The Adventure Radio Society (ARS) was founded by Russ Carpenter - AA7QU somewhere in the 1990-1995 time frame to promote operating in outdoor settings using QRP power. Russ had a place on the McKenzie River, about 40 miles east of Eugene, Oregon. Russ liked to hike and he would set up a portable QRP station on his favorite summits in the mountains above the McKenzie River valley. This was all pre-SOTA of course. Russ was joined by Richard Fisher - KI6SN. QRP events that focused on operating outdoors were created to encourage others to get out and enjoy operating QRP in the fresh air.

Whenever Russ moved to Arizona, he turned the management of The Adventure Radio Society over to Richard. From that point on, Richard continued to manage the ARS QRP events on his own. In May of 2024, Richard posted:

"Friends, You may have noticed that for the last several months I have been unable to post to QRP-L and other QRP forums due to a health concern. I have since made the decision to step back from posting results of the Spartan Sprint and the Flight of the Bumblebees. Thank you for a wonderful 26 years! I hope someone else will take up the mantle and keep the low power spirit alive! 72 and 73, Richard Fisher, KI6SN Co-founder, The Adventure Radio Society"

Phil Specht - K4PQC, an active participant in the ARS Spartan Sprint, realized the Spartan Sprint would not survive without a logging and reporting facility. Even though this is not a big-time contest, everyone who participates likes to see how they did and see the comments that others post. Phil approached Bruce Horn - WA7BNM to see Bruce was willing to add the ARS events to his 3830Scores.com auto-logging facility. Bruce has graciously provided Auto-Logging and Reporting facilities for the Spartan Sprint and Flight of the Bumblebees.

Jody Nelis - K3JZD, another active participant in the ARS Spartan Sprint, felt that the ARS events would suffer and falter without a web site that provided up to date Overviews and Rules for the Spartan Sprint and the Flight of the Bumblebees events. Jody created this web site to provide that resource.

With Bruce's auto-logging and reporting facility, and this mostly static web site, the Adventure Radio Society legacy events are now mostly running on autopilot. It is now a little more do-it-yourself, for the participants, but many other events have survived thanks to Bruce's 3830Scores.com facility. The Flight of the Bumblebees Numbers still need to be manually assigned, but perhaps that will be automated in future years.

The Adventure Radio Society events have always been focused on a few guiding principals:

(1) QRP CW, at 5 watts output is enough power to get the job done (mandatory).

(2) Running at station at a portable location is encouraged (but not mandatory).

(3) Minimalistic homebrewed or kit built rigs are encouraged (but not mandatory).

The Spartan Sprint is a monthly event, held on the First Monday of each month. It runs for 2 hours. The Spartan Sprint is a casual QRP CW event. Anyone can participate - no membership is required. The Spartan Sprint has a rather unique scoring system that rewards those who choose to use a minimalistic station. Details are on the Spartan Sprint page.

The Flight of the Bumblebees (FOBB) is an annual event, held on the Last Sunday of July. It runs for 4 hours. The FOBB is a casual QRP CW event. Anyone can participate - no membership is required. However, those who choose to be 'Bumblebees' and operate from a Field Location have to obtain a Bumblebee Number each year. The FOBB has a rather unique scoring system that rewards those who work the Bumblebees. Details are on the Flight of the Bumblebees page.