NJ-QRP Club review & reports of ...
QRP Afield '96

N2CX QRP AFIELD RESULTS

Gang,

NM has wind, CA has sun, the Cascades have snow and New Jersey has mosquitoes - aren't they the state bird?

Those of us NJ-QRP'ers who operated on Sandy Hook can attest their abundance. The location was excellent, a grassy area with trees in the Fort Hancock section, nice temperature, some sun, ample trees and loads of winged bandits.

Tony, W2GUM and Vince WA2ECP arranged the location and arrived early to guide us in on 146.52. They quickly set up a 20 meter station with a simple dipole and proceeded to enjoy themselves.

I came loaded for bear. I had made sure to gather everything together on Friday night so all that was needed on Saturday was to load up the car and go.On site, I unloaded my equipment, antennas and three PVC masts only to find that the couplers needed to assemble the masts were still sitting on my front porch, a two hour drive away. Time for Plan B.

Fortunately there were plenty of trees for the antennas, but naturally they were all spaced wrong. An hour of hurling things in trees to attach the antenna wires and some pruning with my hand-dandy Autek RF-1 gave me a 20 meter half-loop. (I used a pink plastic kite-lite reel as a weight whcih drew the attention of some bird-watchers. After 15 minutes of watching, one meekly came over and asked what I was doing. When I told her, she walked away shaking her head mumbling something like "and they think *I'm nuts!")

The perspiration generated by my exertions were an absolute olefactory beacon to the little flying vampires (did I mention the mosquitoes?). My wife had some heavy duty repellant that seemed to work for about 10 minutes then the troops with tiny little gas masks took over.

Mean while David, N2SMH had arrived and patiently set up his walking stick vertical/Flamethrower 20-40 fan dipole and was cranking way on 40 meters.

Finally, I got things working only to find loose connectors in my Argo 509 and a dead battery in the MFJ audio filter. My fist was shaky and intermittent swatting mosquitoes and scratching as I worked my first station in the event K5FO. It wasn't the speed merchant Chuck, however, I could copy this operator!

A couple of other 20 meter contacts ensued during troubleshooting and liberal applications of DEET. I *almost* worked NA5N. After his CQ, I answered and got a QRZ. A repeat of my callsign got thru and he sent it back to me. Then after my part of the exchange he returned with a QSL and started CQ'ing without sending his info! I guess I was too weak.

40 turned out better. An inverted vee Gusher-II up about 20 feet did well to a number of stations including Kevin, KB2TEO in NYC who sounded like he was on-site. My wife reported that the NYC skyline was Q-5 S-9 across the bay. When the bugs started biting thru the canvas camp stool (you can guess *where*), Dean, N2TNN took over and had a ball. He asked if the keyer was Iambic A or B and I replied neither, so he had to rough it! :-)

We had several visitors at or location, in addition to the bird watchers and wanderers looking for an Irish celebration - gee folks just follow the music! Elmar KB2VTN got a chance to operate Tony's rig and was impressed by how well QRP works. His friend Vince (callsign?) seemed to just take it all in. Also visiting was Dave, N2ZHY, a relative new ham who enjoyed our company.

Doug, KA2UPW showed up to meet with us and show pictures of his QRP Oscar setup at the NEQRP meeting earlier in the year held at ARRL HQ.

As WA2ECP and Tony left in early afternoon, James KA5DVS and his wife Kathy showed up and took over Tony's location. James came in shorts and his legs were quickly targetted for bloodletting. He simply threw a wire in the nearest tree and went to work.

In mid-afternoon we were subjected to a fly-by of another mosquito of the Anglo-French persuasion. the Concorde. Apaprently it was in the pattern for JFK airport. Now there's one mosquito that *can* pick you up and carry you away!

David switched over to 20 SSB and managed to work a number of stations with his Cascade, including the west coast and from Portaugal!

We probably could have had more contacts but I suppose we`re not a hot and heavy contest group. It was a good day to get out and enjoy the weather (did I mention the mosquitoes?) and each other's company. Thanks to NEQRP and AA1EX for giving us the opportunity.

72/73,
Joe E., N2CX
 

N2CQ QRP AFIELD RESULTS

Date: 22 Sep 96 23:41:48 EDT
From: Ken Newman N2CQ <103464.1355@compuserve.com>
To: NJ QRP List <NJ-QRP@nicol.jvnc.net>
Subject: QRP Afield

Call used: N2CQ
Location: NJ
Entry Class: Multi Op, Single Xmit

Band QSOs Pts QTH DX
80 0 0 0 0
40 30 116 15 0
20 26 104 19 0
15 0 0 0 0
10 0 0 0 0
--------------------------------------
Total 56 220 31* 0*
--------------------------------------
Score: 6820
--------------------------------------
Club Participation: NJ QRP Club (SOUTHERN)

Xcvr: OHR Explorer II (40m) 2.5 Watts
MFJ-9020 (20m) 4.0 Watts
Power: Gel Cell 7ah 12 Volts
Antenna: Delta Loop up 25'
Location: Gloucester County 4H Fair Grounds - Mullica, NJ
(Rabbit show on site for those who missed it)
Operators: K2HPV, Herb and N2CQ, Ken + Visitor: KA3VSP, Brian

Comments:
Just a fabulous day with perfect weather (in So. Jersey).
Lots more mults worked on 20 (thanks guys). Also delighted
to work the famous QRP-L and NE leaders on 'Afield' like
K5FO and W1FMR and many more. A great event an them some!

Ken Newmman #NE458

KB2SGM QRP AFIELD RESULTS

Date: Sun, 22 Sep 1996 10:31:54 -0400
From: Bob Marsh <bmarsh@hicom.net>
To: NJ-QRP Listserver <nj-qrp@nicol.jvnc.NET>
Subject: QRP Afield

Hi Everyone,

What a weekend! I had originally planned to do the QRP Afield with the club,
but couldn't make it. I was planning to set up at a local park and operate
for a few hours later in the day, and try out my lightweight dipole. When I
woke up Saturday morning I had a nasty head cold, and wound up spending most
of the day in bed.

I did get on the air for little while (maybe 45 minutes), and worked a few
stations:

KF2HC - NJ (he lives about a quarter mile away)
K8IDN - OH
WA4DOV - NC
N4OLN - GA (He was a challenge - I had to crank it up to 5 watts to get him)

I was using my Argosy and SW-40 from the shack. There didn't seem to be a
lot of activity on any band except 40. Of course, I wasn't on all that long
either. I did notice the Argosy seems to be much more sensitive than the
SW-40. The SW-40 filter sounds real narrow and seems to attenuate the signal
quite a bit. I wonder if there's any way to either adjust it or switch it in
or out?

Anyway, in spite of being sick, I had a bit of fun. This was my first QRP
contest, and only the second contest I've worked. I'm looking forward to
the next one, and the next NJ-QRP meeting.

72 de Bob/KB2SGM
--