Propagation Has Exploded...

What a great morning I had today playing radio!!  The propagation news yesterday wasn't very good, apparently we had a X1 flare and an earth-bound CME.  The CME isn't expected to hit us till late Saturday, but the X1 flare sure messed things up.  So I didn't expect good results today at all.

I drove to the Frontenac Biosphere, VE-0023, and set up to do a POTA activation.  As usual I used my KX3 at 10w, and 20m Hamstick with a mag-mount on the roof of my van.  

What a surprise I had....first up was Joe, KI7IOC in Bend, OR, with a tremendous 59 signal, and he gave me a 53.  Then it was the turn of Heinz, VA7AQ, in Langley, BC, with another great 59 signal, and I received a 57 from him.  I then worked Raffaele, IK4IDF in Ravenna, Italy with a 58 signal, and he gave me a 55....which I was very happy to get.  Towards the end of my activation I worked Gerry, VE8GER, up in Inuvik, NT, and it was 44 both ways...but we had a small rag-chew before we said 73.  

I also worked stations in OR, CA, TN, FL, AR, AL, IL, and MN.  The log had 20 contacts in it when I went QRT.  My expectations of this activation was not very high when I left home today, so I was extremely surprised to have contacts where I did.

Propagation numbers this morning were:  SFI=113, SN=96, A Index=3, and the K Index=0.  A lot better than was advertised yesterday.  

We'll have to see what happens with the propagation tomorrow, and see if we can sneak in another POTA activation.

Today's map of contacts

Not looking good for the next few days!!

Updated Saturday morning, Oct 30th.

This Weekend...

 

I will be hiding out on 12m, 17m, and 30m activation parks for POTA.  

But you contesters have fun!

A Great Day...

What an outstanding day on the bands it was, and weather wise it isn't bad either.  Listening on the repeater I heard the guys talking about how hot 40m was, so I packed my things and headed out the door to VE-0023, the Frontenac Biosphere.  

I have found that normally after you have worked 6 or 7 hunters the pile-up dries up and you need to re-spot yourself on POTA Spots to keep the traffic heading your way.  Not this morning!!  The pile-up didn't dry up until after I had 25 contacts in my log, and then a quick CQ POTA call brought in another 11 contacts.

So 36 contacts in the log in twenty-five minutes.  You can't beat that!  Radio, as usual, was my KX3 running 10w into a 40m Hamstick on the roof of my van.

Propagation numbers today were:  SFI=91, SN=32,  A Index=3, and the K Index=1.   It looks like things are picking up propagation wise.

So far this year I've done 86 POTA activations and logged over 2300 QSO's.  I'm hoping to have 100 activations completed by Christmas.

The weather this coming week doesn't look too promising, it's looking like rain every day, but I'm hoping to get at least another 2 activations in before the end of the month.

Todays QSO Map

More Portable Ops...

It was a beautiful day here in Kingston, although it was a little chilly....winter is definitely on its way.  I checked the propagation websites and it didn't look too bad for a change.  SFI=86, SN=28, A Index=4, and the K Index=1. So I decided to go and activate a park. 

I went to Lemoine Point first, and couldn't get a parking spot.  VE3SIQ was already operating at Parrotts Bay, and there isn't room there for two ops to work there comfortably.  So it was off the Marshlands Conservation Area, VE-5143.  Surprisingly when I got there the parking lot was completely empty.

It only takes me a few moments to get set up, as usual it was my KX3 and a hamstick on the roof of the van.  I managed to put 26 in the log in a little over thirty minutes, ten on 20m and sixteen on 40m.    

Overall it was a good activation, and my plan is to go out Sunday morning if the propagation holds, and activate another location.  I suspect next weekend with the CQ WW DX SSB Contest will not be a good weekend for POTA, so I'm getting my fill now.

Saturday's QSO Map

JOTA 2021...

Scouting’s largest event in the world, Jamboree-on-the-Air is this weekend, October 15 – 17. JOTA uses amateur radio to link Scouts and hams around the world.

We all bitch and complain about the lack of youth in the hobby, so here's your chance to show them what we can do and get them interested.

You can use any mode and any band.  Below is the frequency chart used by the World Organization of the Scout Movement.

The World Federation of Independent Scouts also runs JOTA this weekend, normally on and around the same frequencies.

Get on the air and talk to the Scouts!!

This doesn't look good....

 It might be hard going for the next couple of days if you're chasing DX.....

Bands are........hmmmm

The bands didn't see too bad Thursday morning.  I did manage a quick POTA activation, and for a change did it on 20m.  40m didn't seem that good.  

It was certainly nice to work the west coast again, it has been a while, as had any contacts with Newfoundland, but I made a contact there as well.

Today, Sunday, the propagation is not that good.  Bands are noisy and the QSB is very bad.  

SFI = 91, SN=28, A Index=14, and the K Index=3.  I have managed to only make 2 contacts today, one to VA and the other to OH.

