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.