Tag: Polar Bear

I have a long-standing tradition of operating portable on New Year’s Day. I opted out this year due to a forecast of rain and the possibility of freezing rain. Fortunately, my delayed first outing of the year aligned with a Polar Bear Moonlight Madness Event. 

The Polar Bear QRPers tend to get on the air on the Saturday closest to a full moon. The full moon that occurred on December 30th is known as the Cold Moon. 

I headed out to my daughter’s property near Birdsboro, Pennsylvania, and set up in my usual spot on top of a hill. Today I went with a 50-foot wire configured as a sloper. I attached the far end of the wire to the top of my 28-foot Jackite pole and ran a 25-foot counterpoise wire off into the brush. I set up my KX3 on a small table and set to work looking for some of my fellow Polar Bears. 

As soon as I fired up the KX3 on 40M, I heard K3Y/2, one of the SKCC on-air event stations operating during January. I gave him a quick call and added him to my log. 

I moved down to the 40M QRP watering hole and started calling CQ. Not long after spotting myself on QRPSpots, I received a call from VE3WMB. After chatting with Michael for a bit, I received a call from another Polar Bear, Eric VA3AMX. Nice! Back-to-back Polar Bears!

My fellow Boschveldt QRP member, WA8YIH, wanted me to let him know when I was on the air. I fired off a text message to Ron, and a little while later, we had a QSO. 

This location on top of a hill is ideal for radio; it has good elevation and no RF noise. The downside, though, is that it tends to get windy up there. My CW sending hand was getting stiff from the cold, so I made a few more contacts before packing up. I had a chat with an Ohio station, worked a POTA activator in Indiana, and ended up working K3Y/8 in Michigan. 

Despite the cold wind, it was a fun outing. In particular, I was happy to log two of my fellow Polar Bears up in Canada. I have to admit it sure felt good to get back in the truck out of the wind. 

I’m hoping 2021 turns out to be a better year than the one we just went through. Stay well, my friends.

73, Craig WB3GCK

The Polar Bear QRP group started scheduling Polar Bear Moonlight Madness Events (PBMME) for the Winter, so I went out to operate for a couple of hours today to see if I could find any of my fellow Polar Bears on the air.

The weather has been a little sketchy; a nor’easter came up the coast overnight bringing some heavy precipitation. Fortunately, my area is far enough inland that we escaped the heaviest weather. It was only a rain event that tapered off this morning. However, with the soggy ground and the predicted high winds for today, I decided to wimp out and operate from the truck.

I drove over to nearby Upper Schuylkill Valley Park, one of my favorite operating locations during the Winter. Mine was the only vehicle in the parking lot today. I used my trusty KX3 and went with my usual 19-foot vertical, mounted on my truck.

I spotted myself on the QRPSpots and the Polar Bear QRP Ops mailing and started calling CQ on 40M. After one or two calls, W3FSA gave a holler from Maine. John and I chatted for a while, and I went back to CQing. 

I wasn’t having much luck, so I started chasing some POTA activators. I ended up with 8 POTA stations in my log, including fellow Polar Bear, VE2JCW. Jean was doing a joint POTA/PBMME operation, and I managed to find him on 30M. 

I switched over to my straight key and finished up with 2 SKCC contacts. All in all, I logged 11 contacts during my 2 hours of operating. 

Although it was a dreary, windy day, it was a fun day for radio. Thanks to fellow Polar Bear VE2JCW for allowing me to bag a bear and avoid getting skunked. 

72, Craig WB3GCK

Today was the monthly Polar Bear Moonlight Madness Event (PBMME). While the weather had warmed up to a balmy 50°F, it came with a bunch of rain. The weather was lousy, but the bands were pretty good.

I headed back to Black Rock Sanctuary for today’s outing, and it rained the entire time I was there. So, I hunkered down in the truck for this one.

I started on 40M and was greeted with loud static crashes from the storm passing by. Despite the QRN, I had two-way QRP QSOs with W9ILF in Indiana, WI8J in Michigan, and fellow Polar Bear, Mike VE3WMB, in Ontario.

I ventured out in the rain to configure my 19-foot vertical for the 20M band. The pipeline to the West Coast must have been wide open. I worked two California stations and had a two-way QRP QSO with K7QF in Washington state. I also had an SKCC QSO with K5DMC down in Mississippi for good measure.

There was a 10M contest going on, so I headed up there to see what was going on. My vertical was only giving me a 2:1 SWR on 10M, but that was good enough to work a contester 5 miles away.

I went back to 40M for a bit before packing up and ended up with a nice two-way QRP QSO with K4JJW in North Carolina. Dick was really booming in with his 5 watts.

After tearing down the antenna in the rain, I got back in the truck to head home. As my luck would have it, the sun was trying to break through the clouds. That figures!

Nonetheless, I had fun today. Now it’s time to go dry out some antenna parts.

72, Craig WB3GCK

Although the Polar Bear QRP Club has been around for 13 years, the club hasn’t been very active in recent years. The club’s recent move from Yahoo Groups to groups.io prompted renewed interest among the members.

Mike VE3WMB/VA2NB organized one of the club’s Polar Bear Moonlight Madness Events (PBMME). The PBMME is an informal event where we get on the air—typically outdoors—on a Saturday closest to a full moon.

For today’s PBMME, I drove out to Upper Schuylkill Valley Park near Royersford, PA, one of my favorite portable locations. I was tempted to set up at a picnic table but, with the 39°F temperature (and a windchill of 29°F), I opted to operate from my truck. I went with my usual set up: my homebrew 19-foot vertical mounted on the truck and my KX3 up in the cab.

I started on 40M and almost immediately got a call from VA2NB. Mike was operating from his cottage in Quebec. This was the first Polar Bear QSO for each of us in a long time. Unfortunately, Mike would be the only Polar Bear in my log today.

After working Mike, I went on to make another half-dozen QSOs, including a couple of two-way QRP contacts and some nice rag chews. I also picked up a new SKCC number from NC7H Idaho. There were a few other Polar Bears on the air but, sadly, I never heard them.

I was only out for 2 hours but it was a fun time. Thanks to VA2NB for preventing me from getting skunked today. I’m hoping that activity in the Polar Bear QRP Club will continue to grow.

72, Craig WB3GCK

I went out in search of some polar bears this afternoon.  The Polar Bear Moonlight Madness Event (PBMME), sponsored by the Polar Bear QRP Ops group, is a very informal QRP field event.  It occurs monthly from October through March on the Saturday closest to a full moon.

For this month’s event, I traveled to Towpath Park near Pottstown, PA on the banks of the Schuylkill River.  This was my first time operating from this park, so I did a little exploring when I arrived.  I set up my KX3 and AlexLoop on a picnic table underneath a little pavilion.

Polar Bears generally hang out near the traditional QRP calling frequencies so I started out on 14.060 MHz.  I called CQ for a while with no takers.  I was about to change bands when I got a call from OK1DVM.  Miro had a very nice signal and gave me a 559.  I moved down the band a bit and worked PF30EUDXF, a special event station in the Netherlands.  At least I was making it into Europe.

I didn’t work any bears down on 40 meters but I did work a couple of stations in the New York QSO Party.  Thirty meters seemed to be open but I had no takers there.  Back on 20 meters, I worked a station in the Iowa QSO Party before calling it quits.

Sadly, I didn’t work any of my Polar Bear friends today but it was nice to be out on this beautiful Fall day.  Hopefully, I’ll be able to give it another shot next month.

72, Craig WB3GCK
Polar Bear #7

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