to work 16 stations on 20. For me the band would come and go. Long periods of not hearing much and then all of the sudden 3 NH stations answered me at once. When the band was down it was nice to sit back watch some birds and the jets on their approach to Dulles

Dave - KM4IXK

 It was another pretty day in the Smoky Mountains. Not nearly as warm as the BumbleBee event! I packed up the gear and some sittin' blankets onto the Skeeter Scooter and headed up the mountain trailed by Boss the dog... The dog easily outruns the scooter going up the mountain.

Our spot was at the top end of an apple orchard on Saunook Mountain in Waynesville, NC. The antenna was a double bazooka antenna held up about 30ft with bamboo poles tied to a fence. The goats were happy to see us return as this was the same spot we used for the BumbleBee contest.

While waiting for my trusty LogGirl Olivia to arrive I tested the equipment with the Skeeter-Scooter's battery. All powered up and we were ready to go!

We were using kit gear which included an OHR 100a 40m QRP radio, CW Scrubber regen filter, an OHR frequency counter, a J-38 antique straight key and a little speaker that I shoved a homebrew amplifier into the back of. Only items not a kit was the key and the antenna tuner. High end gear ;)

LogGirl Olivia came right on time with a picnic lunch from Bo-Jangles. Mmmmmm fried chicken to lubricate those straight key fingers.

It started out slow, just like the BumbleBee contest did. My second contact was my very good friends in Arkansas. You will never meet a kinder couple than these folks.  Over time we were able to beat our BumbleBee score by three contacts. Most of those contacts came in during the last hour of the contest. A few people stopped in to collect an SKCC number and I was happy to provide my number to them. Even did a short ragchew with someone a few towns over just because. (Hi Lamar!) The furthest contacts were to N2BZD in NJ (581.6 mi), NK9G in MO (578.1 mi) and NW2K in NY (577.8 mi)

At one point it started to rain. I was ready to pack all the gear up when LogGirl Olivia produced an umbrella and protected the gear. The rain was short lived and not very heavy and we moved on from there. I would have been scrambling if not for the quick thinking of my expert LogGirl.

At the end of the day we packed all the gear back into the old suitcase sent to me by my Arkansas friends and headed back down the mountain with Boss the dog trying to keep up with the Skeeter Scooter.. Ha dog! You might beat me going up but try to keep up coming down!!!! heh.

You asked for "Photos.. Lots of Photos.." Please enjoy LOTS of  photos of our day doing the NJQRP Skeeter Hunt! We'll be back next year with more skillz and more QRP kits for different bands.

KM4IXK - David in the Smoky Mountains

Jim - W1PID

Dave K1SWL, Tim W3ATB and I operated the Skeeter Hunt together from Andover, New Hampshire. We had a fantastic afternoon making QSOs, riding our bikes to an old railroad station, chasing DX and fellow skeeters and just horsing around. Lots of photos and a brief account at:

http://www.w1pid.com/15/skeeter/skeeter.html

Bob - AB1LT

First time on the Skeeter Hunt and had a great time.  Weather was perfect with a mild breeze and no skeeters biting.  20M had some big QSB at times making strong stations vanish mid-QSO, but that's all part of the fun.

I hiked about 1/2 mile to an open hill top in the local state park and set up at the edge near the tree line.  With 1 shot from my slingshot I got the 63' wire up for my home-brew 40/20/15 end fed half wave antenna.  I also just finished building a home-brew BuddiStick so I set it up too and used it for the first time on a couple QSOs.  Naturally, a wire about 50' up in a tree beats 10' of rod with a loading coil, but most times the difference between the 2 antennas wasn't big.

Rig is a kit from Steve Weber, his 3-band MTR "Mountain Topper".  I added an internal touch keyer.  The "key" is 2 copper PCB pads on adjacent corners of the box.  Rig (with touch key), battery pack, ear buds and 63' EFHW antenna weighs 15oz.  Truly a mountain topper rig.  The radio is the blue box velcroed to the clipboard along with the battery pack and log sheet. Very fun event and a great reason to field test my stuff.  It's on the calendar for next year.

Dave - N3NFL

It was a great day to be outside. Set up at the campsite on Sheshequin Hill ( East of Ulster PA ). The rig was an elecraft K1 and the antenna a Skeleton Sleeve Dipole ( 40 / 20 meters ) set up as an inverted V, up about 25 ft in the trees. The K1 only had 2 bars ( 2 watts ?) on 14.06 but had 4watts on 7.03. Was able to spend 2 hours on the air ( 2 to 4 ) before breaking it down and going home.  It was a lot of fun – I plan on being back next year. Thanks NJ QRP club.  72

