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2024 Flight of the Bumblebees
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FT-817's set the world on fire for Portable QRP Operation.? ?Now would be a good time to get your FT-817/FT-818 out there and turn it into a Bumblebee !!? ? The annual Flight of the Bumblebees will be held on Sunday, July 28, 2024. ? The event ?will be in a four hour daytime window, from 1700 to 2100 UTC. ? This casual QRP CW event consists of 'Bumblebees' who are operating portable stations at outdoor locations, and 'Home Stations' who try to work as many of these 'Bumblebees' as possible. ? This event is open to all operators.? Anywhere.? Being at the top of the sunspot cycle, this year's? event has the potential to be very interesting. ? Operators who want to go out and setup a portable station at some outdoor location, and be a highly sought after 'Bumblebee', need to obtain a "Bumblebee Number".? ? The window for obtaining your 2024 'Bumblebee Number' is now Open. ? The web site will explain the whole process. ? I'll be out there as a 'Bumblebee' - hoping to work you during the event. ? 72, Jody - K3JZD |
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Flight of the Bumblebees is 2 Weeks Away.? ??July 28th will soon be here.?? ? Bumblebee Number requests are still coming in.? As of today, there are 120 Bumblebees signed up to go out and operate portable in some fresh air location. ?The Bumblebees will be everywhere from Maine to California and Florida to Washington.? Not in every state, but pretty darn close.? We will also have Bumblebees in Canada, and at least one in a DX location.? They will be operating from mountain tops, parks, beaches, local fields, back yards, etc. ? Let me address this to the Home Stations: ? Your challenge is to work as many of these Bumblebees as possible using 5W CW.? On as many bands as possible.? You have the advantage of having better permanent antennas, but you may encounter pileups since Home Stations will outnumber Bumblebees..? ? You can work the same Bumblebee once on each band – each band will count as another Contact and another Bumblebee worked.?? While you can also work other Home Stations from your Home Station, the scoring is weighted toward working Bumblebees. ? Let me give you an example: -????????? Working 1 Bumblebee and 9 other Home Stations results in a Total Score of 30? -????????? Working 10 Bumblebees results in a Total Score of 300 Not everyone will be in it for the Score, but it is always nice to have bragging rights. ? Of course propagation will not support it, but with 120 Bumblebees, and 5 bands available (10-15-20-40-80), a Home Station theoretically has 600 Bumblebees out there to find and work.? Chasing Bumblebees will easily fill up the whole 4 hours of this event. ? Good Luck.? And have fun. ? Adventure Radio Society – Rules are at : ? 73, Jody – K3JZDOn Sun, Jun 30, 2024 at 05:54 AM, Jody - K3JZD wrote:
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Based on some questions that ?I have received, I have added the following to the FOBB Rules on
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POTA/SOTA OPERATIONS AND HIGHER POWERED HUNTERS/CHASERS:
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Many of the Bumblebees have indicated that they will be operating from POTA or SOTA locations. ?
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Many Bumblebees have said that they will also be responding to POTA Hunters and/or SOTA Chasers.
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As long as a Bumblebee Number is sent in the Outgoing Exchange, that will be a Bumblebee FOBB Contact.?
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FOBB Home Stations are expected to be running 5W QRP.
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However most POTA Hunters and SOTA Chasers will be running more than 5W QRP.
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A Bumblebee should strive to obtain and log the Power of the POTA Hunter or SOTA Chaser.
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?However, that is not always going to be possible - do not dwell on it - move on.
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?(POTA Hunters and SOTA Chasers running more than 5W QRP cannot Submit FOBB Results)
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72,
Jody - K3JZD ?
On Sun, Jul 14, 2024 at 08:46 PM, Jody - K3JZD wrote:
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Flight of the Bumblebees is now just 1 Week Away.? ??July 28th is nearly here.? ? ? ?21JUL24 ? Bumblebee Number requests are still coming in.? As of this morning, there are 166 Bumblebees signed up to go out and operate portable in some fresh air location. ?The Bumblebees will be everywhere from Maine to California and Florida to Washington.? Not in every state, but pretty darn close.? We will also have Bumblebees in Canada, and at least two in a DX location.? They will be operating from mountain tops, parks, beaches, local fields, back yards, etc. ? Wow, that is sure a lot of Bumblebees for the FOBB Home Stations to find and work. ?Remember, you can work each Bumblebee once on each band that you can find them on. And Bumblebee to Bumblebee contacts are rewarding when it comes to the Total Score. ? Bumblebees and POTA ? When the ARS was organized and the FOBB event was created back in the 1990-1995 time frame, the notion of getting out to operate a portable ham station was a novelty.?? With the popularity of POTA, that is not quite so novel today. ? It is not surprising that lots of folks who routinely Activate POTA have obtained a Bumblebee Number and have said they expect to be operating from a POTA park.? Remember that the FOBB event is a 5W QRP event and that you cannot rely on your vehicle for anything other than getting you there,? ? Some have indicated that they may split their time between being a POTA Activator and? being a Bumblebee.?? That is certainly acceptable.? As long as Bumblebees do not exceed 5W CW output , and they are not relying on their vehicle in any way, then all CW QSOs that they make from their portable location within the designated 4 hour FOBB window will count as FOBB 'Contacts'. ? Discussing this with one of my local club members who is a POTA Activator,, he replied: ? I think I'll prioritize to be a BB.? At some point in time I may devote an hour as a POTA operator.? After all I can be a POTA operator whenever I want, but being a BB only comes once a year. ? Give that come consideration.? Keep calling CQ BB during the 4 hour FOBB window.. ? Also remember that being a FOBB Bumblebee or being a FOBB Home Station is a individual effort, not a team effort. ? Good Luck.? And have a good buzzy time. ? Adventure Radio Society – Rules are at : ? 73, Jody – K3JZD?
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On Wed, Jul 17, 2024 at 12:47 PM, Jody - K3JZD wrote:
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