I recently acquired some new QRP gear for portable use and wanted to get out to do some field testing. This lined up nicely with the annual "Skeeter Hunt" contest sponsored by the New Jersey QRP Club so I registered as a "skeeter" for the contest. This year's them was "bodies of water." I decided to operate from a picnic area adjacent to the Schuykill Canal in Oaks, Pennsylvania.
This park is also a trail head for the Schuylkill River Trail. Since I often ride my bike here, I decided to arrive early and go for a short ride before setting up for the contest. After my 30 minute ride, I stowed the bike and set up my radio equipment on a picnic table in the shade of some large trees. It was a great spot and the weather was excellent.
My antenna was a 30-foot wire and a homebrew 9:1 unun fed with 18 feet of RG-8x coax. I ran the antenna without radials, similar to the EARCHI antenna. My new Elecraft T1 tuner loaded it up quickly on both 40 and 20 meters. (I also checked 30 meters and it loaded up fine also.) I was lazy today so I just supported the wire with a 31-foot Jackite pole held up with a Jackite ground mount. I was operational in less than 10 minutes. My rig for this event was a YouKits HB-1B I recently purchased through Ten Tec. It was running about 4 watts, powered from a 5 A-H gel cell battery. I also used my trusty NorCal paddles and NorCal keyer.
For some reason, the restrooms were locked and nature was starting to call, so I packed up a little early and took a few pictures. I've seen better band conditions but I managed 13 contacts in an hour and a half. Once again, I managed to work my old friend, Carter N3AO, down in Virginia. It was a beautiful day and my new equipment appeared to be working fine.
73, Craig WB3GCK
LOG SUMMARY: Craig - WB3GCK - PA Skeeter #145 - All CW Skeeter QSOs - 13 Non-Skeeter QSOs - 0 DX QSOs - 0 S/P/Cs - 10 Station Class Multiplier - X3 Claiming Bonus - Yes -------------------------------------------------------------- BAND UTC CALL RST-S RST-R SPC NUMBER -------------------------------------------------------------- 40 1707 W3BBO 559 559 PA 14 40 1710 WQ4RP 579 579 NC 122 40 1714 WY3H 549 339 PA 105 20 1722 NK9G 569 559 WI 18 20 1724 AB9CA 569 559 AL 125 20 1729 K9DXA 559 559 WI 36 40 1741 KX9X 559 559 CT 1 40 1745 N3AO 459 449 VA 29 40 1751 NK9G 559 559 WI 18 40 1801 N3AQC 569 569 PA 111 20 1811 WB3T 579 579 PA 109 20 1813 N0SS 569 569 MO 20 20 1821 WB5BKL 559 579 TX 58