Soapbox for the 2002 Flight of the Bumblebees

N4BP/BB
Operated from Guano Reef in the FL Keys, my yearly Field Day site. Also used same setup as in FD: Elecraft K2, 4-band vertical, 486 notebook with NA.
Wx was perfect, light breeze and no thunder storms. Beautiful view looking across the Gulf of Mexico at speed boats, jet skis, and birds. Fun event.

N0UR/BB
Load up my 50 pounds of gear into my bicycle trailer, 45 pounds of it was the 115 AH battery I had to use. Peddeled 5 mile to a nice quite city park. Rig was a K-1, Z-11 tuner and a CF Zepp. 20 was the gravey band again. Notice a band of thunderstorms rolling in, pulled down and rode home in record time, Lance would of been proud.

N1EU/BB
Condx seemed decent on 20M/15M and high QRN on 40M, although thankfully the predicted thunderstorms didn't materialize. Nice to hear Denis GM3SKN call with a good sig from across the pond.

FYI, I was using an FT-817 and a resonant 40/20/15M dipole fashioned from ladderline and center hung at 50ft from a tree.

Thanks for everyone's efforts and apologies to those who called that I couldn't pull out.
73,
Barry N1EU

AA5B/BB
Start with weak signals, then throw in heavy QSB for good measure. Got lots of practice digging QSOs out of the mud. It was fun despite the frustrating condx.

Station:
NorCal20 on 20 meters, dipole at about 40 feet.
QRP++ on 40/15/10, 44-ft doublet (fed with twin lead, tuner) on DK9 mast.
Paper logging, W9XT keyer, gel cells, etc.

N7SR/BB
Propagation did not appear to be great, but I was psyched and ready to go. I figured that with 150 Bumblebees there should be a lot of activity, and that proved to be true. Forty and fifteen meters were of little use here. It was way too hot, but the thunderstorms held off until I was breaking things down. My FT-817 was hot enough to fry an egg, though I decided not to test it. Had a great time, hope to do better next year.

WB8RTJ
Had a great time even with storms in area, but still lucky didnt get close enough to have to shutdown. Maybe next time can hit the road es join the bees. 72s to all es cu next week in the sprint. Jim WB8RTJ

WA9TZE/BB
Rig HW-8 to a Alpha-Delta DX-CC 5 band ant at 35 feet in inverted-V, ends 10 ft up powered with 4 amp lawnmower battery. Location at a park over looking Lake Michigan[no picture]. Temp was hot-97 degree's F and 75 percent dew point-whew!!,but a breeze. Conditions were weak to fair but the activity was there. Enjoyed it very much like last year.Look forward to next year and the Spartan Sprints/Foxhunts also. Except for the weather, nothing special to report on. All the best and 72's from Jim Akre/WA9TZE............Where were the other 108 Bee's on the roster??

N2CQ
I whimped out to Bee 28 Sunday AM due to the lightening and rain. I took the
home station way out. The sun came out half way through of course. It was
great to QSO the many Bees anyhoo...
72 de Ken

AA4XX/BB
BB 2002 had a tremendous turnout, with good condx on 20M the entire 4 hours.
The wx was picture perfect in coastal NC, with constant breezes lowering the
apparent hot temp and humidity.

I combined the BB contest with a kayak exploration of the Smith Island area,
a couple miles upstream from where the Cape Fear River enters the Atlantic.
Since Smith Island is 100% marsh, I ended up setting up the station on a sea
wall which separates the Cape Fear River from the estuary. This rock wall was
built around the time of the Civil War, and is about 3 feet wide and five miles
long, running the entire distance from Ft. Fisher to Smith Island. During high
tide, the Cape Fear was about 2 feet below the top of the wall. At low tide,
the river was about five feet lower.

The station consisted of my trusty SW-20+, a 2 element vertical phased array,
paddlette paddles, and a 4AH 12V battery. Conditions were quite good the entire
period. As expected, the band didn't go long until the final hour of the
contest. My compliments to the West Coast stations for their fine ears.

N0SXX/BB
This year I thought I'd get in the running for the 'most beautiful' site. Hiked up to a small mountain lake at elevation about 11200 feet. It was about a 2 mile hike (with 60 lb pack!) but well worth it. Was there for the contest, camped the nite and left Monday morning and saw only one group of people the whole time. One direction I looked at the lake and the other direction was a huge bowl formed by the 13000 foot ridge of the continental divide. Perfect view but I got the feeling those huge granite ridges were keeping me from hearing the west coast! It was a little gusty and my kanga pole supported inverted vee blew over 3 times during the contest. Tough to find anyone on 40... a few on 15 but not what I expected. Hope everyone had as good a time as me! 73, Gary

