2013 NJ QRP Club Skeeter Hunt August 11, 2013 by Eric McFadden, WD8RIF Pictures Eric's KX2 Station Eric operating; photo by Kate McFadden Description One member of the Southeast Ohio Radio Adventure Team participated in the 2013 NJ QRP Club Skeeter Hunt operating event. Eric McFadden, WD8RIF, operated at Lake Hope State Park as Skeeter #79. Eric had hoped to find an available picnic table near the Lake Hope State Park Nature Center but none were available; Eric spent the first hour of his available operating-time exploring the Nature Center with his family. Returning to Lake Hope beach area, Eric found an available table with a nice view overlooking the lake and quickly hung his 44' broadside-doublet from a tree overhanging the table and made his first QSO on 20m with KX0R at 1947Z using his K2 Travel Kit. Possibly due to poor band conditions, few Skeeter Hunt stations were heard on 20m and none were heard on 40m when Eric made a quick check there. Several very loud DX stations were heard above and below the 20m QRP calling frequency participating in the Worked All Europe contest but Eric didn't try to work any of these stations. In the 75 minutes Eric had to operate before the event ended, Eric managed QSOs with five Skeeter Hunt participants. All contacts were on 20m and all stations worked had Skeeter Numbers. The final three QSOs were the result of Eric calling CQ. WD8RIF Log Time (Z) Callsign SPC Skeeter Number 1947 KX0R CO 78 2019 AB9CA AL 125 2027 WA5RML TX 41 2029 KF5RYE TX 123 2034 NE5DL TX 34 Eric enjoyed the 2013 Skeeter Hunt and is looking forward to participating again next year. UPDATE: The Skeeter Hunt 2013 results are posted here: w2lj.blogspot.com/2013/08/njqrp-skeeter-hunt-scores-are-in.html.

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