Hopefully things will improve soon.

Chillycon 2021...

This years Chillycon is over for another year.  Always held on the last weekend the park is open, the annual gathering of Eastern Ontario QRP'ers was held last weekend at Rideau River Provincial Park, and a good time was had by one and all.

This year, due to the continuing saga of Covid-19, we only had 10 attendees.  The weather was great, not a drop of rain was seen, and the propagation was ok, not great.....but ok.

Eric, VA3AMX, once again won the DX trophy for the furthest DX contact, beating the second place finisher by about 600 kms.

I managed to do 12 POTA activations over the five days we were at the park, and enjoyed every one.  Thursday had me at Baxter Conservation Area, VE- 5295, and the WA Taylor Conservation Area, VE- 5295.  Kieran, VA3KS, drove down from Ottawa on Friday and together we activated the Merrickville Blockhouse, VE-4874, and the Rideau Migratory Bird Sanctuary, VE-0364.  All four of those activations produced large pileups which were fun to handle.

It was certainly nice to see some people we haven't seen for two years, and hopefully next year we will start to get back to normal and have more people out for it.

Don, VE3MNE, working on an antenna.

The Glider Field at Baxter Conservation Area.

It's always so peaceful at night.

Canary Island Emergency...

 Please keep these frequencies clear...

Lemoine Point...

Friday was a quiet day around here, and the weather was absolutely perfect.   With nothing on the "Honey-Do" list, I decided to drive to Lemoine Point and do a POTA activation.  Now that most people are back at work, and the kids in school, the place would be nice and quiet.

I checked the propagation numbers before I left and was pleased to see they were:  SFI=101, SN=124, A Index=6, and the K Index=1.  Absolutely the best numbers I have seen in years.  It's a 10 minute drive to Lemoine Point, I'm sure I did it in 5.  

What an activation!  Normally you will get 4 or 5 stations calling you after your spot has been sent, and then you will have a lull before it picks up again.  Not that day!  In 15 minutes using 10w and a 40m Hamstick, I put 24 stations in the log. The bands were in great shape, and it showed by how active they were.

I imagine that this great improvement in the propagation is just a slight "blip" in the universe, and things will go back to the slow days we have suffered through over the past while.  However, I'm hopeful propagation will continue to improve as cycle 25 gains its legs.

I also managed to work some non-POTA stations in the UK, France and Spain before calling it a day.  I'm hoping these conditions last for another few days at least.

Bands are Improving...

Nice to see the bands getting better as the propagation improves.  We're perhaps not where we want to be, but we're definitely on the way!

Over the past few months all of my POTA activations have been done with Hamsticks, mounted to the roof of my van with a 5" mag-mount.  I have noticed that the roof of the van is starting to get scratched by the magnet, so I have had to do something about this.

I had a camera tripod that wasn't being used, and I have decided to try and use it to mount my Hamsticks.  The radials/counterpoises will be attached to the plate with alligator clips.

Here's some pictures of what I threw together:

I'll write a full report of how well.....or how not so well, it wrks after I have used it a few times.

Bad Propagation = Great Weekend...

The propagation Saturday was not very encouraging, SFI = 92, SN = 73, A Index = 19, and the K Index = 3.  It was super noisy and the QSB was incredibly deep, one second they were S9 and the next they were S0.   We also had large thunderstorms in the area, which didn't help matters at all.

So it with all this in mind I set off to the Ann Baillie Building National Historic Site, at Kingston General Hospital, VE-5293, with the idea of doing an activation.  I wasn't sure I could pull it off, but it was worth the try I thought.

The first issue I faced was trying to find a suitable spot to park.  There's not much of it around the site, but eventually I found one and set up my gear.  I used my 40m Hamstick on a 5" magmount on the roof of my van.  There is no space at all there for stringing antennas up, in fact I was waiting the whole time for the Hospital Security guys to show up and ask me to leave....but they didn't.

To recap, bad propagation, thunderstorms in the area, compromised antenna, and the KX3 at 10w....what could go wrong?  Well, surprisingly nothing.  I managed to get 22 contacts in 35 minutes, all on 40m.  Thanks to my "pilots", VA3AMX and VE3ULC for re-spotting me on the POTA site for people to find me.  

About half way through the activation, a husband and wife stuck their heads into my van to see what I was doing sitting there talking to myself.  The husband realized I was a ham, and immediately asked if I knew their neighbour, Dave, from Newark, New Jersey, who is also a ham.  Unfortunately I don't know Dave, but if any of you do know him, please let him know his neighbours are having a great time and say Hi!

Below is a map of the contacts I made from the Hospital site, not too bad for 10w and a hamstick!!

Bad Propagation?...

 I hear the bands are bad these days....well,  here's what 10w into a 20m Hamstick can do these days. 😁

I'm really pleased with this contact, Hawaii to Ontario.   I had just cleared with Peter, G7VKK in the east of England, when I made this contact with Mark.  Definitely a good night!!