WA7LNW/BB
Boy was I surprised to be assigned Bee #1 this year! So of course I had to make a special effort to show up on the air. Operated for 3 hours from Locket Meadow, Arizona, (approx. elevation 9,000 ft.) following my attendance at the Ft. Tuthill Hamfest and QRP gathering in Flagstaff, AZ. Rig K-2 @ 5 watts and DK9SQ fiberglass mast with 25 ft.of Radio Shack two conductor hook-up wire to form a simple ground plane antenna. Antenna works great every year! Appreciated all the contacts and nice greetings from so many fellow QRPers. Eveyone have a safe and enjoyable summer and we'll see you in the next QRP operating event. 73's de Jack, WA7LNW/QRP

N6MM/BB
Due to some delays getting the dipoles in the air, I missed the first 20 minutes of the activity; but I was pleased with the activity on 15m until the QSB set in during the latter part. Nice to note an increase in the number of bumblebees participating this year. Many thanks to those who took time to work me. Equipment was a modified Sierra at 5W with an OHR SCAF audio filter and dipoles for 40, 20 and 10m. QTH was Mt. Pinos, CA. I heard no activity on 10m this year. Some pictures at http://members.ispwest.com/n6mm/02bb.htm - 73, Harvey, N6MM.

K7RE
Great fun, but sure could have used better conditons. Most signals were in the
noise. I'm surprised at how well folks out there heard me.
Rig: K-2 at 5W
Antenna: 80M Horizontal loop up about 30 feet.

W0CH/BB
Hello gang: This year's Bumblebee was fun. Nancy N0FNZ and I traveled to Devil's Den state park in northwest Arkansas. We set up shop high on a hillside in the forest with a K2, 20 meter EDZ and assorted insects. 60 QSO's resulted with 39 bees contacted. Worked mostly 20 and 15 meters. 10 meters was dead and only 2 QSO's down on 40 where we found the normal high summer noise level.
Photo report on the web at www.w0ch.com
See you next year..... 72, Dave

N3BJ/BB
Hiked over to the next knob, used a K2 and homebrew trap dipole for 10 thru 20 about 30 FT high with good slope in all directions. Condx were fair and only 3 Qs on 10. Thanks to AC5K, N0MF and N4BP for the 10M Qs. A little warm here with 95 degs in Roanoke (VA) and probably about 85 degs up here in the mountains.
N4BP gets the "big sig" award, he and N0MF were the only stations to make it on 10 thru 20. Great contest, I'll get more adventurous next year !

N6XI/BB
Bee #2
Operated with W6EU from Martis Peak between Lake Tahoe and the Town of Truckee, CA.
We were disappointed at the lack of activity other than 20m. Suggest we establish
conventional rendezvous times for 40, 15 and 10. Also, there was a lot of activity
jammed into 5 kHz around 14.060. Spread out, folks!
Photos follow by email to Russ.
72,
Rick N6XI

KI0II/BB
FotBB QTH for 2002 was Oliver State Recreation Area 8 miles west of Kimball, NE.

The orignal goal was to locate and operate from Panarama Point, the highest point in
Nebraska at 5424 feet. Has anyone every been there? I didn't find it.

Set up on a nice shaded knoll overlooking the lake. Thunderstoms in the area with
lightening and thunder but very little rain. Thunder crashes on 20 were like 40 meter
summer conditions that chased me away from the rig twice.

Found many signals that came and went very quickly. Always a treat to work AL7FS which
was the only non lower 48 states contact. Several contacts on 15 and a few on 40 with
a few more signals heard but not worked. Nice to see the pile up of signals on 20 meters
spanning from 14.055 MHZ to 14.065 MHZ. Most consistent signal heard was N0UR.

Used K2 #591, 20 meter 1/4 HB vertical and a 40 meter EFHW wire up in a cottonwood tree.
Attempted to put up a 20 meter dipole but failed to get the second end up in time
so abandoned that idea.

Nice to hear many BB stations on the air. Time to start planning for ARS BB for 2003.
Really enjoyed it, thanks ARS!

N6GA/BB
I tried a new location this year - Timber Mountain, 8303' in the San Gabriels east of Los Angeles. The scenery was well worth the three hour hike, but the band condx could have been better. Deep fades and very noisy at times. K1 at 2 watts to a W3EDP. Next year I'll try to remember the binding post to BNC adapter!

K0EVZ/BB
A fun outing even though propagation seemed spotty. Thanks to the organisers for putting Bumblebees together this year. Setup = K1 to an Inverted WYE with 4 radials. Location = Ft. Lincoln on the banks of the Missouri River south of Mandan, ND.

N6WG/BB
Thought I did pretty poor, but early returns on QRP-L suggest I may be ok at least. Would have been nice to have better condx, but guess everyone has to deal with them as best we can. Enjoyed my outing, and had time to visit with folks passing through the park. See you all next year.
73, Bob N6WG

AA1MY/BB
KD1JV (Steve) and I hiked up to a plateau at 3500' just beneath tree line on Mt Jefferson, NH. 45lb back packs and rocky trail made a real cardio workout. T-storms were forcast but only got some sprinkles and wind. What really made the day were the hordes of BLACK FLIES!! Entire event punctuated with slapping, itching, slathering... even got under our earphones. We managed to sling up my 88' EDZ at about 25' despite my forgetting the fishing reel. Fed it with 300 ohm line to a Z-match, then to the Weber Multi Band Contest Machine with a hot RX, RIT, three memories, and 5w RF. Steve gave incredible tech support ... he even did surgery on the rig -while I was operating. Condx were very spotty indeed, but we managed to hit the left coast easily at times and even worked GM3SKN -at e.s.p. levels!

