Chillycon 2024...

Chillycon 2024 was held this year from September 20th through the 22nd. The weather was absolutely superb, no rain and no "Chilly" periods, it was just glorious!!

Propagation wise it could have been a bit better, but we made do and we all made some good DX contacts. This year we introduced a new trophy for SSB DX, to complement the CW DX award we have had for the past 10 years. This new award was generously donated by Eric, VE3DN.

The downside of the event was the very poor attendance.  This year we only had 8 people show up.  A few more did show up on the Saturday and spent a few hours at the camp, but overall it could have been a lot better, especially given the weather we had.

The winner of the Upper Canada QRP Club Award for CW DX was Tom VA2NW, and the new VA3KS Memorial Award for SSB DX was Don, VE3MNE.  

One of the highlights of the weekend was the visit on Friday evening by Jennifer, the widow of Kieran, VA3KS. She came to meet with us and talk about the shenanigans we used to get up to with Kieran. He was very good at leading us astray! As she was leaving she very kindly left on the table an unopened bottle of 12 year old Glenfiddich single malt scotch, with which we toasted our old friend as we sat around the campfire that evening.

Here's some pictures of the event:

Don VE3MNE being presented with his award by Eric VE3DN.

Tom VA2NW being presented with his award by Eric VE3DN.

Jennifer being shown Kieran's memorial award for the first time.

Stay Safe Out There!

Hay Bay...

It's been a long time since I have been out to Hay Bay, to the west of Kingston. Last Thursday a new POTA site was authorized, CA-6350, Hay Bay Church National Historic Site, and I decided to get out there today (Sunday, September 15) and get it activated for the very first time.

The propagation numbers were in the toilet most of the day, and I did not think I would do very well, but it turned out to be a great activation after all! CA-6350 is a nice spot to activate from, the noise floor is S0, totally quiet.  

Today the propagation numbers were: SFI=172, SN=68, A Index=21, and the K Index=3. The BZ was +2.5, but did slip to -6.6 during the activation.

I met the two caretakers of the Church and property, Terry & John, and they told me they have no issue with us being on the property to activate the Church at all. There is parking to the west side of the Church, and there are picnic tables and a couple of large trees for shade as well....they would prefer if we didn't put wires for antennas in the trees though.

I was on the air at 1505 UTC and I had the site activated with 10 contacts by 1511 UTC....a whole 6 minutes. The day ended with 49 contacts in the log, with 40m 15m and 20m being used, and three European DX stations made it in the log as well, two Spanish and one from France, not too bad at all considering the state the bands were in.

Radio used was my KX3 set at 10w and I only used my Hamsticks on my truck roof.

Thanks to all those in Kingston, and surrounding places, who chased me, it was good to get you in the log.

Here are a few more pictures of the old Church....

And here's todays contact map:

Stay Safe Out There!!

Sneaking Out for an Hour...

It's been pretty busy around the homestead over this past week, and time for radio work was at an all time high premium. However, I did manage to sneak away for an hour and get an activation in at Lemoine Point, my closest POTA site.

My past three or four recent activation have been hampered by very bad QSB, today was no different. It took a while to drum up the contacts, but after a few minutes calling CQ, they started to flow in.

As I was short on time I used my KX3, and Hamsticks, for this activation. The hamsticks do very well, and I'm constantly surprised with who I can have a QSO with using them. The propagation today was: SFI=241, SN=134, A Index=7, and the A Index=3. 

Given the poor propagation numbers I was surprised at how well I actually did. The big surprise of the morning though was working Michael, KB9VBR, a well known Ham Radio YouTuber. Anyway, with 19 contacts in the log I had to shut it down and get back home to help the XYL with chores.

Here's today's contact map:

 Stay Safe Out There!!

Xiegu G90

A new rig appeared in my shack a few weeks ago, an Xiegu G90. It's an interesting radio, 20w max output and has a built in ATU, which truthfully could tune a wet piece of string it's so good.

So far I have used it on just one POTA activation, which was not really a hot day, but I was very surprised at how hot the radio got after 10 minutes of use at 20w. Because of this I decided then and there to purchase the cooling fan unit that goes with the radio.

I have not had a chance to use the radio outdoors with the fan yet, but I'm hoping to this weekend. Hopefully it will do the trick and keep the radio cool.

Here's a couple of pictures showing the cooling unit:

Stay Safe Out There!!