NJQRP Skeeter Hunt

"QRP and the Great Outdoors ..... perfect together!"

Announcing the 11th Annual NJQRP Skeeter Hunt! 
Sunday, August 21st, 2022.


The Skeeter Hunt is "ON" - sign up for your number!
The 2022 Roster can be seen here.
Join us on Facebook here.

The NJQRP Club is announcing the 11th Annual " Skeeter Hunt".  The objective is to get QRPers out of their shacks for the day; and into the fresh air and sunshine, to spread their wings and fill the airwaves with "Skeeters".  While commercial equipment can certainly be utilized, bonus points will be awarded for those who personally home brewed their own or kit built their own equipment (equipment not built by the operator would not count as either home brewed or kit built - it would be considered commercial equipment).  This year, the event is to be held on Sunday August 21st, 2022.  It will be a four hour sprint - from 17:00 UTC to 21:00 UTC (1:00 TO 5:00 PM EDT).

Stations who wish to be designated as "Skeeters" can get a Skeeter number by requesting one by sending an e-mail to w2lj@arrl.net  Please let me know if you intend to operate from a state other than your home state as listed on QRZ. Skeeter numbers will be issued from June 21st (the First Day of Summer) through the day before the event. NOTE: Skeeter numbers are not issued on a "lifetime" basis. This gives everyone an even chance to obtain a low number each year.

Station Classes and Multipliers
X1 Home stations - commercial equipment
X2 Home stations - home brewed or kit built equipment
X3 Portable station - commercial equipment
X4 Portable station - home brewed or kit built equipment

Portable stations cannot use permanent antennas, i.e you can't work from your backyard, hook up to your dipole or tower and yagi and be considered a portable station. Also, portable stations cannot be connected to the local power grid - alternative energy sources must be used - solar, battery, wind, etc. Mobile stations (considered portable stations for this event) can use whatever mobile antennas are permanently mounted to their vehicle.

2022 Bonus - "Show up!" - Show up, operate, submit a log. Everyone who does this automatically earns the 100 bonus points.

Multi-Op Stations: - Great idea!  Want to get together with some of your best buds to have a barbeque and hunt some Skeeters?  FB deal, OM!  When you send in your log, send the calls of everyone who participated under that call and or Skeeter number.  And remember to send pictures of your group for the soapbox! Single Op and Multi Op will be considered two separate divisions. Again, please indicate on your summary which division your are participating as.

Suggested Call - Either CQ QRP or CQ BZZ

Exchange -
Skeeter Stations - RST, S/P/C,  Skeeter number
Non-Skeeter Stations - RST, S/P/C, Output power
Note: For those of you who are new to contesting, "S/P/C" refers to your State (US), Province (Canada), or Country (DX).


Modes
– CW, SSB
Power - 5W max CW, 10 Watts max SSB

CW Only and SSB Only, and Mixed Operating will be considered separate categories. Please indicate with your log summary which category you are participating as.

Scoring -
Working a Skeeter Station - 3 points
Working a non-Skeeter, but QRP station - 2 points
Working any other QRO station - 1 point

NOTE: Stations can be worked on different bands for QSO points, but S/P/C's only count once for multiplier credit. For example. if you work W2LJ on 40, 20 and 15 Meters, that would count as three different Skeeter QSOs, but you can only count NJ once for S/P/C multiplier credit.

BONUS POINTS! - As noted above.

Total score equals the number of QSO points times the number of S/P/Cs worked on all bands (stations can be worked on multiple bands for QSO points and S/P/C credit) times the multiplier for station class.

Suggested frequencies:
The QRP "Watering Holes"

For CW
80 Meters ~ 3.560 MHz
40 Meters ~ 7.040 and 7.030 MHz - also consider using from 7.114 to 7.122 MHz for a "slower" speed CW area.  We want to have everyone involved!
20 Meters ~ 14.060 MHz
15 Meters ~ 21.060 MHz
10 Meters ~ 28.060 MHz

For SSB
80 Meters ~ 3.985 MHz
40 Meters ~ 7.285 MHz
20 Meters ~ 14.285 MHz
15 Meters ~ 21.385 MHz
10 Meters ~ 28.385 MHz, for those Novices and Technicians out there who want to give QRP SSB a go (and those who want to encourage them - look for them here!).

