Saturday 28 April 2012

2m SSB

This morning, Saturday, April 28th, was my first activation of Fort Henry Hill for 2012.  Lots of construction still going on and the general area of the parking lot is still a real mess.  The construction is for the new multi-million dollar visitors center.  Kingston locals are wondering why we are spending $3.9 million on a building that actually detracts from the historical beauty of the fort it's there to explain.

Anyway, back to ham radio...... local VHF propagation was excellent this morning, and the prop charts were showing many good paths, so up to the hill I went. 

I decided to use my FT-857D today as I have not used it much lately, it just sits there beside the FT-950 looking rather lonely!  The antenna of choice was an Arrow II back pack portable four element Yagi.  This is a great little antenna, I had it up on a 16 foot painter pole and it really works well.

Four contacts were made today, two in Kingston, Tim-VA3TIC and Dave-VE3DZE, and two from the US.  Luther-N2SLN and Tom-KC2SFU who were on top of Rondaxe Mountain, near Old Forge, NY.  Booming signal from them.

We'll have to see if we can't work that ever elusive VA3QV next weekend on 2m SSB....if we can get him out of bed early enough ;-)
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4 comments:

  1. Anonymous28 April 2012 at 21:26

    Unless we can find a common time it could be rough... I don't honestly think we could do it from Ottawa to Kingston with me only having a 2m loop in the air here in Ottawa. If I was to set up portable with my 3 element arrow beam then I would be using 5w only so not sure if theres any advantage there compared to 50w with the loop...

    However if I can get to a place with some altitude and with a little attitude I might be able to do it... Perhaps a Saturday am attempt if I can grab a ride up to the Champlain Lookout

    73bob
    and yes I can wake up early if I have to

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    Replies
    1. Blogmaster28 April 2012 at 22:13

      We'll have to try this Bob, it'll be a good experiment........I'll even give up some of my beauty sleep to do it ;-)

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    2. Anonymous30 April 2012 at 21:50

      Watch the WX closely... VA3PCJ and myself are thinking of heading up to the Champlain Lookout in the Gatineaus on FRIDAY afternoon... Will take the 817 and the 2m arrow beam if we go... WX could be wet which would scrub the attempt but it the WX is dry it should be a go... Not confirmed but looking like a good idea

      73bob

      Delete
    3. Blogmaster1 May 2012 at 05:36

      No problem Bob, I will be available on Friday afternoon. Let's hope the weather God's cooperate.

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