Q's = 54; SPC's = 27; BB's = 29;

Prop. was iffy, and turn out seemed light... but we sure did our bit this year.
This event, and others such as "-Afield" "To The Field", and "FYBO" really epitomize the spirit of QRP in my opinion, and it's a real treat share the event with others on "The Road Less Traveled". 72/73 Folks -CU next year.

N7LT/BB
Had fun in my second FOBB. Made 52 contacts in about 2 hours of total operation. Worked 29 BB's, 26 states and 1 Province. Hope to get out to a better location next year as this year I had too many commitments and a new job starting Monday to go further than the local park. :(

NO5DL/BB
BB #102 Texas, Near Ft Worth, weather 95 degrees and wind probably gusting to 30 mph
K1 #817 @ 5W, Internal ATU, Internal batteries - 10 NiMH 1800ma, Palm paddles
66 foot NORCAL style doublet at 65 ft between ball park light poles
Put up with EZ Hang (see QST) sling shot - worked very well.
Heard one station on 15m and NONE on 40.
Did better than last year while up in NY. Had a great time.
Will try for a lower number next year
72, DL

N3AO
Next year I wanna be a bee!

AD4MZ/BB
Backpacked up Mt. Tryon and found a heavily forested peak at 3,110 ft, where I hung a 20m dipole under the canopy. Spent the night before swinging in a jungle hammock. Radio conditions were not great but what fun it was. Didn't hear any Bees except on 20m. Ve3jc, John, I heard you call me but never got my report due to QSB. Was accompanied by my friend Mark, who is not a ham but he said he enjoyed the "Flight of the Bumblebees" because it gave him time to work on his hobby, D&D. The 75 pound backpack sure felt good coming off back at the car.

72
Bob
(ad4mz@yahoo.com)

K4MF/BB
Bad conditions, bugs and hot temps kept op time to about 2 hours.

K4FB/BB
We (K4FB, W2XN, K4BYF) operated K4FB/BB from Bok Tower gardens in Lake Wales Florida. Station was
a K2, 20m/15m dipole up 25', and a 7amp hour gell cell. Great fun even in the HOT weather.

KO4WX/BB
Is there a prize for the best weather at a BB operating location? On the summit of Black Rock Mountain (3640'), the temperature was about 70F degrees, light breeze, blue sky and puffy white clouds. Gorgeous location, awesome view of the Blue Ridge Mountains. K1 at 3W, Palm paddle, W3EDP at 20' (in the short trees on the summit). Coleman fold-out chair/day pack, radio, backup batteries, key, bud earphones and 1.5L of water weighed in at about 10 pounds. Bands were pretty crummy, with deep QSB. Several spurts of 4-5 Q's in 10 to 15 minutes. Totals: 40Q's x 22BB's x 3 = 2640 points. 72 de Mike, KO4WX

VE3ELA/BB
The wind gathered strength and gusted angrily with awesome force. Suddenly, without warning, our fibreglass antenna mast split and buckled with a sickening crunch. The whole mess then toppled to the ground. Later we discovered Environment Canada issued a severe weather disturbance warning, and a tornado touched down far north of us.

This was our worst moment during FOBB 2002. The best was earlier, when we had climbed down the steep rocky path from an old dismantled fire tower site: our operating position. Dodging a wary rattlesnake, we swam and savoured respite from the stifling, energy-sapping heat and humidity, and the brutal, biting bugs!

John, VE3JC and I canoed and were camped here in Lost Channel on the Severn River, in central Ontario. Saturday evening we activated 40 meters. His QRP Plus and N2CX Gusher inverted V fan dipole performed impressively. We netted contacts across North America, even a couple in the U.K.

I brought my new Argonaut II to show off. But the battery refused to hold its charge, and my solar panel could not keep pace with the current demand. Plus, the telescopic mast for my antenna support broke, too. And I forgot to bring a coax connector adapter. These misfortunes convinced me to accept JC's offer to share his station for the event.

When the contest began, 40 meters served well for short skip QSOs, 20 meters was unstable with lengthy, deep fading, and 15 meters seemed to be open - but lonely. It was heartening to observe the level of operator skill and participation in FOBB 2002.

I learned alot about preparedness - especially pre-testing my complete setup before venturing far afield. Thanks to Russ and ARS for sponsoring this unique event. It's been a continuous, (mostly) enjoyable and rewarding learning experience for me every year!

N0JRN/BB
Had a great time. Glad to work everyone. Hope you all had a lot of fun and a safe trip. Conditions could have been better but I'm bound to save some money on trips to the tanning bed. K-1 #601 performed flawlessly and the 40 mtr loop seem to provide better performance than my dipoles have in the past.
Thanks to all and 73: Jerry N0JRN

WA2IAC/BB
I was located in a canoe in the Hudson River, with a vertical antenna
clamped to the aluminum frame. Mostly overcast with some light rain.
Difficult to log contacts and work the CW paddle with the canoe in motion.
Some ops seemed impatient! Digital photos available. Co-pilot was N2PSR Matt.

