Amateur Radio Station WD8RIF | 2016 Flight of the Bumblebees

Eric McFadden, WD8RIF, participated in the 2017 Adventure Radio Society Flight of the Bumblebees operating event. Eric bicycled a hilly 10 miles from home to Highland Park in Athens, Ohio where he was met by his wife, Vickie, KC8MAJ. Eric operated as Bumblebee #3.

Taking advantage of a great weather forecast, Eric participated in the 2017 Flight of the Bumblebees, the 20th running of this classic QRP field event, by bicycling with his KX3 Travel Kit to Highland Park in Athens, Ohio. In addition to the HF station, Eric also carried his Yaesu FT-60R dual-band FM handheld on the bicycle.

Eric arrived at the park about 1812 UTC and quickly deployed his station in the unoccupied picnic shelter, supporting his 28½' end-fed wire with a length of dental floss thrown through a conveniently-located oak tree. As expected, the proven wire antenna with three counterpoise wires on the ground was easily matched by the KX3's internal antenna tuner on both 20m and 40m.

Operations began on 20m with the a QSO with K9DXA at 1835 UTC. Poor band conditions causing weak signals and quick, deep QSB, Eric managed 18 QSOs, one of which was a dupe, before shutting down the station at 2015 UTC. Eric's QSO tally included eleven QSOs on 20m and seven QSOs on 40m.

As expected, the KX3 worked very well for this event. The ten AA-cell battery holder stuffed with Eneloop NiMH cells easily powered the rig for the period Eric operated.

The weather forecast held true and the weather was just about perfect for a human-powered-transport QRP adventure, the high temperature reaching only about 82°. After last year's experience, Eric chose to avoid Madison Avenue in both directions and biked up 2nd Street on his way to Highland Park and descended Columbus Road to the relatively new Columbus Road bikeway extension on his way back home. The climbs on the fully loaded bicycle were slogs but were less difficult than Eric had anticipated. The round-trip mileage was 21 miles with over 1,000 feet of climb.

WD8RIF Log
Time (Z)	Freq.	Callsign	SPC	BB# / PWR
1835	14.059	K9DXA	IL	72
1843	14.0595	NW0M	MO	5w	Eric's CQ
1846	14.0595	VE3EDX	ON	81	Eric's CQ
1847	14.0595	AA4W	FL	94	Eric's CQ
1850	14.0595	VE3XT	ON	19	Eric's CQ
1856	14.0595	WA5BDU	AR	95	Eric's CQ
1858	14.0595	W1ESE	ME	5w	Eric's CQ
1909	14.058	KF5RY	TX	7
1918	14.060	N5GW	MS	56
1920	14.061	W7SW	AZ	5w
1926	7.030	W3BNO	AL	5w
1932	14.062	K9DXA	IL	72	(dupe)
1957	7.0305	N2HTT	NY	49	Eric's CQ
2005	7.0305	AB4PP	NC	47	Eric's CQ
2007	7.0305	W2LJ	NJ	13	Eric's CQ
2009	7.0305	K8SZN	MI	5w	Eric's CQ
2012	7.0305	K4JAZ	AL	46	Eric's CQ
2013	7.0305	AG4P	TN	40	Eric's CQ