Coming Soon...

Planning on taking part in Winter Field Day, January 25th & 26th, 2020 ??

If you are, plot your location on this map located HERE, so far there is only one Canadian location shown....I'm sure there will be more, but let's get Canada on the map !!

The Rules for the event can be found HERE.

If you're planning on taking part in the outdoor category, you need to play it safe and start brushing up on your winter safety skills.  Don't take a chance, be safe.

First Snow...

Well, it arrived early this year, in fact it's a lot earlier than normal.....winter is still 5 weeks away!!! We're all hoping it doesn't stick around, otherwise it will start to get too cold and wet outside for our portable operating sessions.

The Winter Field Day website states: "Don't let the winter doldrums keep you locked up in the house, get out and play some radio!"  I can tell you that I have now reached the age were I long for a 8 week winter DXpedition to Fiji or perhaps Tahiti......but that's not going to happen.  Instead we'll suck up the winter crap and radio on.

This year Winter Field Day is being held on January 25th & 26th, 2020.  Mark it on your calendars, it's always a good time....even if it is cold.

RAC Winter Contest

Had a great day yesterday taking part in the RAC Winter Contest.  It was a good warm up for Winter Field Day.

I managed to work everywhere except VY1, VE8, and VY0.  Strangely, there was no sign of any station out of the north this year.  There was quite a bit of European traffic on the bands, and I did manage to put France and the Netherlands in the log as well.

The score from last year was beaten by a big margin, many more multipliers jumped into the log this year compared to last year.  Yet the propagation was a lot worse.

Contacts were made on all bands except 160m and 10m.  Lots of traffic on 160m, just didn't hear anyone calling CQ Contest, and nobody responded to my CQ's.  And, as usual nothing at all was heard on 10m.  However 6m was very active and I managed a good number of contacts there.

At 1800 UTC on Saturday, the propagation numbers here were: SFI = 68, SN = 0, A Index = 24, and the K Index = 3.  Not the best set of numbers, but the actual activity on the band was out of all proportion to what we should have had given those figures.  So there you have it, get on the air and call CQ.

As a side note, this is my 500th Blog entry.  I never anticipated reaching this number, but now I'm here.........I think we'll keep going 😎

2019 will see some changes, some new radios are coming, and I'm planning a total rebuild of my antenna system.  The current antennas have been up  for six years and it's time for some major maintenance and changes to them.

Winter Field Day Wrap Up...

Overall it wasn't a bad weekend....it was just that the propagation Gods never came out to play.   At 1330 UTC on Saturday, the propagation numbers were:   SFI = 69, SN = 0, A Index = 8, and the K Index = 2.

What the numbers didn't tell us about was the very deep QSB and the extreme noise levels on the bands.  I had a constant S8+ on 40m all weekend for example.

It was extremely frustrating hearing the typical morning American "hemorrhoid nets" on 40m coming in at S9 +30db, while most of the stations calling CQ WFD where way below the noise floor, very hard to pull out, and all dealing with massive QSB.

My antenna for the weekend was a 31' vertical with two 31' elevated radials, and two 16' elevated radials, all into a 4:1 Balun.   This was mounted on the back deck of the cottage we where at.  On the Friday evening before the event kicked off I did manage to work an Italian - IK2BCP, and two Belgium stations,  OP2A and OP4U...all of whom had lovely signals.....then it all went to hell  for the Field Day.

Saturday morning started off poorly as I couldn't get the antenna to tune up very well...it was taking ages for the ATU to work and sort out the SWR.   It turned out that the collapsible mast had in fact collapsed overnight in the wind and I was working with a compromised antenna.  It took five minutes to fix that issue and we were back on the air.

It was very interesting to listen to the difference of WFD this year compared to WFD nine years ago. This year a good number of stations had large pileups, nine years ago you where lucky to hear anyone calling CQ WFD.

One thing that did get my blood boiling over was a W9 station calling for relays as he couldn't get the information off of some stations trying to work him.  Relays??  In a contest ?? Really ?? Hmmmm !!!

I heard very few Canadian stations on this weekend, it could have just been the conditions, as the event was well advertised.

So, a good weekend.....lots of good food, friends and a decent bottle of Scotch.  Thanks to Dennis VA3DOY for coming out and paying us a visit, and finding us a supper venue on Friday evening.  Who knew "uptown metropolitan Westport" was so up market ??