NN5E
Took my K2 and MP-1 to a local park for a field test.Really fun, next year I'll try to be a Bee! Vern-NN5E

AC6KW/BB
Tom, KQ6DV, and I set up down at a local state park. We got lots of curious onlookers and folks asking questions. Especially when we were "tree fishing". Tom brought a bow and arrow with a fishing line, but we ended up using a sling shot. After setting up the antenna, I found that it wouldn't load. The culprit turned out to be a broken solder joint in the balun. Happily, I had a gas soldering iron and was able to fix it in time for the start.

We had an interesting onlooker. He looked like a homeless guy drinking beer and smoking strange looking cigarettes, with bloodshot eyes and the whole thing. The interesting thing was that he knew the code and was copying the replys in his head. I wonder if I could do that drunk and stoned at 10 am? I doubt it.

Rig was an FT817, Z11 tuner, with a tv twinlead to a dipole antenna.

K5JHP/BB
40 Dead, 20 band of choice except for QSB , 15 very marginal here in
TX K1 and Mosley TA33JR
My first "B" but surely not my last....

WA4CIT/BB
Set up my K2 (#1860) on a ridgeline, elev 1925 feet (about 300 feet above valley floor), 36 deg 24.681 min N, 80 deg 53.846 min W. Hot, humid weather, and propagation was not the best.

When one of the 33' legs on my doublet snapped at the center insulator, the ladder line became part of a long wire, and the failed doublet wire a counterpoise. Couldn't get 40m to load up very well, but the other three bands were fine.

Really strong signals from N4BP, N7SR, WA9TZE.
At 1900Z, 15 meters seemed to open up a bit. I called CQ on 10 meters at the top of every hour, but never heard anybody else.

KW4JS/BB
Rig: Elecraft K2 SN 1541
Antenna: G5RV
Thanks to everyone! See you next year.

AC5K/BB
Lots of heat, humidity and mosquitos, but had a great time as always!

N7CQR/BB
My location was at the top of a logging road overlooking the McKenzie river valley in west/central Oregon.Very sceneic, but I could also see & smell lots of smoke from fires in the cascade range near Bend and sisters. Propagation was not very good-the only band that was active was 20, and then would do its usual ( for here) 'in & out' where you had a minute or two to work an area before it disappeared!Gear was the K2 and a gusher 20M dipole set up inverted vee fashion with the DK9SQ mast, which worked flawlessly. I didn't get any qsos for the last hour due to lousy conditions-I'll be back next year.
PS-on the final roster from Russ, my call was misspelled as 'N7ACR', but the number was right as #101
Dan-N7CQR

N5ESE/BB
Is there a multiplier for doing this twice on the same weekend? ... thought it was Saturday - HAW! And you thought it was rough getting contacts Sunday - imagine being the only one calling CQ BB. Funny thing, I still managed 4 contacts on Saturday HI HI (no I didn't include them). Hmmm, just hope the multiplier isn't 0.5 ;-)
71 (one short as usual), monty N5ESE

WUÿH/BB
Climbed up into The Needles in the Black Hills of SD. Whilst perched on a rock outcropping, my solar panel blew off and almost took my rig (and then me) with it. Nothing heard on 40, 15 or 10M. This club has some really great cw ops--it was great fun!
Thanks and 73,
Keith

K5HWT/BB
Finally, I have achieved the correct style of beedom so long sought after. No
equipment failures and no lightning storms. I hiked to the top of a ridge of Lost
Mine Peak in Big Bend National Park, Texas and held forth for the duration. The
SW20 and my big 10M fishing pole doublet did the trick, and the view was, indeed,
inspiring. A great time was had by me!

W5CGH
Well, I really didn't fit into either of the entry categories for this contest
(Bee or home), so I hereby declare myself the self proclaimed winner in my own
"Low Flying" entry category. I was driving between Lubbock and Corinth, TX
during the contest, and all contacts were made while mobile. I was not able to
begin operating at the start of the contest, so my first contest QSO was not
until 1822Z. Had a great time, as always.

W3CD/BB
I operated for an hour and a half from the Backpack Camp on Black Mountain, which is in the Monte Bello Open Space Preserve in The SF Bay Area. This location overlooks Palo Alto and Stanford University to the East and, when there's no fog, the Pacific Ocean. It took about 40 minutes to hike the 2 miles and ascend the 700 foot rise from the parking lot to the camp.

A late start and weak band conditions resulted in my modest tally. I still had a lot of fun and enjoyed the absolutely QRM-free operating location. Most of my contacts were with Western States, but in the final minutes, AA1MY came from from nowhere to 579 and I snared NH as my 'DX' contact.

The contest was great fun and I even had the opportunity to explain what I was doing to a pair of mountain bikers. The young lady was pretty sharp, she identified my gell cell!