Dave - AB9CA

Fun event. Seemed to be good participation. Lots of buzzing heard. I had wanted to set up in the backyard but life intruded and I did not have time to do that. But it was hot here in the Mobile area today, heat index hit 112 at 2 pm this afternoon. So I was not too disappointed at halving my score to stay inside and cooler!
Pulled out my K1, which I built about 14 hears ago, and used it. Could it really be that long ago? Have not used it in a while. Good little rig. Ant was 100' wire up about 35' oriented mostly E/W.
20 was the main band, as usual. 32 out of the total of 36 Q's were made there. 3 on 15 and 1 on 40. Did work stations from CA to NY. But TX was weak. The pesky Texans usually boom into here, but not for the Skeeter hunt.
Checked my RBN spots after it was over. Had only 77 spots from only 21 skimmers for the entire hunt. Condx were not so good. But that is prop for ya'.
Thanks to everyone for the Q's and a big THANKS! to Larry for organizing it. See ya' next year!

Marc - W4MPS
Another fun event. I was hoping band conditions would perk up, but, much like those NJ Skeeters, condx sucked. There were some great exceptions though, when in a short spurt of upward QSB, I was able to log a few Q's with our Rocky Mountain brethren.

The big skeeter-swatter himself KX0R was heard consistently all afternoon. He must have been using his patented 26 element wire "buzz beam" again- HI. Great to work the Skeeter Master W2LJ on 40 and 20 with big signals on both. I never heard one peep on 15 and didn't have enough wire for 80, but I know a few of our fellow KnightLites were active here in the Tar Heel state.

I operated from a nice spot in a field next to Lake Crabtree near Raleigh, although next time I'll look for a spot with some shade (severe meltation). I operated my KX3 with a 4.6 Ah LiFePO4 battery which, so far, has been a consistently reliable power source. Today's antenna was my trusty segmented dipole (40/30/20) set up as an inverted vee on a 20 foot extendable center pole. That's the same setup I used recently in EI-land. Weighs next to nothing and works FB.

Many thanks to Larry and the NJQRP gang for sponsoring the Skeeter Hunt. I look forward to it every year.

Don - K3RLL
KX1 to jumper inverted vee on 20’ Crappie Pole supported by conduit tripod held steady with milk bottle filled with gravel.
It was a nice sunny afternoon atop Mt. Distant here in rural PA with no bees attacking the operator this year. In fact, no actual mosquitoes out this afternoon either but there were distractions: The old man with the tractor who is convinced my portable wire antenna is killing his grass and then there were the two grown men running a gasoline powered R/C truck around my antenna for entertainment. Go figure!
Thanks for the fun and the patient operators on the other end.

Eric - WD8RIF
One member of the Southeast Ohio Radio Adventure Team participated in the 2015 NJ QRP Club Skeeter Hunt operating event. Eric McFadden, WD8RIF, operated at Tom Jenkins Dam in Burr Oak State Park as Skeeter #20. Eric was joined by his wife, Vickie, KC8MAJ who helped with setup and teardown but didn't operate.

Eric and Vickie arrived at Tom Jenkins Dam about an hour into the four-hour event and set up Eric's KX3 Travel Kit on a table in the picnic shelter. He and Vickie quickly hung the 28' end-fed wire from a suitable tree and made his first QSO on 20m with AD0AB at 1811Z.

A solar K-index of 3 caused very poor band conditions on 20m and 40m. Most Skeeter Hunt stations were weak and QSB was very fast and deep. In addition, the SKCC (link) Weekend Sprint (WES) was taking place right on the 20m QRP calling frequency, causing QRM.

Eric operated about 90 minutes and managed to work twelve stations on 20m and two stations on 40m.

Quinton - NU7Y

Not much “ a BZZ” in the AZ desert, except for the real bee’s at my wife’s pond. Couldn’t find any AZ skeeters to swat either. Hope that the folks back east had better luck.
Pete - NO2D

No photos.  Operated from my indoor shack with 88 foot doublet at 25 feet.  There were at least four contests vying for my attention.  Why do they all pick 14.060 to work.  Needed to use the 200 HZ. filter on the K3 to separate them, and even that was not always enough.  Had a lot of fun.  Learned that my 88 foot doublet likes going east from Colorado, but not much of anywhere else, at least this past Sunday.  Thanks, Larry, for putting this together and doing all the work so we could have fun.
Kelly - K4UPG

First time this summer contest season that I did not have to shut down due to lightning! Asked the SS class I teach (until noon) to pray for good weather and we got it! HOT and HUMID but a bit of breeze down by the lake. Enjoyed watching Bass busting schools of shad for almost the entire afternoon while I played radio.
Antenna (jumper dipole inverted vee at 30 ft) and rig (HB1B) setup and on air at 1734 so not bad for turnaround time. First station heard was W2LJ but others beat me to you Larry! That was the last I heard of you all day! SHUCKS.

