Flight of the Bumblebees

I hope that this blog has piqued your interest in operating outdoors. If it has, then I have accomplished something. If your interest is indeed, piqued, but you're not quite sure how to get started; then, boy howdy, do I have an event for you!

The Flight of the Bumblebees is a 4 hour QRP sprint that is sponsored by the Adventure Radio Society and takes place every year on the last Sunday in July. The idea is to get your gear out in the great outdoors; and make as many contacts as you can over said 4 hour period. Those of us who operate in the portable mode are "bees". We're given numbers that we will hand out as part of the contest exchange. This year my bee number is 63. I forget what it was last year - a higher number, if I remember correctly.

Last year I operated from a park here in town; and I might do the same this year. Or perhaps, I might go up to Washington Rock Park which is in a nearby town. Washington Rock got its name because it's on a high point of the first ridge of the nearby Watchung "mountains". I use the word mountains in quotation marks because the Watchungs are part of the Appalachian mountains, which are mountains to us in New Jersey; but are merely hills to you folks who live among the Rockies!

Anyway, George Washington used this high point as an observation post back in the Revolutionary War to keep tabs on Redcoat camps and troop movements. It's now a park, and there's plenty of space to set up either the PAC-12; or the NorCal Doublet as there are plenty of trees, too.

However, I digress, as this post is supposed to be about you; and not me! Use this event to kick off your outdoor QRP operating experience! I guarantee that once you do, you will look for every opportunity you can to do it again. Operating QRP in the outdoors is very addicting!

For more information on the Flight of the Bumblebees, please visit: http://www.arsqrp.com/ars/pages/bumblebees/bb_rules.html
and to get a Bumblebee number of your very own, you can send an e-mail to John Huffman N1ESE at hjohnc@adelphia.net

Hopefully, I will hear you on that last Sunday in July; and we can exchange Bee numbers and help each other rack up some points!

73 de Larry W2LJ