QRP Weekend...

In a word, it was disappointing.   The propagation was in the toilet, the weekend numbers were: SFI=69, SN=0, A Index=7, and the K Index=1.  This coupled with some deep QSB made for some very noisy bands.  Hopefully the propagation Gods will start to wake up and allow things to improve....quickly!

This weekend saw the QRP to the Field event and the Europe to North America SOTA event.  I hung around the usual QRP watering holes but never heard a sound from any station looking to make contacts for these events.  I have not even seen any news on the SOTA event on the SOTA reflector, so it was probably just as bad on the European end as it was ours on this side of the pond.  Perhaps by the November SOTA cross the pond event propagation will have improved.

The Ontario QSO Party for a QRP SSB station was just as bad.  I managed to make contacts on 80m, 40m, 20m, 6m, and 2m.   But my final score was less than half of last years.  I did manage to make contacts from VO2 land to VE7 land, so contacts where out there to be made, just extremely difficult to do by QRP apparently.

Next weekend is the Florida QSO Party.  Rules for that event can be found HERE.

2020 Summer Field Day...

As of todays date, it would seem the ARRL Programs and Services Committee has in fact considered the Wuhan Flu issue, and has decided not to make any rule changes. 

This is disappointing, current social distancing requirements as well as our new provincial and municipal laws very likely will impact just how, and even whether, we are able to participate in Field Day this year.

It would have been very easy for the ARRL to put rules in place that encourage social distancing early enough for clubs, and individuals, to make alternative arrangements.  Part of the Field Day concept has always been adapting your operation to the situation at hand, and this year we have a real doozy of a situation. 

I really hope everyone who wishes to participate in Field Day is able to do so this year, and can do so in a safe manner, even if you must operate from home.

2020 Winter Field Day Results...

The Winter Field Day scores have been published (HERE), a couple of months early thanks to the ongoing Wuhan Flu, and people being able to do it quicker due to unfortunately being laid off work.

I believe over 1400 logs were sent it.  Of that number only 47 entered as QRP in the Outdoor Section of the event.  Of those 47 QRP entries our group came third overall and were the top Canadian QRP entry.

This was our first Winter Field Day attempt as a QRP entry after many years of doing it QRO, we did not expect to do as well as we did, and I can tell you we certainly didn’t expect to be the top Canadian entry this year.  

It was a great team effort and plans are already underway to go bigger and better next year.

Things to do...

While we're all hunkered down trying to stay clear of this Covid-19, here's a few things to keep you busy next weekend....

To coincide with this years annual QRP To The Field event, the next Trans-Atlantic S2S QSO Party will be on Saturday 18th April 2020 between 1300z and 1700z.  Due to various restrictions in place in a number of EU countries about being outside, participant numbers may be down.

As usual, some may prefer to start a little earlier and others continue after 1700z when propagation has been known to improve.

This is also the same weekend as the Ontario QSO Party, so there will be lots of contacts out there to make.  Rules for this event are HERE.

The QRP To The Field event runs from 0800 local to 1800 local.  The Ontario QSO Party is split into two parts.  The first runs from 1800 UTC on April 18th to 0500 UTC on April 19th, and the second part runs from 1200 UTC to 1800 UTC on April 19th.  Their Rules are HERE.

As you can tell the bands should be hoping if the propagation Gods smile upon us that weekend.  

I'm planning on operating portable from my back deck as all parks and conservation areas in my part of the world are now closed to the public.   

Have fun and stay safe everyone!!