The Flight Of the Bumble Bee (FOBB) Contest was buzzing on Sunday July 28
It’s a 4 hour event hosted by the Adventure Radio Society and held annually on the last Sunday of July. Bumblebees operating less than 10W go out into the field to make contacts with other operators.
Dan, KG5PVP, first alerted me about this goofy contest. He was locked in at the git go, and I, after some hesitation, ultimately succumbed into the swarm.
During this event, Dan was still at his other QTH near Troy, Montana. He decided to operate his bumblebee station within his large property- along an airstrip in his “backyard”! Oddly, Dan has challenges getting his signal out during the contest. He speculated that the nearby mountain may have affected his signals.
“I heard several BB stations and copied their details, but they couldn’t hear me, so no log entries. I made 4 total contacts, 2 BBs for a total score of 24 points. In the beginning I avoided non BB stations, which was probably a mistake. Adding those would have improved my score. Lesson learned for next year. I tried 2 difference antennas, both worked about the same at 5 watts. According to the list of registered BBs I was only one in Montana! See attached photo. During the FOTBBs yesterday this was my setup:
- Xiegu X6100 at 5 watts, running on external battery,
- G5RV strung across a large field (my ultralight airstrip) at nominal 25 feet,
- I used the G5RV for the first 2 hours, and then changed to an MP1 Super Stick pushed up on a pole at about 20 feet for the last hour I operated. Both antennas performed about the same,
- N1MM+ for logging with the FOTBB contest template on my Surface Pro laptop,
- Power for the radio and PC (thru an inverter) was from a Bioenno BLF-1220A LiFePo battery (I had 2, but didn’t need the second one for this short contest),
- The location was on my property in the Kootenai National Forest adjacent to the Cabinet Mountain Wilderness – Troy, Montana. According to the preregistrations, I was the only BB registered in Montana.”
For me, I had much more luck with a quickie setup on a park bench at the Walter Hall Park in League City. I had just arrived back in town, but conveniently had my versatile Elecraft KX2 and “go bag” with me. I had little expectation for any QSOs since I previously participated in a similar goofy QRP contest and heard ZILCH. Much to my surprise, there was quite a lot of activity! Within an hour and a half at 5W CW on 20m, I netted 38 contacts of which 24 were Bumble Bees buzzing in their outdoor locations. I even worked Dale KG5U who kindly managed to get on the air to help us bumble bees make honey with the home QTH stations.
Of the 14 non-bumble contacts, it was gratifying to see that all of them were operating at QRP levels as well (their power levels were part of the exchange). QRP is alive and well! For this event, I was also trying out my new shade umbrella
This one is a unique design since its 1) asymmetrical in shape and 2) a 360 degree swivel adjustment to optimize sun blockage. I decided to get a shade umbrella since the Houston heat has been relentless. Especially, during a POTA outing to the Justin Hurst Wildlife Management Area, I remember the terrific sun issue while operating at the park picnic table. This umbrella was good but the table/pole clamp was a bit whimpy, so, I augmented it with an awesome double clamp:
https://www.amazon.com/ULANZI-Bracket-Monitor-Photography-Reflector/dp/B09S61H68B
This is one very study and versatile clamping system. Highly recommended, and it worked great on the table I was on.
Here was my setup:
- Elecraft KX2 (5W)
- CW mini Paddle UMPP-1 by GM0EUL
- Sotabeams Band Hopper II (20m/40m) linked portable dipole
- Sotabeams Carbon-6 ultra light 6m mast
I want to give special mention to my 32″ Rubber Twist Tie. I carry two of these for my POTA and SOTA outings
https://www.amazon.com/Nite-Ize-GT32-33-2R3-Original-Reusable/dp/B09Q6JHCYW
For Sunday, I wrapped my Carbon-6 mast to the picnic table using 2 of these twist ties. It worked great, and I often use them to reliable secure my mast to bushes, water pipes, and structures in the field.
In celebration of a fun Sunday event, I had a bowl of yogurt and HONEY tonight.
73 -dave and dan W5OC, KG5PVP
Nice outing, good to see y’all get on and make some honey QSO’s..
I think I see 6-degrees of freedom on the umbrella mount. Wasn’t that an unsolvable differential equation back in the days of early computers ??