New gear!

The day started off pretty early today, it was off to Radioworld in Toronto with Don-VE3MNE.  The trip down was "interesting", lots of snow and blowing snow, and lots of idiots driving way over the safe speed level.  No surprise then that we drove past 6 accidents, mainly cars and trucks in the ditch.  Several of them down pretty steep embankments.  A very busy day for the Police, Fire and Ambulance units who were doing a great job under pretty crappy conditions.

Our trip back wasn't much better as we were driving back into the storm, and the idiots were still on the road.....or should that be "all over the road"?  Once again lots of Police on the highway sorting out messes that could have been avoided by people driving to the conditions, and not like maniacs!

Don picked up a new FT-8800 Dual bander.  A nice piece of kit for his truck.  He also picked up a new "plug and play" Rigblaster.  Don will be cruising the bands on FLDigi in no time!

My purchase was a bit larger....a new FT-950.  What a nice piece of kit.  It will be a few days before I can give a proper report on the rig, but from what I have seen already it's a real winner.

More on the rig in a few days after I  experiment with the settings etc.

CY9 - 2012 Activation Update

The following news was received today from Col - MM0NDX:

Press Release #1

St Paul Island is called the ”Graveyard of the Gulf” and that is where an international, seasoned team of DXers will be heading to later this year.

Plans are well under way for a 10-man team to activate this now wanted DXCC entity, which was last on air in 2005. When you consider most needed entities (perhaps out with the Top 10) are activated every five years or so, it is now time to mount a serious effort from CY9.

Most operators will be unaware that in 2010, St Paul Island became the highest mover on DX Magazines most wanted list; from #77 to #47. Today, according to that list and ClubLog, CY9 is more needed than entities such as Tokelau (ZK3) or PY0T (Trindade & Martim Vaz).

The team consists of Mike AB5EB, Oscar EA1DR, George EA2TA, Christian EA3NT, Simon IZ7ATN, Col MM0NDX, Bjorn SM0MDG, Vicky SV2KBS, Steve VA3FM and Kevin VE3EN.

From late July to early August, IOTA contest included, the group will be active all bands, modes (160-2m) with special attention on 6m and 160m if propagation allows.

A website is currently under construction and will be ready in a few short weeks where much more info can be found.

QSL manager for the expedition is M0URX.

A Novel Concept in Ham Radio

Some of the readers of my blog may be aware of the mess RAC ARES in Ontario has found itself these days.  For most of us there has been zero communications from them for the past 12 months, how can you lead an organization with no communications?   How can this organization grow? 

It amazes me that RAC ARES in Ontario thinks it can get away with this very poor website (CLICK).   What is the purpose of this website?  It has no useful information on it, and some of what is on it seems to be out of date. 

In fact things seem to have fallen apart so much, I have to ask if RAC still has a viable ARES organization in Ontario anymore?  

Has anybody told RAC that in the 21st Century an organization needs an informative, easy to navigate, and a constantly updated website in order to attract and inform new, as well as old, members?  How about a Blog that actually allows its members to post comments.....negative and positive?   Unless you get the odd negative comment you don't know what may require a little tweak now and then to fix things......(and before anybody leaves me a comment, I'm well aware what RAC did to the Blog that Peter West - VA3HG built for RAC).

So I was very pleased to see that ECOA has announced their 2012 AGM on their new blogsite.  It will be held in Toronto on the 3rd March at 1200L, at Fort York Armouries, 660 Fleet Street West.

What is really nice to see is that ECOA members will have the opportunity to actually cast a vote on agenda items, and on who will be their new executive members.  Not bad for $15 a year membership fee - which includes $2 million liability insurance coverage, and a real voice in what the association does. 

A real vote you say?  What a novel concept in emergency communications!

CY9 in 2012

Plans are afoot for an international 10-man team to be active from St Paul Island, CY9 during the middle part of 2012.  One of the operators will be Kevin-VE3EN, the webmaster for Solarham.com.

CY9 is nearly always in the top 100 DXCC, so the crew should be pretty busy handling traffic.

The island is nicknamed the “Graveyard of the Gulf of St. Lawrence" as it is fog-bound throughout much of the navigation season and posed a significant hazard during the age of sail.  Access to the island is usually only granted in July and August due to weather concerns.

Full details and a website will be made available in the weeks ahead.

Winter Field Day - The Sunday Report

It was a dark and windy morning…….so goes the tale! Well, at 0600L at Lamoine Point on Sunday morning it was very dark and very windy; thankfully the snow never really arrived in force.


