Back to VE-5141

With the bands being in such good shape today I couldn't resist getting out into a park again and doing some operating. It's so much better operating with no noise floor, than the constant S7 at home.

The weather was superb here as well, it got up to +10C, which after the cold we have had, is fantastic.....I think I finally thawed out!

The propagation was: SFI=181, SN=151, A Index=4, and the K Index=2.  I didn't hear any QSB today at all, even with the Bz sitting at -2.5. 

With all the stars aligning I went to Lemoine Point, VE-5141, and set up. It took me 40 minutes to get 25 SSB contacts in the log, using both 10m and 15m.  I put F4ILH, IK2BYY, SO5CAL, G0RQL, 2E0VRX, SP8BJU, DH4PSG, DK1RS, and OE4JHW, which absolutely made my day!  

The fact I'm doing this with my KX3 set at 10w, and only using various hamsticks as my antenna, is just amazing. This weekend, if I can get out, I'm going to try this with my 29' vertical wire, and see what I can do.

Here's todays contact map:

Be Well, and Stay Safe Out There!

10m was rocking!!

Yesterday, November 15th, I decided to do a mid-morning activation of VE-5141, Lemoine Point Conservation Area, a local to me, POTA spot.   

The weather, for this area, at this time of year, was spectacular.  Sunny, +7C (44.6F), and a deep blue sky.  Not a drop of rain or snow in sight.  It was just an absolutely beautiful day.

The day before during an activation of VE-5142, Parrott's Bay, I had great success on 10m, so today I decided to do the whole activation, if I could, on 10m.  Many of my activations have been done only on 40m, but I had never tried to do this on another band.

Luckily for me 10m was just alive with good signals.  First in the log was F4FTJ, and in rapid succession PU1JSV, 2E0VRX, OE4JHW, F4ILH, IK1GPG, EA1BUL, and F4HZR followed.  This was the first time I made POTA contacts with Brazil and Austria, that just made my day.  The Brazilian station was S9 +20 to me, just an outstanding signal.

The radio was my KX3 set at 10w.  The antenna of the day was a 10m Hamstick on the roof of my truck using a 5" mag-mount.  

The day's propagation was: SFI=124, SN=40, A Index=6 and the K Index=3.  There was no, to very little QSB, and the LIDS and deliberate QRM'ers stayed away for a change.

Hopefully if this run of good weather and decent propagation holds for a few more days, I can get out and do a lot more portable operating, because you know before long the snow will start to fly around here.

Here's the days contact map:

Keep Well, and Stay Safe Out There!