Stayed on 20m all day. It was noisy with seasonal QRN and was shifting direction with strong QSB most of the day. Later in the day started hearing NM and AZ stations and a couple 6 calls so shifted orientation of the dipole towards the WSW. Helped a bit, but band never got solid enough to work them. Another odd day of propagation on 20m here in the sub-tropics. Seemed like good activity but many sigs too weak to work and down in the noise of the QRN from storms off in the distance. I missed hearing many familiar calls like AB9CA, WA8REI, K3RLL and others that normally are in the bag. Tried multiple times to reply to CQ's by WA0ITP and N3CU and missed N1EU too. NQ2W you had a FB signal and then dropped beyond threshold and lost ya in the noise and QSB. So sorry. Strongest signal of the day would be a tie between KX0R and NE5DL who were overloading the HB1B's front end for the last couple hours even when the attenuator was switched into action! Even with the IF filter cranked down tight you were both super strong most of the afternoon.

Did not make many contacts, lacked one letter to get the Word Bonus, but I would not want to miss this event. It has replaced FOBB and FYBO as my favorite QRP contest! Thanks Larry and NJ QRP for putting on a well-oiled and participated event. CU next time...
North American QRP CW Club - N3AQC

(Mike KC2EGL) It was a warm and beautiful day for operating out in the field.  I can take all of our field operations in weather like this.  40 M worked well today 15M not so much.  Worked 15 stations on 40.  Even logged Larry W2LJ.  15M was dead.  Only worked 2 stations. Both came back to my CQ which I called for over a half hour.  My KX3 fed to a home brew jumperdipole worked like a charm as usual.

(Tom WB3FAE) My first Skeeter hunt.  The afternoon started out with a rather elaborate (and effective) ruse concocted by John and Mike. While John distracted me, Mike installed a custom Bezel on my KX3. This they said was for hosting this year's field day which was my pleasure. Thanks guys! I took the 15 meter band. Not many Skeeters to be had on 15 meters. Lots of DX contest Stations however.  It was a beautiful day in Kittanning. Looking forward to next year.

(John K3WWP) It definitely was a nice day. I had a bit of trouble at first with a bad coax connector which gave me an SWR of over 20 to 1. As soon as I moved the connector slightly, the SWR immediately went down to 1:1 as is normal with the KX3 feeding just about anything. From there on all went quite well. There was a lot of activity on my band of 20 meters for the whole 4 hours. It was a pleasure working with Mike and Tom. That was the bottom line.

Craig - WB3GCK

I was visiting my daughter and her family near Harrisburg, PA, over the weekend, so I set up in their back yard to work a little of the Skeeter Hunt contest. I set up my LNR Trail-friendly EFHW as a sloper off of a 31-ft pole strapped to the fence and broke out my little HB-1B. The yard is in a bit of a hole and the band conditions weren't all that great, so it was rough going for the 2 hours I operated. I managed to squeak out 11 QSOs. Not a great showing but it was a beautiful day to be out under a shady tree sipping iced tea and playing radio. Thanks to Larry W2LJ for putting this contest together again this year.  72, Craig WB3GCK (Skeeter# 74)

Will - NQ2W

Beautiful day...too bad the HF condx didn't match the WX condx in northern New York. QSOs were tough to be had with loads of QSB on both 20 and 40. I changed the filter board of my K1 and called for a while on 15 but nothing was going on there. Thanks to all for the QSOs and special thanks to Larry and the NJQRP Club for providing the opportunity.Until next year, stay thirsty my friends...72, Will
Joe - N2CX

Gang,

Well ,I had made it a point to get on in the Skeeter Hunt on Sunday and was able to do so in spite of some  family activities.

Since I was unable to operate at home or portable, I did so mobile (while myson drive the car).

In spite of poor propagation, necessarily inefficient mobile antennas and extra electrical noise from  lousy car ignition systems, the five watts from my KX3 did ok.

Alas, only 7 contacts from North Carolina to Quebec on 40 and 20 but it was fun anyway. It was  particularly gratifying to work the NAQCC  Parkpedition station N3AQC and a long time NJQRp'er Bob, W3BBO.

Thanks to Larry, W2LJ for setting this up once again.

72/73,

Joe E., N2CX
Scott - W1ZU

I had limited time to operate, but was able to get out and setup for a little bit at Underhill State Park on  the slope of Mount Mansfield.  It was a great day with little humidity and good temps.  Only 5 QSOs, but I had  fun.  Hope to see you next year, where I can try to better my score (shouldn’t be too difficult! hihi).

Jim - W4QO

Very nice weather for GA in August... 88F.
Slightly overcast under a large tree at Leita Thompson park about 1/2 mile from my QTH.  Operating Conditions:
Homebuilt KX3 on a 4 cell LiFEPO battery.  Logging: WINbook using N3FJP.  WINKEY CW keyer.  K8RA (sk) mini paddle
Antenna: W4QO OCF (100 foot doublet, fed at 33')
16' of 300 ohm window line, a 4:1 balun, 10' of coax to rig. tuned with KX3 internal tuner, height: 25'  Erected with throw bag.