Jim - VE3ULC

We set up five HF stations with only headlamps and flashlights bobbing around in the dark. The surprising thing was that it didn’t take us much longer to set up than it does during the summer, and nobody got hurt.  Granted the weather wasn’t that bad…..and it could have been a lot worse, but still, I believe that the many island and lighthouse activations we do over the summer really are helping us get our act together.

The Motley Crew on Sunday Morning

We had VE3MNE, VE3HRW, VA3TBZ, VA3ORP, VE3ULC, VA3VDP, and VE3CLQ in attendance. Thanks must go to Dave-VE3DZE who arrived around 0800L to do a coffee and bathroom run for those that needed it, and a very welcome sight he was to!

Thanks also must go out to Les-VE3KFS and Tim-VA3TIC, these guys couldn’t be on site but they were on the air making sure we made a few contacts.

Special mention must also go out to Bob-VA3QV in Ottawa, who also came looking for us on 40m. It’s always good to chat with Bob on, or off, the air, unfortunately I was on the 20m radio when he called in, but his message was passed to me via 2m simplex.

Don VE3MNE

We made contact with 11 countries: Canada, USA, France, Poland, Ukraine, Netherlands, Yugoslavia, Russia, Belgium, Bulgaria, and Iceland. We had 43 HF contacts, 2 VHF contacts, and 2 PSK31 contacts. All contacts were done on battery power.

Overall it was a good time; everyone was cheery and seemed to have a good time at the park.  Winter Field Day next year? You bet, the plan is to find a cabin or cottage like we did in 2011 and make it a weekend event.

Until next year………stay warm!

Winter Field Day - The Saturday Report

A slow day on the bands, and I could hear a lot more than I could work.  I did hear quite a number of stations calling CQ Winter Field Day, and I managed to work three of them.

First up was KB3BHL in Georgetown, Delaware on 40m.  Then it was Joe WA4VAG in Walton, Kentucky on 20m.  Joe was using an ex-military PRC-70 putting out 45 watts, and then it was back on 40m to work K8UO in Mt. Clemens, Minnesota.

Only DX for the day was Anderson CT2IUK in Caldas da Rainha, Portugal, on 17m.

SFI today was 115.  The A index was 7, the K index was 1, and the sunspot number was 39.  Nothing really to get excited about, maybe tomorrow will be better? 

Weather today was not nice, -3C in winds gusting up to 70 KPH, and driving snow.

I've an early morning start on Sunday.  Frontenac ARES group are meeting at Lamoine Point Conservation Area at 0600L, and plan on working the HF bands until about 1030L when we will break things down and go to breakfast.

Hope to work a few early birds.......hey, maybe VA3QV will be waiting for us to come up on 40m !  Listen out for VE3FCT.

The Coldest Event of the Year???

Get your winter gear ready!! The FYBO (Freeze Your Butt Off) Winter QRP Sprint, sponsored by the Arizona ScQRPions, is being held Saturday, February 4, 2012, from 1400Z-2400Z.

Apart from Winter Field Day this is one of the coldest events of the year…..you just don’t want to miss it!!

Rules can be found here

Winter Deployment Training

You don't need to be a genius to figure out that emergencies can happen at any time of the year, and that holding practice deployments only during the warmer months isn't going to help you when you get called out at midnight on a sub-zero, and very snowy mid-February night!  

One only has to remember back 14 years ago today, January 8th, 1998, when the people of Frontenac County awoke to the biggest ice storm in a century, to know that as a member of an ARES group, one never knows when the call will come.  One hopes a callout will never come, but you must be prepared....just in case.  There is a lot of truth to the phrase "practice makes perfect".

So it felt very strange this morning, with the temperature at -5C, no wind, no snow on the ground and a brilliant blue sky, to be heading off to Rotary Park with nine other members for a winter deployment training session with the Frontenac County ARES group.  

Dave VA3ORP, our training officer, took us through several subjects including how to dress in layers, and the best type of boots.  Dave also went over the use of the buddy system, and checking each other over periodically for frostbite.  We were reminded that it doesn't take long for hypothermia, or frostbite, to set in and those items need to be looked after immediately.

Other topics included the effect of cold on our equipment, the danger that abrupt changes in temperature (from outside to inside) could have on the equipment with condensation.  The effect of freezing temperatures have on coax, and ways of keeping things dry.  We also talked about how easy it is in the snow to lose bits of kit......normally the important bits go first!

