NJ QRP Skeeter Hunt in Hill Village
August 2013

It was a perfect afternoon for the NJ QRP Club Skeeter Hunt.
I operated for an hour in Old Hill Village and made 13 contacts.
Five QSOs were with fellow QRP operators. The rest were with
DX stations from Finland, Germany, Romania, the Ukraine,
Croatia and Italy.



This place has been abandoned since the 1940's to make room for a flood control
area. It was once a village. As I ride the bicycle along this road, I am transported
back to the 1930's. It has an old world feeling.



I turn east into a field that used to be the old elementary school grounds.
One can almost hear the sounds of children playing from those years...
or is it the crickets?

Up the slope several hundred yards is an ancient maple tree. This old tree
certainly holds many secrets.



I throw my line over a high branch and pull up 33 feet of wire. I sit
in the grass below with the KX3 and a notebook for logging. At first
I go to 20 meters and work AB9CA and N0SS. But I don't hear the QRP
gang, and I start working the European stations in the WAE contest.
I work both 15 and 20 meters. I stop by 40 meters and work K3RLL in
the QRP sprint. Then I go back to 20 meters and log NK9G and WB4MNK.
But I don't hear many of the skeeter stations so I go back to the WAE.
Here is my log:

11 Aug-13 1822  14.060 AB9CA  CW 559 559 AL 125   
11 Aug-13 1825  14.060 N0SS   CW 559 559 MO 20   
11 Aug-13 1832  21.046 9A1AA  CW 599 599 Croatia   
11 Aug-13 1837  21.034 IR2C   CW 599 599 Italy 
11 Aug-13 1840  21.012 UU7J   CW 599 599 Ukraine  
11 Aug-13 1842  10.120 W3LN   CW 549 579 PA  ABE  
11 Aug-13 1855  7.040  K3RLL  CW 559 579 PA 25  
11 Aug-13 1858  14.061 NK9G   CW 559 559 WI 18 
11 Aug-13 1900  14.060 WB4MNK CW 559 559 FL 95    
11 Aug-13 1902  14.041 OH2XX  CW 599 599 Finland  
11 Aug-13 1903  14.042 DD2ML  CW 599 599 Germany   
11 Aug-13 1908  21.050 DJ8EW  CW 599 599 Germany  
11 Aug-13 1909  21.038 YP9W   CW 599 599 Romania 

After less than one hour, I pack up and head back down
to the road for a bike ride.



I ride along the Pemigewasset River surrounded by the
greenest green imaginable. The stillness of the afternoon
is punctuated only by the sound of birds and crickets.
Is there a nicer place in all the world?