Phil - W3HZZ

Although I did not have the best score, I did have the most scenic view - on a hill on the east side of Portland, Maine, looking NE at Casco Bay. Temperatures were in the seventies and a nice breeze kept the skeeters away. The rig was an MTR, running about 4 watts on a LiPO battery. The antenna was a LNR EndFed 40/20 dipole, one end up about 25 feet, running in a NW - SE direction. Ideal conditions, except I wasn't hearing much. There was a Polish station and Swiss station calling CQ QRP to beat the band, but they didn't hear me.

A lunch of Maine oysters, kept me off the air until nearly 14:45. Operated about 90 minutes.

Ray - K2ULR

Inside my '74 VW Westy camper.  My son is over by his VW bus along  with his cousin in the background.

The KX3 is being powered by that silver item near the window... a N1RX  modified medical cart battery.

I didn't work many stations, but I have an excuse: I was set up  over at my son's place, and the grandkids needed "Papa's" (my  nickname) from time to time.  Much as I love ham radio, I love the  kids even more.  :)  I had lots of fun, in any event.  It seemed to me  that the bands were not in good shape... and that didn't help.
Already looking forward to another hunt next year.  :)

Bob - N4BP

Took a little motorcycle ride from Plantation, FL to Sturgis, SD and now on my way home.  After 4000+ miles of riding, I got in about an hour of operating from Mt. Vernon, IL by using my home station under remote control.  Wish I could have spent more time in the Skeeter Hunt, but needed to stay on schedule to make it home on time.  Prop didn't seem very good, but at least there were no thunderstorms in SFL as evidensed by the lack of static.  Thanks for the QSOs.
Val - WD4EXI

Worked from Brook Run Park in Atlanta.  Antenna was a wire vertical coax fed from KX3 powered by 12V AGM battery.  Enjoyed the contest but conditions were not too great during my operating time.   Heard lots of the European contest calls on 15 meters but no skeeters.  A fun contest!
Jack - 5R8SV (AI4SV)

Between the FOBB and the Skeeter Hunt, I got back home to Madagascar. I've been posted here for the last year, and had worked with a G5RV up to this point, but the skeeter hunt pushed me finally put the hex beam up. After sweaty weekend of hammering, painting, stringing, lashing, wiring, and hoping I got it all right, I got the beam pointed at towards New Jersey an hour before the event. I have had a number of QRP-to-QRP qsos from this QTH, but unfortunately, on the evening of the skeeter hunt, conditions just weren't good enough for me to hear the flutter of little mosquito wings from across the pond (the pond in this case also including a portion of the Indian Ocean, the Middle East, Europe, and the Atlantic for me to reach North America short path). That's not to say I didn't get some QSOs, though. At one point, I set up shop on 20m and called CQ at 5W. I had a run of contacts with EU stations: Germany, England, Slovenia, Sweden and Estonia. Unfortunately, most of them had no idea what I was doing. A few sent me WAE exchanges and were confused when I asked their name and power, which ranged from 100w (the lightweight) to 1kw. Not quite the QRP that I was seeking. I have to give credit to one German station, though, who either read my QRZ page or looked up what "CQ BZZ" meant - he was QRO, but gave the right exchange. At one point, the floodgates opened when I was spotted on dxsummit and I worked a run of stations (including a few US stations, but not full contest exchange, so I'm not counting them). When that died down, I switched strategies and went hunting for mosquitoes, principally on 15 and 20m, which I thought were my best bets. I patrolled vigilantly for mosquitos, but local spraying efforts seem to have been effective -- none made it to my antenna. Looking forward to trying this next year -- perhaps we can scare up some additional mosquitos outside North America?  72 - Jack 5R8SV




Dick -  K2UFT

Thanks to WD4EXI for sharing his KX3 with me.  My MTR wasn't hearing well on 20 and was inoperative on 40 for some reason.
Gene - N5GW

It was mighty hot and humid in the woods in central MS ( heat index 110-115), but I had cold Gatorade and a small generator running two fans, allowing me to survive. The morning of the sprint I put up an inverted vee CFZ over a big oak limb with apex up about 50' and got under a wood shed in dense shade. The K1 was hooked up to a homebrew minituner.  As usual 20M was the band to be on even though QSB was bad at times. Only six of my 39 QSO's were on 40M and only three on 15M. Next year I'll try to be up on the Cumberland Plateau in TN where it's cooler and antennas seem to work better.
John - K3JH