We ended the session by putting up and guying a portable mast system, designed to hold a VHF antenna and a HF dipole.  It was interesting to see it go up, and who had to take their gloves off to make it happen.

All in all it was a great training session, for those members who are ex-military it was a good refresher, and it'll probably bring back a few nightmares of sleeping naked in a sleeping bag, in a snow hole, at -45C....I get cold just remembering it!

This morning was a good lead up for Winter Field Day, an event every ARES and EmComm group should support.

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!

New Toy

Well I hope Santa was as good to you all as he was to me!  One of the new toys I picked up over the holiday, used for $20, is a MFJ-16010 long wire tuner.  I've been after one of these for quite some time.

This tuner is a variable L-network random wire antenna tuner and is designed to match the low output impedance of your transmitter to the high impedance of a random wire (or vice versa). It will match almost any random length of wire to any transmitter from 160 thru 10 meters. The transmitter may have an output RF power up to 200 watts.

Now the fun starts - experimenting with it, after all they do say winter is the best time to work on your antennas!

VA3QV.......not so elusive!

Got him!!!  After searching for Bob-VA3QV for the past three or four contests with no luck at all, I can finally report that he was found skulking around 7.080 at 1657Z........and he's now in the log!!

The RAC Winter Contest is now over, and rigs and power supplies are starting to cool down after a frantic 24 hours of go-go-go.  It was a good contest, I had a great time, and managed to work all provinces and territories except Yukon and New Brunswick.  Yukon is hardly ever heard, but the absence of any VE9's really surprised me.

The contest started with a noise floor around S8 which continued until 2045Z when it fell to S3.  No idea what was causing it, and as nothing was turned off at 2045Z in my house, I can only assume that it was something next door.

As you can see from the Solar Data Banner on the left, the SFI and other numbers were not the best on the 17th December.  We've all seen a lot worse of course, but after the past few months of great DXing, it's hard to see it sink back to these levels again.

I had a couple of good catches today (besides Bob!).  Osvaldo-LU2QC in Argentina, Norman-V31NB in Belize, and Bob-G3ORY in the UK.  All three of these stations were calling "CQ RAC Contest", it's nice to see other countries taking part in the Winter Contest.

All in all I'm very pleased with my new 40m OCF Dipole.  It works extremely well, even to the point of tuning up on 80m and allowing me to make contacts in Newfoundland and BC.  I took the design from the Buxcom website.  For more information on this antenna, and others like it, click HERE.

Hope to see everyone back on the bands for the NA QSO Party on January 21 and 22.

ARES Intergalactic Leadership

Over the past year or two I have written, rather infrequently, about RAC, and most of it has not been very complementary. I make no secret of my hate for those unelected individuals who have driven RAC into the ground, nor do I have any time for those unelected and appointed “Empire Builders” and “Control Freaks” who have been trying to turn the ARES organization into a clone of the Canadian Army Communications Branch.

So tonight I thought that rather sit here and bitch about what is going on in RAC ARES, I would give some constructive ideas, and see if anyone pays attention.

I have said many times before that ARES in Canada needs to be completely revamped if it is to survive. Is that a hard job? No, it can be accomplished in about 18 months if the powers that be really want to.

How to do it.....

For a start the VPFS should begin by sending a letter to each authorized ARES group, and ask for an annual report on everything they have done in the past 12 months. This would include meetings, deployments, training, other activities etc. Groups who fail to do this should be told that they would no longer be a recognised ARES group and lose the right to use "ARES" name.

Here’s the bottom line: If you’re not holding regular ARES meetings, if you’re not conducting regular, and ongoing training, or if you do not practice deploying to the field on a very regular basis, you’re not much of an ARES group anyway.

A basic and simple ARES course needs to be put together and made mandatory for all ARES members. RAC needs to provide a formal certificate that EC’s can present to their members, when they have completed this course. The course needs to have the following subjects covered:

a. What is ARES?
b. Personal Safety.
c. NTS training.
d. How we deploy.
e. Portable antennas.
f. Personal readiness.
g. Operator and logger duties.
h. NVIS antennas.
i. Digital operations.

Remember, this is a basic course, designed to get an operator up to speed so that they can fill a position in the team. We’re not looking for professional high speed CW Ops, but we are looking for a competent operator, who with some more “on the job training” will be an asset to their team.