Equipment used: Elevated SD-20 vertical, K2 @ 5 Watts, 4 A/H gell cell, Ham-Key paddles.

K6PZB/BB
K2 from Wisconsin

AL7FS
Conditions were tough as many have noted. Most hunt and pounce contacts were made during 15-45 second openings to that station and then they were gone. I console myself by remembering how bad it was in 1995. :-)

Thanks to all for the QSOs. Great contest! 73, Jim, AL7FS

N7GS
20 meters was the best band in Bozeman, MT. Propagation was not too great, but had fun anyway. Rig was a K2 @ 5W and the antenna was a 3 el Yagi @ 50'.

N3XRV
Had a great time, but propogation made me glad I have three antennas (450' loop, 100' dipole, and 5BTV).

K7TD/BB
Sorry I could not arrange my weekend to operate as a BumbleBee. I did manage about an hour operating and tryed to work as many Bees as I could hear. Some of the Bee signals were outstanding. I'll plan better so I can operate from the field next year.

This is such a great brief contest - I sure hope more operators learn about this event and enter the fray next year. Jack --- Where were you????
73 Terry

K3HLU
Operator John, W2AGN. Very poor conditions. High noise levels and QSB on 20, deep QSB on 15 and QRN on 40.
Glad I stayed inside with the Air Conditioner ;-)
Rig: TS-130V
Antenna: KT34a, 300' Horizontal Loop

N9RY
Operated from home with a k-1 and an attic inverted vee up about 10 ft. with
about 4 watts out. Power supplied from a small gel cell. Sure enjoyed the courteous ops with good "ears" Only operated about 2 1/2 hours, but had a great
time. Looking forward to the Spartan Sprint in Aug.
Ron N9RY

N0TK
Very Deep QSB on many signals. Signals went from S5-7 down to below noise level.

W0YSE
I tried using QRPDUPE for this contest by using the ARS Spartan Sprint part of the program. If the entry had no decimal point it represented the BB#. If I entered a decimal point it represented the power in watts. Perhaps there is a newer version that includes the FOTBB contest by now.

W9FNB/BB
Twenty meters was in good shape here in Ind...40 meters was weak,much static here...but managed a few Q's...KO4WX #6...N1EU #115...N2XE #125...WA0RSE #141...
+ KW4JS-Ga...
20 meters was much more giving...WA7LNW #1...N1EU/N2XE(2 bands)...#39-46-55-59-65-67-114-131-139...THANKS TO ALL..
Home Stations/N2CQ /KK4R /KD7AEE /K7RE /WB8RTO...Thanks to All
It was just plain HOT...outside temp reached 96f (Heat Index 100f+) about midway through...put the Half sq. up early, worked from the trailer 82f but -20% humidity...
Rigs OHR100A/20M...4.5w...40m(TX)vectronics ROCK bound 600mw & DX398RS for RX
ANT: was 20m Half Sq.= Half wave double Zep on 40
Look for everyone in the Aug.SP...

K8KFJ
Had to settle for a home-based operation today but still had fun giving some of those winged insects some contacts. Da Bees had some good signals to break through my neighborhood generated noise. Anxious to see what kind of antenna setups they were using. Top BB signal here was AA4XX and I have a MP3 of him to prove it. HI Many thanks for the sponsorship of this fun event.

KC2AFK
Conditions did not seem to be the best, but it was nice to see the large number of Bees out in the field. Hope to have my act together by next year so I can work as a bee.

WB4WSE/BB
Located at N 34 40 16.7 / W 81 38 57 in the wilderness of Union County S.C..
Made a total of 22 contacts with my SW20 and dipole up about 25 feet. The band cndx was decent from my perspective and made some fb contacts for my 1.5 watts in. Was alot of fun hearing the band spring into life at 1300 est with all the bees and home stations. I now know that I need to install a multiturn pot and precision knob on my tuning in order to get better frequency resolution. Lots of fun despite the heat/humidity.

W3CD/BB
Operating Location Black Mountain Backpack Cam
Hiking distance: 2 miles with 700 foot elevation gain
Operating time: 19:30Z - 21:00Z
Equipment: Elevated SD-20 pole verticle, K2 @ 5W, 4 A/H gell cell, Ham-Key paddles,
Radio Shack PRO-25 headphones

AD6GI
BAnds could have been better, but still had fun.
Thanks to all the fine operators for their diligence in picking my signal out.
See you next test.

K3NY
Finished putting up my antenna five minutes before Flight began. I still don't know if it is working! Condx were either strange or I have a dummy load up 50 feet!

VE5QRP
I couldn't be Bee #71 because our city is having an annual Buffalo
Festival and there are thousands of people around Wascana Lake where
I was going to set up by the water...so I operated from home at 5w.
I would like to reserve BB#71 for the next running if I may please.
I had lots of fun using my K2 for the first time in the BB. The
filters are a great help. Hopefully the bands will be better next year.
The BB event kept me from doing some house painting so you can't
beat that eh!?!...heh,heh...tnx & 72 - Bruce (VE5QRP)

N7CEE/BB
Rough conditions but a great operating site from 12,000 feet in the San Juan Mountains, Colorado. Sojourner article to follow...

