Good morning, my name is Ron Polityka and my call is WB3AAL.

  I have been a ham and QRPer for 25 years and a hiking enthusiast for more than 20 of those years. It has been within the past few years that I have been hiking with my QRP radios. This is mostly due to a club called the Adventure Radio Society. The ARS sponsors a sprint called "Flight of the Bumblebees." This sprint held every year on the last Sunday of July. In April the ARS send out an invitation to QRPers to serve as Bumblebees. The Bees all agree to reach their operating sites by human power (hiking, biking, canoeing and kayaking). On Sunday, masses of home-based operators chase the Bees. This sprint was one of my first trips out into the field with QRP. I had so much fun that once again I am participating as Bumblebee #6 from the Appalachian Trail.

  There are other contests throughout the year that also have a outdoor theme with QRP radio categories. Some of the contests are QRP to the Field, FYBO (Freeze your butt off), QRP ARCI Milliwatt Field Day, BUBBA QRP Sprint, and of course the TAC Contest which is sponsored by the QRP club which I started, The Eastern PA QRP Club.

  You don’t have to go out and operate a contest to have fun in the great outdoors. Anyone can take advantage of the city parks, recreational areas, hiking trails, lakes, rivers or mountains. You can just throw up a wire antenna and set up your rig in your own back yard just to get the feel of operating in the outdoors. Make a few contacts and watch the people walk by and give you a stare. Most people will ask you what you are doing. After you have explained all your gadgets and noise they hear, they usually say, "That is neat."

  There are different kinds of external QRM that you have to deal with while operating outdoors. Woodpeckers are on the top of my list. Their rapid fire of dits and no dashes can throw a person off the trail. Some members from my club like to canoe and take their radios along for the trip.

  There is so much one can do in the outdoors, you just have to look at the area around your QTH. There are various number of radios that one can take on an excursion. You can go from the most basic kits, scratch building or the store-bought QRP radios. The basic kits can range from Elecraft, EMTECH, Green Mountain, Kanga US, MFJ, Oak Hills Research, and Small Wonder Labs. The manufactured rigs are from Icom, Kenwood, Ten Tec and Yaesu. Don’t forget about the kits that come from the different QRP radio clubs. They offer some light weight, mono band radios that are great for the outdoors.

  You can load up you gear in the car and drive to a place where you can operate the station or hike with the gear packed on your back. When I do a road trip I like to drive to an area where the Appalachian Trail crosses a country road or a mountain top. This is when I will break out the heavy gear, I will take my Kenwood TS-50 and a deep cycle battery. With this simple setup you can work the world on 5 watts. I use a multi band vertical that is 33 feet tall with three counterpoise radials that are feed with 450 ohm ladder line through an MFJ-971 portable tuner. This antenna works well only in areas that I can get the bottom of the antenna 10 feet off the ground. When you are going to hike to your operating location, there are several different things you have to consider. One of the biggest factors is the weight you want to carry on your back. My fellow EPA QRP Club members gave me the nick name "The Mule." I have the tendency to carry a lot of weight on my day trips. I average around 50 to 60 lbs. or 23 to 28 Kilograms on each trip. This is not a good idea for everyone to carry this kind of weight. You can go as light as 5 to 10 pounds or 2 to 5 Kilograms which would include the radio, power supply, key, antenna, pen and paper. I like to be prepared for any problem which might occur outdoors, that is why I take an assortment of tools for the unexpected problem. The equipment I take on a hiking trip would be the Ten Tec 515 Argonaut, MFJ-971 tuner, Timewave DSP-599zx, two 7 amp hour batteries, Whiterook MK-65MB keyer and a Poqet PC for logging and keying.

  Lately, I have been lowering the radio gear weight that I carry on my trips. I recently down sized my pack by purchasing a UNI-Solar flexible solar panel and controller. Now I am down to one 7 amp hour battery and other hikers are asking me questions about the solar panel. I will be doing some overnight trips on the Appalachian Trail which I will need to carry my tent and cooking supplies. Recently I attended a local camping outfitter’s outdoor expo. I picked up some much needed items for an overnight stay on the Appalachian Trail. All the items were high tech and low weight. One thing to remember when you go on a trip of any kind is to play it safe. Always check your gear and the weather before you leave you home. You never want to go out and have the gear fail, forget something on your bench at home or have it rain on your equipment.

So take your QRP radios and go out and enjoy the call of the outdoors!