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As you all know from my near constant and annoying yammering since last August, the 2013 NJQRP Skeeter Hunt is tomorrow. This is a huge event for me, and it gives me a lot of joy to not only operate in it, but to manage it as well. It is my sincere wish that all of you who have chosen to participate this year enjoy yourselves and have the best of times. You folks are the life blood of the QRP hobby, and without all of you, this niche of Amateur Radio would not be thriving like it is – and thriving it is!

Unfortunately, I will only be able to join with you all for a limited amount of time at the beginning and at the end of the contest. A few months ago, without paying attention to the date, I agreed to volunteer at the St. Mary’s Soup Kitchen in Plainfield from 2:00 to 4:00 PM (the middle two hours of the hunt) tomorrow afternoon. When I discovered the conflict, I have to admit that my first reaction was the human one, I thought of trying to find a substitute, or possibly make an excuse and just back out all together.

But as important as the Skeeter Hunt and Amateur Radio are to me (and they are VERY important!) some things are more important. The people that are served, who are down on their luck, depend on this facility for a decent meal. And even though my presence isn’t mandatory for the kitchen to open or run, it wouldn’t be right to blow off a commitment to people who are in need. Besides, the Amateur’s Code reminds us that the Radio Amateur must be “Balanced – Radio is an avocation, never interfering with duties owed to family, job, school or community.” In the end, I had to ask myself, “What’s more important, my fellow man or my hobby?” I think you’d all agree with me as to the answer.

Still, I can’t begin to tell you how much I want to be on the air for the entire event, but this year, that’s just not possible. So for as much as I can manage to squeeze in out of the first and final hours, Skeeter #13 will be in the basement shack, handing out as many contacts as possible.  And believe me, I am going to squeeze in every possible last nano-second that I can, so keep your ears peeled for W2LJ.

Now, with all that said and done, I have a huge favor to ask of all of you who are participating. Along with your log summaries and soapbox comments (and photos … please, plenty of photos!) please let me know what changes if any, you would like to see for next year’s Skeeter Hunt. We added SSB this year – digital modes, next year perhaps? Would you like to see that? Different time of the day, i.e. a later start? Anything that you would like to see modified will be taken under thoughtful consideration.

For those of you who are not participating for one reason or another, but just might in the future, I’d be very happy to read your comments and suggestions, too. Just send an e-mail titled “Skeeter Hunt Suggestions” to either [email protected] or [email protected].

Once again, thanks for participating and for making the NJQRP Skeeter Hunt the success that it is – signups for Skeeter numbers exceeded last year’s requests! And a very special thanks to the NJQRP for sponsoring this event – with out them, this wouldn’t be possible.

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP – When you care to send the very least!

It’s been almost a year since I wrote something for Amateurradio.com. We all go through rough times and I certainly had my share of downs in the last 11 months (and not many ups to compensate those). I am even a bit ashamed to say that I didn’t surf over here for a while, so I did miss out on a lot of posts from Larry, Paul, Julian and the others.

This coming teaching season is going to be a little less stressful and so my good intention is to write at least one article each month. In the mean time you can visit my newly revised website with my radio blog, logbooks and weather. Yes, I did manage to put the 1-Wire weather station back in operation again. All the sensors are out on the balcony, with the pressure and a temperature sensors in the shack. Being high summer in sub-tropical Taiwan daytime temperatures usually hover around 34 degrees, with 26 degrees at night. The shack heats up so much in the daytime and stays hot at night that the temperature hasn’t dropped below 30 degrees for the past few weeks. Still, I am quite active at the moment, but more about that later….

Today my wife, Judy and I took a quick bike ride along the Winnipesaukee River. I stopped in a beautiful spot and operated for 15 minutes. I worked Macedonia, Croatia, the Czech Republic, and Italy.

What a glorious summer afternoon. The fields and farm land engulfed us as we rode along the trail in the warm sun. We stopped across from a small pond and walked into the woods and sat down on some rocks right at the river’s edge.

I heaved a 33 foot wire over some branches and set up the KX3 on the rocks. I operated on both 17 meters and 20 meters. There were plenty of strong stations on both bands. Here’s my log:

7 Aug-13 1950 14.010 Z320G CW 599 599 Macedonia
7 Aug-13 1955 14.009 9A2AJ CW 559 599 Croatia
7 Aug-13 2000 18.068 OK2AN CW 579 599 Czech Rep
7 Aug-13 2001 18.083 9A2YM CW 599 599 Croatia
7 Aug-13 2005 18.072 IK2SND CW 599 599 Italy

After making several QSOs, I packed up and got ready to head back. I’ve operated from this spot perhaps a half a dozen times. I’ve enjoyed it each time. I head up the hill to the bicycle and ride back.