Unfortunately unsuccessfully. 73 #34, K3JH
Jim - K4AHO

20 meters was up and down, only had 2 hours to operate but gave it a shot.   I was using a KX3 on wire antennas generally equivalent to what I would use in the field. Biggest lesson learned was how much greater noise floor (S2-3) I have here at home compared to out in the field(S0).  I could have worked many more station with a lower noise floor despite the constant QSB. These 1 to 5 PM contest are right in the middle of the D layer peak attenuation and that makes it doubly hard here in FL. I wonder how the D layer intensity relates to latitude. Larry, thanks for putting this one on.   I'll do better next year, HI.
Greg - N4KGL


I combined a trip to my Parent's in Dothan, Alabama and the NJQRP Skeeter Hunt event. The house is where I grew up and has many tall pines. So I went with the 40/20 fan dipole in the front yard.. I used my Big Shot sling shot to get the center support line over a limb. There were higher limbs but my choice was up about 30 feet high. I did not start hanging the antenna until the start of the hunt. It takes a bit of time to secure the dipole ends and so forth. I did did not get the first contact until a hour had past.

The conditions could have been better. there was plenty of QSB. On 20 CW I worked a string of six including KX0R, W2LJ, N3AQC, NE5DL, WD8RIF and N3CU. I checked 15 meters CW and I worked N9SE doing SKCC.Then I mixed in 20 SSB and picked up three doing the Maryland/DC QSO Party. On to 40 CW Iworked N5GW doing the hunt. Not much more there so I went to 40 SSB. I worked K9HAM running a net on 7.285 and AK4YF on 7.255. My final jump was to 15 CW and worked N3AQC doing the hunt. I heard KC5FM/M a mobile skeeter on 20 SSB but he could not hear me. I also was called by someone on SSB too weak to copy. So lets see I count 9 CW contacts and 8 were Skeeters. There were 5 SSB contacts and none were Skeeters. So that was 14 over two and a half hours as I packed up 30 minutes early.

I was assisted by my Dad, Tom WD0HBR and Suzy our basset puppy. We took advantage of the shade. I enjoyed mixing up CW and SSB. The KX3 is a fine rig for that.Thanks to Larry W2LJ for setting up a nice QRP event. The local skeeters in the yard found me I did not need to hunt for them!
Nick - WB5BKL

K1 @ 5W to a 20M dipole strung between a live oak and a cedar in a  remote area of Longhorn Cavern State Park.  Tried 15M with no luck.  Propagation was a roller-coaster here.  I had a QSO that started with  K0FNR and ended with WG0AT - and the QSB transition was so seamless that  I did not notice until I worked Steve again - about 3 hours later.

Oh well.  It's all fun - even at ~104F.

Folks from the Texas hill country will tell you we have two seasons -  summer and August.  I did a short video that will show what my part of  Texas looked like on Skeeter Hunt Sunday:

<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yel1qdDAUq8>

My thanks to W2LJ and the New Jersey QRP Club for their efforts and  sponsorship.  Had fun.
Burlington County Amateur Radio Club - K2TD

We used the name Matt to honor a club member who is battling cancer. Equipment - 2 kit built KX3s  feeding end fed antennas. Location Pennington Park in Delran, NJ. A fun afternoon socializing, lunch and a little radio. We operated multi-multi one rig on 40 and the other on 20. Never heard a phone station.

For a video - go to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kubuYHTZUTo


Derek - WF4I

I operated from the picnic shelter behind Pleasant Garden town hall.  My rig was a K2 and my antenna was an end-fed for 40M/20M/10M up about 25 ft.  I worked most of the stations that I could hear but, unfortunately, I didn’t hear that many.  I think that I would have done much better if I had used a dipole.  Next year I will find a place with tall trees to erect a dipole. 4 of my QSO’s were on 40M and the balance on 20M.  I had a great time and look forward to next year.
The KnightLites ARC - WQ4RP

The Knightlites (WQ4RP) Skeeter team consisted of husband and wife team Bill, N2WG and Karen, WA4CR. Marty, W4MY and Paul, AA4XX filled out the team.
We operated from the deck of AA4XX's camper alongside the Intra Coastal  Waterway near Surf City, NC.

Weather conditions were beautiful, but band conditions were not so hot.   We used Bill and Karen's KX-3 for most of the Skeeter Hunt.  Karen netted us 2 SSB Skeeters, after quite a  few SSB CQ's on 40, 20, and 15M. 15M never opened up for us.  While 40M gave us a handful of Q's, our money band was 20M.

We all enjoyed the casual style of this contest, taking time out to eat  pizza, socialize, and even to chase down AA4XX's little dog Jack, who took advantage of an open gate late in the contest.  Fast acting W4MY cornered Jack on the end of a pier, as Jack had no viable options left except to dive  into the salt water!

During the closing moments of the Skeeter Hunt, we were privileged to  receive a visit from fellow Skeeter Joe, W2KJ, who drove over from nearby Hampstead.  It was great to finally meet Joe after many years of QRP CW QSO's.