The VPFS needs to then look at the current RAC rules on how an EC is appointed. According to RAC an EC is appointed for a period of two years, but can be extended for a further two year period. This has not been enforced and currently I know of at least two EC's who have been in place for over 12 years. The two year term for an EC should be rigidly enforced. The same goes for the DEC's as well. Too many of them have been around for far too long. This is not a way of attracting new members. New membership means new blood and new blood means new ideas and an invigorated organisation which is what we need.

The VPFS needs to highly encourage participation in both summer and winter field days, these are outstanding training opportunities that are under utilized by many groups. How many groups only train in the warm months?  Do we only expect to get called out when we can wear shorts and t-shirts?

Participation in both District and Provincial SET's should be mandatory, and Groups should be strongly encouraged to undertake monthly refresher training.  And how many groups never send in a monthly activity report that should be sent to the SEC?

An advanced course for DEC's and EC's needs to be developed.....keeping in mind that these guys are volunteers and not professional radio operators. They need to have family time as well! A well supported, well laid out resource website that is kept up-to-date is desperately needed.

This is not rocket science!! One of the biggest problems ARES has is the "over engineering" that goes on as people continue to build their empires. This too must stop. We need to stop being governed by committee, and we certainly do not need several layers of management above the local groups.

For Gods sake people, remember the KISS principle!!

ARES has a good role to play in their local communities, it also has a great role to play in the PR role for ham radio as a whole.  But if we continue to deploy untrained, or half trained, operators we will get no respect, and sooner, rather than later, our clients will stop using ARES and find another way to communicate.

If you agree with this, let Doug Mercer the VPFS know. His email is: vo1dtm@hotmail.com   I’m sure he would be interested in your thoughts on ARES. If you don’t agree with my ideas, just spin the VFO and keep moving along.

ARRL 10m Contest

Another good weekend on the contesting scene is now behind us. This years ARRL 10m Contest was a pretty good time, with lots of activity on the band during the day.

I decided to do this contest strictly as an SSB QRP station, and I used my IC-703. The receiver on the 703 is pretty good, and basically if I could hear them, I could work them. It was amazing what I managed to work. The furthest east I managed to work was LZ5R in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. The furthest south was LP1H in Cordoba, Argentina, and to the west I worked a pile of Californians.

By the time the band died here around 1700L on Sunday I had managed to work 100 stations with 43 multipliers, giving me a total of 8600 points. Not too sure how that will stack up to the rest of the entries, but I had fun doing it.

The lack of Canadian stations was noteworthy, and several DX stations commented on that fact. No idea why, except it may be have been due to Christmas shopping, and everyone was out buying their XYL an expensive gift…..like a new FT-950.

Behavior on the band was pretty good for the most part, but I did hear a couple of altercations over “who owns the frequency”…..some people just never learn it seems.

AND.....once again the ever elusive VA3QV managed to elude me on the bands, I even searched for him!!  I did hear however that he was out and about on his "chick magnet" scooter as the weather was so good.  Maybe this coming Friday night Bob, during the RAC Winter Contest.....up on 40m????

RAC and the little Dutch Boy

It never ceases to amaze me, the garbage that is spewed from non-elected officials with grandiose sounding titles.  It seems that the lunatics are now running the asylum.  Has anyone read the RAC Bulletin - 2011-043E - issued on the 7th December?

Do these individuals who have made this decision, outlined in that RAC Bulletin, really think that this will stop the idiots and trouble makers from showing up at a disaster site?  Let's face it, anyone can buy a safety vest and buy the black letters to iron on "Emergency Communications" across the back.  Well pilgrims, here's a news flash: Nothing is ever going to stop that!  I'm sorry, but the real bottom line to this issue is all about who is in charge - it's a control issue, and it's about who can  build their empire first!

Of course I could be wrong, and this could simply be a case of "small penis syndrome", you know, the condition which compels some men to overcompensate their lack of manhood by trying to overachieve in other areas..........well pilgrims, it isn't working!

How about instead of empire building over who gets to wear what piece of ARES branded clothing, RAC officials should be working hard to develop a simple and basic ARES course that can be taught at the local level?  In fact you would think that would be a pretty high priority wouldn't you?  Apparently not.

How about having the RAC officials stop worrying about who is RAC affiliated and who is not.  ARES or EmComm, we're all out there doing the same job!  Do RAC officials really think that governments, at any level, will  worry about whether the person working the radio is affiliated to RAC or not?  Most of them don't know what RAC is, and more to the point they don't give a damn!