These are suggested starting points, of course. Feel free to spread out and give your "Skeeter" wings a chance to do their thing.

For those of you new to QRP contesting or contesting in general, here's how a sample QSO might go:

I call CQ:
CQ BZZ CQ BZZ DE W2LJ

K2NBC hears me and comes back to me:
W2LJ DE K2NBC K2NBC BK

I give him my half of the exchange:
BK K2NBC TU UR 559 NJ NR13 BK

He copied me and gives his half of the exchange:
BK TU UR 559 NJ NR 5960 BK - or if Vic was not a Skeeter, he would send:
BK TU UR 559 NJ 5W BK

I copied him, finish with him and go on to my next CQ:
BK TU DE W2LJ QRZ BZZ DE W2LJ

and that's all there is to it!

Log summaries, photos and soapbox comments can be sent to w2lj@arrl.net no later than 14 days after the event.  Certificates will be issued to the top scorers of each category as well as others to be determined. Here's an example of a summary that can be used:

Larry - W2LJ -NJ
Skeeter #13 - All CW
Single Op
Skeeter QSOs - 23
Non-Skeeter QSOs - 5
QRO QSOs - (if any)
S/P/Cs - 18
Station Class Multiplier X4
Bonus points - 100

Hope to hear and work all of you during this year's event. Special thanks to the NJQRP club for their sponsorship!

2012 Scores - here
2012 Soapbox - here

2013 Scores - here
2013 Soapbox - here

2014 Scores - here
2014 Soapbox - here

2015 Scores - here
2015 Soapbox - here

2016 Scores - here
2016 Soapbox - here

2017 Scores - here
2017 Soapbaox - here

2018 Scoreboard - click here.
2018 Soapbox Page 1 - click here.
2018 Soapbox Page 2 - click here.

2019 Scoreboard - click here.
2019 Soapbox Page 1 - click here.
2019 Soapbox Page 2 - click here.
2019 Soapbox Page 3 - click here.





9 comments:

  1. Anonymous10:33 PM

    For 10M SSB how about a suggested frequency between 28.300 and 28.500 so Technician class hams in the US can participate?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Excellent suggestion! How about 28.385 MHz.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Larry I queued up my 2012 Skeeter video on my channel to help generate some interest:
    http://www.youtube.com/goathiker

    Don't let the DEET get ya! ...says Peanut

    ReplyDelete
  4. Sorry, Larry ...Peanut Goat came up with some catch lines for your NJQRP event

    "Skeeter Hunt ...Stay Thirsty my Friends".

    "Skeeter Hunt ...that sucks!"
    "Skeeter Hunt ...it's a 'bloody' FUN!"
    "Skeeter Hunt ...donate blood"
    "Skeeter Hunt ...itching for fun!"
    "Skeeter Hunt ...the bug out contest"
    "Join QRP 'suckers' for the bloody FUN!"
    - Skeeter Hunt Aug 10

    ReplyDelete
  5. Steve,

    Thank Peanut for me! Love that first one and am going to put that up top!/

    ReplyDelete
  6. Sorry we missed OB! ...2015 hunt was fun in spite of rough bands. 73, wGOATs

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  7. Anonymous7:13 AM

    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. Photo on the way to Larry via e-mail.
    72,
    Marc, W4MPS

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  8. Fun event, nice blog...
    Curt WA2JSG NJ

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  9. Larry:

    I just wanted to let you know that the highlight of my 2020 NJ Skeeter Hunt (my first Skeeter Hunt, by the way) was working W2LJ.

    Glad that I was able to work you since there wouldn't be a Skeeter Hunt without you. Thanks for making it happen.

    Next year I plan on operating from the field instead of from my shack.

    73 de AK4JA

    ReplyDelete