KB9LCK/BB
Sorta made up my mind up at the last minute to go ahead and participate had
daunting heat and a couple of health concerns, but went ahead. The trusty Bridgestone MB2
and I biked to Mattoon's historic Peterson Park, home of Mattoon's annual Bagelfest the previous night
and drew all kinds of attention as we threw the antenna up in a handy Sweet Gum.
Have been too lazy--need to operate more! would take a rough edge off here and there!
Did have a qso with old friend Butch, WY1W, also Paul, the North Carolina Milliwatting Madman.
AA4XX. So it was fun, and I got to talk to a couple of old friends and a few new ones!!!

W8BHK/BB
I setup at McCarty Lake in the Manistee Nationl Forrest near Baldwin, Michigan using my Elecraft K2 and ZM-2 tuner to a 40 meter zepp antenna. Most of my contacts were on 20 meters because the 40 meter band was quite noisy due to a thunder storm that went thru the area early in the morning. Worked most of the stations that I heard and had a great time. Everytime I go into the field to operate I learn something that I want to do different next time. I worked ten states and two ve's.
Thanks for the great time and hope to be there next year.
73'S
Harcourt

KA8LLE
Lots of fun, not very good condx. Only got to work about an hour, then snuck in at the end for a bit more.

N4DMI
The 20M group was like working a pileup. Can't figure how some of the signals sound so loud. My Argosy transceiver was showing it's age and a lot of the signals were down in the noise level. Worked 8 states and Canada including: N1EU; AA4XX; N0SXX;ACRK;KO4WX;K0ZK;W0CH;WA4CIT;WA9TZE;N05DL;VA7NT and N2XE. Great contest!!

N6BDG/BB
This was my first time in a QRP contest. It was great fun to hear all the QRP stations dominating the air, if only for four hours. Thanks to Russ Carpenter, AA7QU, for managing the contest and thanks to all who got on the air.

Brian, N6BDG

KK4R
Worked the middle 2 hours of the contest. Some of the contacts were really tough. The bands seemed generally poor and signals were not much above the noise, but there was good activity on 20m. I tried the other bands with very little luck.

AE4GX/BB
Please consider me for the most unusual rig and gear. My brief story is at http://www.qsl.net/ae4gx/BB_BlackRock072702.html with link to more details.
Sam AE4GX
BB#10

AB4VF
Mmebership and Bee numbers didn't get here in time, so operated at home. A thunderstorm and spousal QRM kept me off the air for most of the contest. Enjoyed it.

AL7OK/BB
Propegation was rough from up here in Alaska. The beauty of Bird Point on Turnagen Arm was a consideration not matched by others for sure. Sorry for the 20+ contact I missed because propegation was not still enough to complete a two way exchange. Couldn't even get a 2 way complete with AL7FS at 25 miles over the mountains. At least this year it didn't rain and there was some propegation compaired to last year.

K3TW/BB
I operated from the Swamp Trail on Theodore Roosevelt Island in Washington, DC. Although I thought this would be a fantastic QTH for a simple wire vertical antenna, I had considerable difficulty making contacts. Conditions did improve during the last half hour. The effort was worthwhile because I introduced ham radio and our style of operating to a few hikers. Congratulations to N4BP who was head and shoulders above most Bumblebees. See you all in the monthly Sprints.

AC6NT/BB
This year's Flight of the Bumblebees Contest found me in Uncasville, CT. where I was performing with Neil Sedaka at the Mohegan Sun. As luck would have it, our show Sunday was at 3:00 PM. --- right in the middle of the contest---what a bummer! I figured I'd have only an hour to operate, then quickly pack-up and head to the showroom. (easily a 20 minute walk) The day before I found a relatively good place to set up---on top of a parking structure---all concrete---hardly any cars---about 50 feet up. The only drag was that there was no place to sit down, although the cement walls were the perfect height to set my FT-817 and "Super Antenna" on. It just meant contesting from an upright position.

As the contest started, I found that I was getting out just fine, and was able to nab quite a few of the stations I heard, including some of the "usual suspects" like N0UR, and N4BP, who had an awsome signal. After 15 minutes or so, it started to lightly sprinkle. That didn't really bother me, but then, it got a little worse. Finally, I was having trouble getting the pencil to mark in my log book, and it was too difficult to write inbetween the wet spots. The wind was blowing pretty hard at this point, and I was concerned about the antenna blowing off the wall and taking the FT-817 with it! So, I had to pack it in after only 35 minutes of operating. In all, I made a whopping 13 QSOs, and 9 of those were other Bumblebees! It didn't go the way I'd imagined it, but then again, it probably never does. The thing that impressed me the most was the high level of operating, and politeness of all the QRP operators in this contest. Thanks for all the fun---I'm ready to do it again!
AC6NT/BB

W1PID/BB
I operated in the Pemigewasset flood control wilderness ares in Sanbornton, NH. I rode my bicycle to a beautiful field along the edge of the river. I operated for the first hour using a DSW-20 and a dipole fed with RG-174 up about 30 feet. Best DX was VA7NT in BC! Also worked CO and TX.
After an hour it started to pour rain. Outta there! Thanks to all, 73 Jim
w1pid@arrl.net

WK6I
QSB City! Really brutal, but fun! Hope to be a BB next year - j

N8WE
operated from picnic table in public park with sw20 and dipole. n1eu was the best signal during the 2 hours i operated. thanks to ars leaders for great event.