Let's stop kidding ourselves here, the RAC system is broke and is way beyond fixing.  The officials who run RAC are constantly complaining that they cannot get enough volunteers to run the organization.  I wonder why that is?  Could it be that everyone else has recognized the fact that RAC has tipped too far and is beyond saving and therefore won't waste their time with it, or could it be that they simply don't want to work with the current board?

RAC needs to put a stop to ARES groups that exist in name only, or local clubs that have an authorized ARES group and an appointed EC, but who hold no meetings or regular training, and who have no, or very few, trained ARES members to back them up.  I'm all for RAC sorting that mess out!  These are the groups and individuals who give ARES a bad rap!

Does RAC even know how many ARES groups are actually out there and have been authorized over the years?  Do they know which groups have never conducted training?  Which groups have never taken part in a SET?  How many never submitt a monthly report?  If not they should, but I think the truthful answer would be that they have no clue.

The story of RAC ARES is like that of the little Dutch boy sticking his finger in the hole in the dyke, and that is too little......too late.

Changes at Fort Henry

Most of the readers of this Blog will know that I spend many hours operating portable from the parking lot of Fort Henry.  It's the perfect site, low RF noise, the highest spot in the area, and a large open area for antennas.  It seems that this will change shortly.

Recently construction started on a new large Visitors Interpretive Center.  This is being built on the right hand side of the parking lot, as per the picture on the left. 

Last year the Fort started charging $5 to park in the lot, and tightly controlled access to and from it.  It will be interesting to see how all this pans out for the local hams, many of whom use this site as I do. 

Stay tuned, we may be looking for a new "secret site" in Kingston.

Saturday on the bands

Another great day on the HF Bands.  I spent the day cruising up and down 10m making many QRP SSB contacts.  It wasn't the best of days as I'm currently suffering trying to pass a kidney stone.  Not a good time at all.

Anyway, first up this morning was Les - SP9LJD in Zabrze, Poland.  Les had an outstanding signal, S9+40.  I was pleased to get a true 59 report from him, not too bad for 10w into an Off-Center Fed Dipole.

As the day progressed 10m got busier and busier and I managed to work stations in Cuba, Germany, the Azores, Ecuador, Italy, Spain, UK, and the USA. 

In the late afternoon I heard VK7ZE calling from Tasmania.  I attempted to work him but the pile up was just too great.  On top of this, the foul and abusive language that was being transmitted on top of the VK7's signal had to be heard to be believed.  I guess some people think that the DX station should answer their calls first!  Some people need to chill out and learn how to behave properly in a pile up, because if they don't they won't be too happy when other DX stations refuse to answer them as well. 

At 2201Z my day was made when I managed to work Toru - JA7MSQ in Aomori City, Japan, and almost right away I worked Masanobu - JR5JAQ in Ehime, Japan.  Both of these contacts were done on 15m with 10w.

Just a great day on the bands, and I can't wait to see what Sunday brings.  I'm extremely pleased with my new IC-703, if I can hear the station I have been able to work them.

Happy QRP'ing!!

In Remembrance

In Loving Memory of the

Officers, NCO's, and Men

of

2816 Squadron, RAF Regiment

1941 - 1946

LEST WE FORGET

Great Sunday on 10m QRP

Once again 10m is just hopping here in Kingston.  Lots of EU stations up and down the band, some very loud, 59++.  There was a bit of QSB but nothing we couldn't handle.

Of course the good weather has brought out the LIDS.  Why do people insist on tuning up right on frequency?  Why would you spend five minutes whistling into your microphone, when you know you're right on top of a 59++ QSO?  Is there now a law I don't know about, that stops you from moving up or down the band 10 Kc and tuning up there?  I just don't understand these idiots!

This afternoon I managed to get 40 minutes on the rig before "She Who Must Be Obeyed" arrived home.  I fired up the IC-703, and with a whopping ten watts managed to work:

SV3DCX - Panos in Greece
S52OT - Rado in Slovenia
MM0AMW - David in Scotland
F9IE - Bernard in France
G0UWK - Ian in the UK

Ian-G0UWK had an awesome signal, 40 over at the worst of the QSB.  When I originally heard him he was beaming into the South Pacific, looking for ZL and VK's amongst others.  Ian very kindly took the time to turn off his amp and reduce power to 10 watts.  My first trans-Atlantic QRP QSO !!

Many thanks to all the stations who heard me call QRP and asked everyone to stand by while they worked the QRP station.  Your kindness in helping make the QSOs is deeply appreciated!