Thanks to W2LJ and the NJ QRP Club for hosting this fun event.


Ann - K1QO

Lots of fun!!! I was so happy to work W2LJ on 40M, Larry, many thanks for all the work you put into this contest, lots of participation translates to lots of fun and you sure did a great job publicizing this event and handing out lots of numbers!!!!  By the way you were my only contact on 40, everyone else was on 20M. Great to hear new calls as well as the comforting calls of; N5GW, WB5BLK, W4QO and of course you to "LJ".  Pretty sure N3AQC, #1, John had to be K3WWP at the key sending for NAQCC....very happy to get him too, and Marty running WQ4RP.   Many thanks to NJQRP club and mega thanks to W2LJ...this contest is a keeper!!! See everyone next year 72/88 Ann
George - K2WO

This was my third straight year of participating in NJQRP’s Skeeter Hunt and as always,  I thoroughly enjoyed it.  I operated from Fox Lake Park in Titusville this year and found a shelter to protect me from the predicted rain (a daily occurrence every afternoon this year in Central Florida). Surprisingly,  the rain never showed up,  but the heat did.  It stayed 95 F all afternoon. I used my 31’ Jackite pole as always, but this year I tried a new antenna to see how it would do.  I tied off the feed point near the top of the Jackite and ran it as a sloper, tied off to a tree at about 5 Feet. I checked the SWR’s on both 20 meters and 40 meters and they were both under 1.7,  so I was good to go. I got on 20 right at 1 PM EDT and the band seemed filled with “CQ BZZ”. My first contact was with Ken, N3CU in PA and he had a great signal into Florida. I then worked George, KX0R, in CO.  He was VERY strong and his signal seemed to stay that way all afternoon as I tuned up/down the band. I was thrilled to work Larry, W2LJ and then during one of the few times I called CQ BZZ,  who came back but Steve, WG0AT, form CO. Steve was pounding in.    I tried 40 Meters periodically,  but didn’t hear much SH activity there and never had a QSO there.  Twenty Meters was great, but there was LOTS of QSB and you had to be quick as stations would go from 599 to barely readable in the noise very quickly. Overall,  I had a super time and really enjoyed myself again this year.  Thanks to Larry, W2LJ and the NJQRP Group for a job well done.  See you all next year.
Roxanne - AA7RX

Unfortunately, my daughter has been very sick this week, and I spent the first three hours of the Skeeter Hunt taking care of her. When I was finally able to get on the air, I didn’t hear anybody calling CQ on 20m SSB, and nobody heard my CQs. I switched over to CW (which is not something I use very often—I’m still learning). I heard several stations calling CQ BZZ, but my skills at decoding CW just were not up to the task of figuring out their callsigns. I had hoped that I’d be able to make a few QSOs on SSB, but I know that it’s much easier to work QRP with CW. Next year, I hope to be able to participate!
73 & 88,
Roxanne
AA7RX (Skeeter Number 88)
P.S. This is my baby girl at the ER earlier this week. Radio always takes a back seat to family.  :)



Daryll - VE3LFN

It was an awesome day for Skeeter Hunt 2015!
The weather cooperated this time & some of us were rewarded with some better than expected band conditions.
My rig was an FT-817 running 5 watts output to a LNR end fed wire thrown in a tree at a roadside park along the St.Clair Parkway on the banks of the St.Clair River.
72 until next year



Rick - NK9G

Well it's in the History Books now.  Well I was right, again. The so called meteorologists on all 4 local stations said that rain by 1 PM local with early thunderstorms, Wrong!  I checked the state radar picture and saw rain down in the Flatland (Illinois) but no rain in the southern half of Wisconsin. So made a decision to hit it. I loaded up my rig, antennas, table, chair, I always want to be comfortable, and a EZ-UP just in case.  On the road it's 77 degrees and muggy. At the park it's 66, fog like Pea Soup. Up on the bluff visibility is about 2 blocks. I walked over to the bluff where the water/shoreline is about 150' away and I could not even see the water.

So I started to set up the 3 antennas I bought along. My 20 meter Delta Loop, shorty G5RV and a 88' doublet. I had them all up in an hour and ten minutes.  Delta @ 40', G5RV @ 30' and the doublet at 35'. The first hour and a half was tough as QSB was the worst I had over my last 5 weekend radio time. At times I would not even be able to copy the full report and the Op was gone. By halfway through the band (20) started to improve. Although I was comparing antennas and checking them out with my analyzer I managed to make 41 Q's. With all those I saw on the roster I figured I should get at least half, not to be. I did get on 40 meters but lots of static crashes and signals seemed all to be weak. I worked a few new calls that were slow but I believe everyone has to get their feet wet. All in all this was anther great afternoon event. Rig was Yaesu FT-817ND running off a 7aH battery, Z-11 Pro and of course a 4:1 balun that I road tested and it passed easily. Thanks to W2LJ and the New Jersey QRP Club for sponsoring this one. I know Larry puts endless hours in our hobby for the benefit of QRP'ers. Thank You Larry! Thanks to all the guys who took the effort to get in there!
Mid-Missouri ARC - N0SS