VE3XT/BB
Here is a quick synopsis of VE3XT/BB trip
Prepare for event
Drive 45 minutes to Mount Suzie
Set up 2 Metre HT on pack so I can walk and talk on hike in
Hike in 45 minutes to base of mountain
I get lost
I get found!
HT falls off pack......HT gets lost
After 20 of grubbing on trail HT gets found!
Climb Mount Suzie....aproximately 1300 feet ASL
Untangle antenna wire, coax and rope
Start 20 minutes late....operate 4 hours to make 11 QSO's
Hike 45 minutes to car and 45 minutes drive to home
Arrive at home and XYL says "You look like &%##"
Only one cold beer in house :-(
Break into a ear to ear grin
Man did I have a great time or what....see you next year

WA2OCG/BB
Some very strong signals on 20M. Was able to work into the midwest with WI, OH. Always a please to work AL7FS in AK. Other bands totally dead from WA. First time use of the Yaesu FT817 with a home-brew 12V 4.5A battery power supply.

AA8IV/BB
Thunderstorms were in the air all afternoon. QRN very loud but gave a good try from the area park at Riverbend. Caklled many stations but my 1 Watt just not enough to be out of the noise. Thanks to all who heard me.

WA9TPZ/BB
Greetings: Thanks to all who worked me from "Hippy Holler" about 30 SE of Indy. Rig was TenTec Scout and long wire up about 15ft , Super Hot 95d F+ during contest, Heat index at 110d F. Wow !

N4ROA/BB
I spent more time putting up my antenna than I did operating. Lots of fun anyway.
Looking forward to the next one. See you on the bands.

72...Dan

WB6HQK/BB
Did not get on the air until after 1200 due to later than originally
expected departure from the Ft. Tuthill hamfest (which was a great event).
QTH was in the hills west of Williams, Arizona which is accessible via the
old railroad grade. Operation was limited to 20 meters using inverted
vee at 10 meters supported by a DK9SQ mast. Looking forward to next
year's event!

K4JPN
Just operated from 1500 to 1600, but a lot of fun and good signals into Georgia from the West and East.

W6AGS/BB
Didn't get to the uppermost point on Bloods Ridge. Settled, rather, at 7600 ft
on the eastern slope. 3/2 wave wire through the trees, a 1/4 wave counterpois,
and a ZM-2 were my skyhook. The noise level was very low and could work just
about anyone I could hear through the SST20. Compared to even my prior years,
performance was relatively poor, but an enjoyable and relaxing day on the air
was had from the ridge. 73 Arth W6AGS

NA8M/BB
Great fun for a first outing. Operated at Little Point Sable Lighthouse USA-433. Sun was hot, antenna was low. Traveled to and from by bike and seemed uphill both ways :-) Learned a lot and looking forward to next year. Thanks to all who dug me out of the noise. 72 de NA8M, John

AA2AD/BB
After getting off to a late start, I forgot the exchange, the wire to my paddle broke, my antenna fell down once, and I had to wait out two separate lightning storms. What great fun! Count me in next year. -AA2AD

W4ED
Only had an hour, but enjoyed every minute of it.
Bob - W4ED :)

VE3FAL/BB
Had propagation been better, things would have been even more fun....
But despite it all I had a blast.
Bring on the next QRP contest...

W9HL/BB
Rode my bike 3/4 of a mile to the nearest park. Temp was in the upper 90's found a nice shade tree with a picinic table under it set up my K1 and PW-1 vert. Operated for about an hour. 20 meters seemed to be the only band with activity.

WA0RSE/BB
The predicted thunderstorms held off and 90 degree heat and high humidity persisted at Frontenac State Park near Red Wing, MN. After a short hike, I was in the picnic area, hundreds of feet above Lake Pepin, a widening of the Mississippi River. The ends of my dipole went up and the NorCal 40A went on the air. The thunderstorms were still in the area and generated a fair amount of QRN, making listening difficult. I had a GREAT time and thank all my contacts for digging this Bee out of the noise!
72,
--Paul, WA0RSE, 2002 Bee #141
P.S. Next year I'm going to be on 20M, too!

VE3FLB/BB
I operated from our log cabin on a remote lake in area EN48. I had to paddle to get there. Used a simple inverted "V" for the 40m contacts and a vertical for 20m. Lots of static crashes though that increased in intensity all afternoon. I noticed that most stations were down in the weeds - I say most because there were a few who were incredibly strong in comparison. Log periodic antennas to the field? Anyway, I had a lot of fun. Thanks for organising it. VE3FLB

KF6QKI
Wow - QSB was bad on 20 meters. There were many contacts I couldn't log because I lost the Bee before I could send my exchange. It was fun trying, but I quit early as the frustration level rose, hi.

