Amateur Radio 'Polar Bears' plan Full Moon expedition

A group of radio hams from the Eastern Pennsylvania QRP club will be trekking out to one of the highest points on a Pennsylvania section of the Appalachian trail on Saturday, Dec. 17th to set up portable ham radio operations coinciding with this month's full moon. Amateur Radio Newsline's Mark Abramowicz, NT3V, has the story:

This intrepid group of dedicated amateurs is heading out to a spot called the Pinnacle. The contingent is led by Ron Polityka, WB3AAL, the driving force behind the EPA QRP group's Polar Bear Moonlight Madness.

Polityka, who lives just outside the town of Reading, Pennsylvania - about 55 miles north and west of Philadelphia - says the event was born out of his love of hiking and ham radio. He says it was a fellow QRP'er and hiker, Ed Breneiser, WA3WSJ, who convinced him to bring along his friends and their radios. too.

"I like to go out once a month, all the time and it doesn't matter if it's snowing, sleeting or raining, I go out," Polityka says. "This past February of 2005, Ed organized a bunch of us to go out at night, during the full moon and we called ourselves the Polar Bears and it also became known as the Polar Bear Moonlight Madness Event."

Polityka says it has become a monthly event - but only during those months when the air is crisp, clear and cold.

"It's mostly the cold weather, we won't go out in the summer time, trust me," Polityka says. "Since it was in February we went out and that's how it became the Polar Bears because it's cold, it's snowing and with the full
moon. In March, when we were up there, there's a lot of snow on the ground and we heard coyotes in the distant valley."

Polityka says the radios and power source the operators use are basic.

"Elecraft radios, the K1, the K2s, we usually use gell cells, small, seven- and-a-half amp gel cells," Polityka says.

And, what about antennas?

"We'll use a home-brew vertical that Ed makes and we make most of the contacts with verticals, QRP, 5 watts and we're usually up there for about 4 to 5 hours every time when we go out every month," Politkya says.

Polityka says while there is some sideband operation, the primary mode of communication is Morse Code.

"We'll usually run CW, usually around the QRP frequencies like 14.060 Mhz and 7.040 Mhz," Polityka says. "It's mostly CW, we do some sideband. We talk all over, the last time we were out on 30 meters, I contacted OO4ON from Belgium. And, then I also worked an EA5 station from Spain from the Pinnacle with 5 watts."

Polityka says there are a lot of stateside contacts, too. He says the Polar Bears log all of their contacts and reward those who make the effort to put a Polar Bear in the log. Each of the members of the group has a Polar Bear number.

"If you work us, we will send you a nice certificate usually it changes month-to-month from different activities we do and we try and correlate it with the different type of the names of the moon for the fall moon like the harvest moon," Polityka says. "In December, it's the cold, winter moon. And, we'll send you a nice certificate no charge."

Up until now, Polityka says, the group has been promoting its operating events by way of the internet and QRP listings. Polityka says you don't have to be a QRP operator to take part. The whole idea behind the Polar Bear events, he says, is to promote radio activity and fun.

For more information about the Polar Bear plans, go to www.n3epa.org and follow the Polar Bear link

Mark Abramowicz, NT3V
Amateur Radio Newsline