We journeyed 22 miles from our home QTHs in order to operate from the air-conditioned flower room of K9ZTV's new funeral home in Westphalia, Missouri.  Since the rules do not preclude operating from inside structures, we saw no reason why Midwest Skeeters should swelter in 97-degree/100 percent humidity with antennas 600 feet above-sea-level, while our Rocky Mountain and Appalachian colleagues enjoy cool, dry breezes and antennas at altitudes of thousands of feet.  The rig was K9ZTV's kit-built KX3, serial number 021, keyed by a Begali Adventure paddle, to an Aerial-51 Model 404-UL Asymmetrical Inverted V at the top of a Spiderbeam 60-foot fiberglass telescoping mast.  Both antenna and mast were easy-up/easy down, and performed very well.  The mast was lashed to a 30-foot parking lot light stanchion.  Once again, our thanks to Larry for providing a fun afternoon of brass-pounding. 
Joe - KC2SVS

Last year the OMARC club had 2 members participate, this year we had 4. We are advertising the event in our club newsletter and interest is growing. I’ll attach a couple pictures to this email and send a few more shortly. I used my Yaesu FT 897D with an LDG auto tuner, and an end fed wire antenna, powered by battery.

Photos are:
Me at my station in the shade of an old Army communications tower, and my station on the left in the OMARC club Diana Site in the Camp Evans Area in Wall Township NJ with the TLM-18 Army Communications dish and our meeting site in the background.


George - KX0R

Sunday morning I got up early and went to my secret site in the Roosevelt National Forest to set up the Skeeter Hunt station.  The location is a nameless mountain near Nederland, Colorado, west of Boulder.  This peak requires a moderate hike to get up.  The elevation is about 8900 feet above sea level, and about 3500 feet above the Great Plains, visible to the east.

I brought my 2-element 20M Bird Yagi antenna.  The Bird is very basic – just two wires and some Dacron lines.  Using my Mitchell 300, I put lines across four 45-foot pines, tied the lines to the Bird, connected up the 9:1 balun and window line, and raised the antenna.  The antenna has a very broad pattern, and I erected for maximum gain was to the east.

I also erected an end-fed full-wave antenna with some broad directivity north and south.  Each antenna had its own tuner, so I could change directions with a switch.

There were many skeeters on the air, and there was no way I could contact all the ops I could hear.  There were many familiar calls – it was like a big QRP club!  For sure there was more activity the last hour than last year; more skeeters stuck it out to the end, instead of trying to chase EU DX for extra points. 

This year the mountain weather was really nice, between 65 and 75 degrees, with few insects besides all the skeeters on the radio.  For once I didn’t have to QRT because of lightning or rain.  I was thankful for the many patient Skeeters who gave repeats to complete marginal QSO’s.  20M band conditions were OK.  I didn’t try other bands.    
 
Rig Details:
 
Radio:               ATS-3B, 5W    - built by me from KD1JV kit
Battery:             Lithium ion, homebrew pack 2.2 AH
Tuners:             Homebrew 
Paddles:            Palm
Antenna:           Homebrew 2-element Bird Yagi at about 40 feet
Feedline:           Window line, 50 feet


Malcolm - VE2DDZ



In addition to operating the Skeeter Hunt, I was activating a Summits on the Air summit.  So if you are a SOTA chaser or are interested in SOTA you can use our contact to claim chaser points for summit VE2/LR-129.  The summit is named Montagne Blanche on the trail (but not on most maps nor in the SOTA database).  You can find more information about SOTA at http://www.sota.org.uk/
Ken - N3CU

This was my second time operating in the Skeeter Hunt, and it gave me yet another reason to take my rig out to the Great Outdoors.  I chose another beautiful spot several hundred feet above the Susquehanna River, which gave my wife & I beautiful views from the overlook.  The spot was located at Susquehannock State Park, which is located in Southern Lancaster County, PA.

I arrived at around 10:45 a.m. which gave me plenty of time to set everything up.  I had no problem getting my Center-fed Zepp up at 40’ in the trees, then I set up my Buddistick on a camera tripod.  My rig consisted of a FT-817ND, LDG Z817 antenna tuner, and my Bencher paddle.  I set up right along the trail which led from the parking lot to the scenic overlook.  This turned out to be a great location, as I had numerous folks stop by to inquire what I was doing.  Earlier in the season, I had made a sign which you can see in my pictures, which let people know that I am an Amateur Radio operator, and that I was contacting folks in other parts of the world.  This provided a great opportunity to show what we’re all about.