Thanks go out to the many stations who struggled to work us, as we struggled to work them.  See you back at it next year!!

Winter Field Day

Coming up at the end of the month is Winter Field Day.  From their website:

"The 2012 Winter Field Day will be held from 1700 UTC (12:00 noon EST) Saturday January 28, 2011 through 1700 UTC (12:00 noon EST) Sunday January 29, 2012. The object of the event is familiar to most Amateur Radio operators: set up emergency-style communications and make as many contacts as possible during the 24 hour period. The rules encourage as many contacts on as many bands and modes as possible, because during a real emergency, the most important factor is the ability to communicate, regardless of band, mode or distance".

The official rules can be found at the SPAR web site. This event is open to all amateurs.  Frontenac ARES will be setting up at Rotary Park in the west end of Kingston, and taking part for the fourth year in a row.  It's great practice deploying and setting up in inclement weather, as SPAR likes to state, not all emergencies happen in the good weather.

Give a listen for VE3FRG, you'll know it's us by the chattering teeth!

W3EDP Antenna

Next weekend is Winter Field Day and the group which is taking part from the Frontenac Radio Group decided today which antennas we will be using.  So, the choices are: a 80m OCF Dipole, a 20m Delta Loop, a W3EDP, and a 20m Buddipole Vertical.

(See updated article HERE)

(See another W3EDP article HERE)

We had everything but the W3EDP...but that got built tonight.  Many thanks to Bob, VA3QV, for his comments and thoughts on this antenna............and I'm sure you'll agree that it's also nice to have somebody else to blame if it doesn't work :-)

Everyone I have spoken to who has used this antenna speaks highly of it.  We'll give it a try and see how it works out.

We are already planning several Lighhouse activations next summer and this type of antenna will be very useful on those trips....when it's -30C it's always nice to dream of next summer's fun when it will be +30C !!

For all of you going out next weekend to take part in the Winter Field Day, be careful, dress warm, stay safe, and please remember that it takes four times as long to do tasks in the cold as it does in the warm weather, so take your time.

The Fifth Annual SPAR Winter Field Day!

I'm looking forward to the 2011 Winter Field day, which is being held over the weekend of 29th/30th January.  This will be the fourth year I have taken part in this event.

Now I'm not a fan of winter, and I hate the cold with a passion....but I do believe that SPAR has it right, emergencies and disasters do not always happen in the "good months".  And it is because of this that ARES members must train and operate in less than ideal conditions.

This year six of us will be deploying to Leggat Lake, about 7 kms north of Parham (40 kms north of Kingston).  We have the use of by brother-in-laws uninsulated summer cottage, that thankfully does have an operating woodstove, and you'll find me very close to it.....if not sitting on top of it for most of the weekend. 

The rules for the SPAR Winter Field Day can be found HERE.  We plan of having three HF stations on the air - 2cw and 1 ssb. We have a 80m OCF dipole, a 20m loop, and a Buddipole system ready to go. 

Hope to work you guys on the air that weekend.

Winter Field Day

For the past 4 years the Society for the Preservation of Amateur Radio (SPAR) has sponsored an annual Winter Field Day, always held the last full weekend of January. 

Not only during Field Day in June, do the bands come alive with improvised signals proving the ability to respond to emergencies. Since emergencies and natural disasters don't always happen in the summer, during Winter Field Day, frigid winds, icy limbs and bitter cold replace the thunderstorms and blistering heat of summer. In 2007 SPAR established a Winter Field Day event and invited all Amateur Radio operators to participate. The event was repeated in 2008 and was considered a success, so it was then designated an annual event to be held the last full weekend each January. In 2007 - 2010 the event was enjoyed by many, but it is time to issue the invitation for the Fifth Annual SPAR Winter Field Day!

The 2011 Winter Field Day will be held from 1700 UCT (12:00 noon EST) Saturday January 29, 2011 through 1700 UCT (12:00 noon EST) Sunday January 30, 2011.

The object of the event is familiar to most Amateur Radio operators: set up emergency-style communications and make as many contacts as possible during the 24 hour period. The rules encourage as many contacts on as many bands and modes as possible, because during a real emergency, the most important factor is the ability to communicate, regardless of band, mode or distance.

Mark it on your calendars, it's too much fun to miss!