NM5M/BB
Hope for better conditions next year!
73,
NM5M BB#16

WB6BWZ
Yaesu FT-817 xcvr, 5 watts, to 153-foot OCF stealth antenna up 40 feet in trees.

K3AS
Conditions really poor here. Most signals very weak.

N9WW/BB
Operated from the shore of Lonesome Lake across from the AMC hut on the flank of Kinsman Mountain near Franconia Notch, NH. Rig was a K1 running 3 watts into an end-fed wire 50' long using the internal tuner and a suitable counterpoise. An external NiMH 8-cell pack provided power. I didn't arrive at the location until an hour into the contest and spent the next two hours waiting out a rainstorm. During the final hour I worked a grand total of seven ops. QSB on 20m was extreme and 40m was unproductive until the last 10 minutes. Looking ahead to next year- I plan to arrange for an alternative bad weather site and resolve to get all the way up onto a mountain or ridge, rather than 1000' down on the east side of one. Thanks to all those who patiently dug me out of the noise and to the Flight organizers.

N0QT/BB
Well....decided to try out a new antenna this year...you can see the
results! :( Need to figure out a better idea I guess. Had fun anyway.
I always look forward to the Bee. Got to be my lucky number this year,
#13, thanks to the generosity of a fellow ham. Thanks Rod. Worked the
Bee from behind the Ft. Tuthill hamfest again this year. The weather
was WONDERFUL! Take care everyone.

W6ZIP
Bands were not-so-good. Heard nothing on 40 whatsoever!!!

KG0MZ/BB
I hiked Glen Elder Reservoir to a preselected nice spot. Unfortunately, I ran into some pretty foul weather. Operated for about half an hour before lightning became too disconcerting. QRN, QSB, deafening static crashes. No tornado although NWS had issued a watch. NC20, rotatable dipole.

K7PX/BB
Third times the charm, first Bee Test, forgot the coax connector, Second Bee Contest, crashed and burned on bike just before contest. This time made it to the site 12 miles back into the Bitterroot Mountains of Western Montana. After spending the morning climbing Ranger Peak it was back to the camp to work an hour and a half of the contest. Then a very long walk out for this old ham.
Great time, see you next year.

Steve (K7PX)

AD6WE/BB
Couldn't get my antenna up high enough...probably warming the clouds...Couldn't hear much on 15 meters, but N4BP was pretty strong here in CA.

W3BBO/BB
How about award for biggest excuse? Planned to operate from nice site, then
found out I had to babysit our 12 day old grandson. Re-thought and
decided to setup in our backyard.

Made three quick contacts and felt very quilty as the grandson was sleeping in
the house. Tore down the station and spent rest of afternoon doing my
grandfatherly duties. Hopefully next year!

KD7GIM/BB
Enjoyed the contest from Glacier Peak Wilderness.

K1CGZ
Noise levels fairly distracting at my QTH plus other things that "had to be done." Never-the less, I did manage to snag a couple of bees in the short time I was in the shack. This was a fun contest and a great idea. I'm looking forward to the next one. 72 de K1CGZ

VE3GWN/BB
Did not put enough effort into the event - too many distractions!! Have to go longer and further next time!!!
72 de ken ve3gwn

K5RAC/BB
I got called in and had to work and only got away long enough for one contact
N6MM BB#57 in CA, heard a few others but no luck. Still this is one of my favorite events. Sorry Bee#44 only had a short flight this time. Joe KK5NA (K5RAC)

AF4B/BB
Intend to do a better preparation for next year!

KB0VCC/BB
Hiked to my operation location off the SW shoulder of the summit of Foss, Mtn., Eaton, New Hampshire, about 50 yards into tree-line. Was setting things up with 1 hr to spare. Discovered I was short one piece of coax, leaving me with a choice, hike back to the car for the other piece, or try to tune the random wire antenna (blind, without the use of my SWR meter) via listening to the RX level as I tweaked the tuner. The combination of laziness and time overcame me and I (unfortunately) chose the latter. The contest began and I called CQ and tried to respond to the dozen or so Bees I heard, but NONE responded. Heard some STRONG stations between the heavy QSB, but poor propagation and my severe mismatch were against me. I had no idea how severe my SWR was or whether my final transistor was surviving the abuse! After an hour or so of this frustration, I was interrupted by a visitor. A rather territorial black bear came within 50 feet of my location and pounded the ground with its front paws (NOT a friendly gesture, BTW)! Fighting off the urge to soil my jocky-shorts, I removed my headset and stood up. The bear turned and walked away but it gave me enough of a start to pack everything up and begin hiking down the mountain. That's when the rain started. "Ohhh... of COURSE!", I thought to myself as I became soaked on the trail back to the car. This year's event was certainly an "adventure", but isn't that what the ARS is all about?
72/73!
Dale