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The NJQRP Club is announcing the Second 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 utilized, bonus multipliers 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 11th.  It will be a four hour sprint – from 17:00 UTC to 21:00 UTC (1:00 TO 5:00 PM EDT).

The theme for this year is “bodies of water”.  We all know that Skeeters love the water.  While we don’t want you going anywhere near actual Skeeter breeding grounds, we encourage operating near any local rivers, brooks, creeks, lakes, ponds, reservoirs, or even near a bay or the sea shore!  Please make sure to take pictures and tell us about it in your Soapbox comments. (Bird baths, swimming pools, old tires filled with water, buckets, Dixie cups, etc. will NOT count for the contest!)

Stations who wish to be designated as “Skeeters” can get a Skeeter number by requesting one by sending an e-mail to [email protected]  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 May through the day before the event. The official Website for the NJQRP Skeeter Hunt is http://www.qsl.net/w2lj/

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.

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!

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

Modes – CW, SSB (new for this year!)
Power – 5W max CW, 10 Watts max SSB

Scoring –
Working a Skeeter Station – 2 points
Working a non-Skeeter Station – 1 point
Work a WAE station – 3 points  – Yes! The Worked All Europe contest (CW) is the same day – working DX stations (different continent) will get you extra points!

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. For example, if you work W2LJ on 20 and 40 Meters, it counts as 2 QSOs and NJ counts for a S/P/C on each band.

Bonus points – An extra 500 points can be added to your score if you operate near a lake, stream, river, pond, beach, etc. as stated above  Please send a photo of your set up, along with your log submission in order to claim points.

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 ~ 28.885 MHz

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

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

Log summaries, photos and soapbox comments can be sent to [email protected] 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 should be used:

Larry – W2LJ – NJ
Skeeter #4 – All CW
Skeeter QSOs – 23
Non-Skeeter QSOs – 5
DX QSOs – (if any)
S/P/Cs – 18
Station Class Multiplier X4
Claiming Bonus – No

If you send me all that information, I will figure out your score for you.

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

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