The band conditions turned out to be pretty good as I could contact pretty much whoever I heard.  The normal WES stations, along with the WAE participants loaded the bands, but helped to provide some contacts.  As usual, stateside came in pretty well in the beginning of the event, with the DX rolling in later.

It was a beautiful afternoon to be outside, and it was great to combine two of the things I enjoying doing the most,…relaxing at another beautiful scenic location, while getting in some radio time.  As you can see in one of my pictures, my wife loves to join me on these adventures, as she also loves the outdoors, and enjoys reading & relaxing outdoors, along with hearing me contact folks around the country & the world.

Once again, I appreciate Larry, W2LJ, for all of his efforts in making this event an enjoyable one, and for giving me yet another reason to get outside and enjoy “QRP & the Great Outdoors”!


Great Outdoors Radio Club - K4INC

This was my first operation as a Skeeter. Had a great time running the Great Outdoor Radio Club call, K4INC. Skeeter #152. I set up on the banks of the Haw River along the Haw River Canoe Trail, part of the Mountains to Sea Trail in North Carolina. Perfect weather for a day trip and bands were in pretty good shape. Weapons of choice were my Mountain Topper Radio and an EFT-10/20/40 antenna. Keys were my Minute Man mini straight key and the Mini-B single lever paddle. Plenty of skeeters out there of the radio type and the biting type.  Best surprises were working my friend Steve, WG0AT. and having ON6FT answer my CQ. Looking forward to next year. I'll be a regular.

73 for now,
Randy_K4INC Great Outdoors Radio Club
KB4QQJ
Harry - K9DXA


A great afternoon for buzzing again this year! Could only work 20M because 40M was a QRN mess. Thanks to all for QSOing me. Tried a new antenna this year at the same QRV site on Long Lake near Lac du Flambeau, WI. Basically, 20M and 40M inverted vees supported in the middle with a 30' telescoping fiberglas pole designed to go up and bring down easily by one person. Ends were tied off as far away as I could make it. Grade level was on a 25' bluff overlooking the lake. The usual K2 and a tuner handled the rest of the signal work. My trusty sealed lead acid battery kept me going just fine. So long until next year.
Larry - W2LJ

Thanks to all of you who participated in the NJQRP Skeeter Hunt!

Thank you, thank you, thank you ..... THANK YOU!

As usual, I had a blast.  There seemed to be a lot of Skeeter activity in amongst the SKCC WES'ers and the WAE'ers. From time to time it felt like you needed a scorecard to figure out who was working what. In all I made 45 QSOs, most of which were Skeeters and I believe I got the word bonus, too.  It was fun. And to make matters even better, the weather was perfect this year. It was in the low 80s (28C) with a slight breeze and I was in the shade. It felt magnificent to be outdoors on a day like today!

This time, instead of using the PAR or the EARCHI, I used a W3EDP antenna. In fact, it was the one that I made for use at SPARC Field Day. When I got to the park, I launched a line into a tree that was located right near the spot that I had picked to operate. I attached the coax to my LDG 4:1 BALUN and hoisted it to the point where the end of the coax would be at the same level and would attach easily to the KX3.  Then I picked a tree close to 84 feet away and launched a line for the other end of the W3EDP.  When lifted into place, the far end of the antenna was up at the 35-40 foot level (10-11 Meters).

The antenna worked beautifully and I was able to work everyone that I was able to hear. 16 of the 45 QSOs were on 40 Meters, the rest were on 20 Meters. As a matter of fact, I worked N3AQC and W3BBO on both 20 and 40 Meters and I was blown away by how loud both were on 20 Meters. I never expected PA stations to be so loud on 20 Meters. It's usually just not the case.

Since the KX3 will tune up a W3EDP on all bands, I even checked out 15 and 80 Meters for a bit. There was no activity on either band that I was able to hear.

I had a few visitors. One was a woman walking her dog, who was wondering if I was listening for seismic activity. Of course I told her "no" and explained what I was doing.  The other was an inactive Ham who was intrigued by what was going on and perhaps, just perhaps, I rekindled a sparc (pun intended). I invited him to the next SPARC meeting.  He started going on about not having equipment and not knowing CW, but I told him none of that matters. We have all kinds of experience levels and various interests at SPARC and no matter his experience level or whatever he likes to do radio-wise, he's always welcome.

I stayed to the bitter end and clean up went super fast. I was home by 5:20 PM and left no sign that I was ever there. A very good day, indeed, and I already can't wait for next year!
Dave - NE5DL

Operated 3 1/2 hours, rough going, lots of QSB, antenna had good coverage - LNR EF Quad at 25 feet 2 poles one outside the fence......100F Operated 3 1/2 hours, rough going, lots of QSB, antenna had good coverage.