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Dear Peter – What a wonderful QSO with you from along the riverside! I promised I would send some pictures and here they are. I am also writing you a note with a full account of my radio adventure this afternoon including our QSO. I also worked Columbia and Denmark.

The journey starts when I take the bicycle out of my VW camper on the old road that runs along the river and goes to New Hampton. The road has a gate, so to proceed, one must use a bicycle, a horse, or go on foot.

The road hasn’t been used regularly since the 1940s. It’s beautiful and passes through old farm land. When I first came to this spot nearly 40 years ago, a farmer grazed his cattle in the nearby fields. After cycling for a kilometer or so, I come to a corner with a perfect view of the river.

I continue another 2 km and come to an old bridge abutment. The bridge is no longer there, but there is a small clearing under some tall trees where I like to operate.

I pull the equipment from my bag and heave a line up about 12 meters over an oak branch. Then I pull up a 10 meter wire. It is perfectly vertical, and I sit down directly under it.

Today I am using the KX3 at five watts. The coax runs to a 9:1 unun and then to the antenna. At first I listen on 20 meters and hear HK1R calling CQ from Columbia. We quickly exchange 599s, and I switch to 15 meters. There you are, and I call. You know the rest, but for the sake of other readers, I will say you are 589 and you give me a 569. I tell you that I am QRP and portable near the river. You send, “solid copy from UR QRP DR Jim.” While we are chatting, you find my web page and comment on the pictures. I promise to send you some photos from today. We continue for more than 20 minutes. I am amazed that you can copy my tiny signal so well! Finally the QSB arrives and you drop down to 549… Surely you can not copy much of what I am sending at the end… You send, “So now I have got some QSB x Perhaps conditions are changing.” With that we say goodbye. What a wonderful contact half way around the world.

Before packing up, I go to 17 meters and make a quick contact with OV1CDX on Sjaelland Island in Denmark. Frank is 599 and he gives me a 559. I am overjoyed and walk down to the old bridge site to take a picture.

I drink in the view, being careful to avoid the poison ivy! It’s everywhere here. And I walk back to the operating position and pack everything away for the ride back.

Peter, I hope you can now imagine how much fun I have on these radio outings. What could be better than a ride through glorious countryside… add to that a QSO with DF1LX and a perfect afternoon is guaranteed. Thank you, my friend. 73 Jim W1PID

This afternoon I rode my bicycle to Old Hill Village and worked Cuba, Ukraine, Spain, Belgium and Denmark. It was a fantastic afternoon.

I took the trail south from Needle Shop Brook. It was glorious. The road winds through fields and old farm land. One section close to the river is lined with helianthus flowers.

Hill Village lies on the opposite side of the Pemigewasset River from Sanbornton. The old road runs along the river from Franklin, through Hill Village to Bristol. The road has been closed since the 1940s when the area was abandoned to create a flood control area for the Franklin Falls Dam. It’s a perfect spot for a bike ride.

Today was crystal clear with a good breeze. It was nearly 75F… one of those summer days when kids swing from ropes and do somersaults into the river. After peddling more than two miles, I set up under an old butternut tree across from a field of goldenrod.

I tossed a line 40 feet into the tree and pulled up 30 feet of wire. I sat down in the grass and tuned the Elecraft KX3 on 17 meters. I used a 9:1 unun from the Emergency ARC in Honolulu. I was running five watts.

I only operated for a half an hour. But there were plenty of strong stations
on 17M that heard my weak signal. I had no trouble working into Europe.
Rather than detailing each QSO, here’s a copy of my log:

30 Jul-13 1934 18.078 CO8LY CW 599 599 Cuba
30 Jul-13 1936 18.077 UT7UJ CW 599 599 Ukraine
30 Jul-13 1940 18.085 EA7AJR CW 559 599 Spain
30 Jul-13 1942 18.087 ON7PQ CW 339 579 Belgium
30 Jul-13 1955 18.090 OO8ZL CW 599 599 Belgium
30 Jul-13 2000 18.074 OZ2TF CW 559 599 Denmark

The view from my operating position was refreshing. Ironically, I had more trouble taking down the antenna than I had putting it up. In fact, I left a spool of wire stuck fast in a branch high in the tree. A knot in my line got stuck in a tight spot and wouldn’t come loose. When I tugged hard on the line, it snapped and left the spool of wire high above the road.

Returning to Needle Shop Brook was a treat. I didn’t just ride the bike back, I soared, seemingly several feet above the road. The fragrance of the summer air caressed my whole being and my eyes absorbed the richness of the wild growth along the riverside. I thoroughly enjoy these outings.