Parrott's Bay POTA Activation...

It was an absolutely beautiful day here in Kingston..but, we had high humidity which made things just a little bit uncomfortable. It was also 29C before the humidity was added on.

The propagation wasn't very good, again.  It's like a broken record these days, bad QRM and very noisy bands.  Todays propagation was: SFI=77, SN=14, A Index=5, and the K Index=1.  Hopefully the propagation Gods will wake up soon and let Cycle 25 start to take off.

After morning coffee I decided to drive to Parrott's Bay Conservation Area, about 15 minutes from my home QTH. It was fairly busy there with many trail walkers coming and going.  It is right on Lake Ontario, and therefore it get's a pretty good breeze, so it was a good place to operate from today in the heat.

The 40m band was the band of choice as it seemed to be operating better than the others.  It took me a little over 20 minutes to get 14 contacts in my log, which was good, because by then I needed another shower and some dry clothes.  The heat was incredible, and not at all comfortable.

All of my contacts were from the east today,  but given the fact I was using a 40m hamstick on the roof of my van with a 5" mag-mount, and 10w from my KX3, I'm pretty happy with the result.

I had 5 good Park to Park contacts which made things more interesting.  

These days I notice I have to make sure to read back the other stations callsign to them.  After all the years I spent flying Chinook helicopters in the Air Force, my hearing has suffered a great deal. So I have to make sure I have the correct call in my log.

I think I'm going to have to start wearing a headset all the time now, I hate to log an incorrect call, and I just refuse to do digital modes....I detest them.

Tomorrow, Sunday, I'm off to activate a local light house for the ILLW.  Let's hope the bands are in much better shape.

Stay safe out there!!

New Paddles...

My new set of paddles arrived today.  They look very well made, and I'm looking forward to learning how to use them so I can send correct CW, and not something that comes out as Klingon.

These are made by CWMorse.US in Bon Wier, Texas.

I've only ever used a straight key before, so this will be a new adventure for me to explore. I'm sure learning how to use them will set my CW standard back several years, but it's great to learn new skills.

Of course now I have to dig out the manuals for my FT-950, and the Elecraft KX3, so I can figure out how to change the menu settings to allow paddles instead of a key to be used.

It's going to be interesting!!

Lemoine Point Conservation Area...

It was a nice day today, the forecasted rain didn't arrive until well after supper tonight.  The propagation numbers didn't look too good though, and I thought I might pass on the chance to do a POTA activation, but loaded up the van anyway and drove to Lemoine Point Conservation Area.

This mornings propagation numbers were:  SFI=74, SN=0, A Index=7, and K Index=3.  As well as these poor numbers, we also had some extremely bad QSB....to be honest, the bad QSB has been around constantly for about 2 weeks!!

I did expect the place to be crowded this morning, but the parking lot was empty when I arrived.   

First in the log was a CW contact with Bill, K4NYM, in Florida.  The QSB took him out so fast I didn't get a chance to give him my park number.  The rest of my 13 contacts were all SSB, and took a bit of doing given the deep QSB.

It was difficult enough making contacts given the QSB we had, but on top of that I had several cases today of stations repeatedly shouting their callsigns over the station I was in a QSO with.  Some operators seem to have no patience at all these days. Needless to say, if you were calling over other stations I didn't work you.

Radio today, as usual, was my KX3, and the antenna was a 20m Hamstick mounted on the roof of the van with a 5" mag-mount.  

 

New EndFed Antenna...

The bands have not been the best for the past week.  Lots of QRM and very deep QSB across every band I wanted to operate on.

So I decide to have a look through my junk drawer and see if I had the parts to build a new Endfed for portable use in the field...for those times I need something better than a hamstick.   I came across a small 49:1 unun, made by LnR Precision Inc.  The label on it states it's good for 10/20/40m, and it originally came with 41' wire.

Now, when I bought this, several years ago, I could never get a decent SWR with it anywhere on the bands it was advertised for.  In the end I just stripped off the wire and put the unun in my junk drawer and forgot it.  

I had a look at it again, and thought I would give it another chance.  I cut a 66' piece of wire, attached it to the unun, and added a few SOTA Beams insulators.  Up it went on my 33' mast and I put the analyzer on it.  It wasn't too bad, and after I had removed about 3' of wire  - it was just about perfect.  

I made several good solid contacts with it, and it is now usable on 40m through 6m, far more than it was supposed to have when it was new.  Best of all the SWR is 1.5:1 to 1.8:1 everywhere it will tune.

I'm glad I looked through the junk drawer now!

The finished antenna, ready to go

Map of my contacts the first time it was used.

IOTA Contest...

This weekend is this years RSGB IOTA Contest.   It's been a few years since the last time I took part in this event, but I thought I might try a few hours chasing islands this year....it will be a nice break from chasing POTA stations.

It runs from 1200 UTC July 24 to 1200 UTC July 25.

The Rules can be found HERE.

Have fun, and stay safe out there!