A Cold Activation...

It was a pretty cold day here in Eastern Ontario. There's not much snow on the ground, but the lakes are starting to freeze over. 

Parrotts Bay is about half frozen over these days and I expect it will be fully frozen over by next weekend.  The picture to the left looks decidedly warm.....don't be fooled, it was -21C with the wind blowing.

Over about 40 minutes I managed to put 26 contacts in my logbook.  First up was Bruno ON8BM, and he was quickly followed by DK5FF/p, LW2DO, DL1SWB, PD1CW, and EA2BD. The other contacts were mainly from the Central and Western USA.

All contacts were made on 10m with my KX3 set at 10w, and as usual, Hamsticks for my antenna. It's a winning combination and I see no reason to change it right now. Besides, it's too cold to be outside, fumbling around, and trying to get a wire up a tree.

Propagation today was: SFI=162, SN=136, A Index=10, and the K Index=3. The QSB was particularly bad at times.

I was really impressed with my SSB contact with LW2DO in Pehuajo, Argentina, which is a distance of 9,027 km away, or 902.7 km per watt.  Not too shabby!!

Here's todays contact map:

Stay Safe Out There!!

Coming Up Next Weekend...

The bands will be hopping next weekend with a couple of big events.....

First up is the North American QSO Party.  Times are 1800 UTC 18 January to 0559 UTC 19 January.  This contest is sponsored by the National Contest Journal, and nearly always fill the bands up. 

Rules for this event can be found HERE.

Next up is the Winter Support Your Parks Event for POTA. This is a massive event that like the NA QSO Party, fills up the bands.  Timings are 0001 UTC 18 January to 2359 UTC 19 January.

As you can see the two events overlap on their timings, so we can expect some very crowded band conditions.

Stay Safe Out There!

Sunday was Good...

Sunday was a cold, windy and snowy day here, with the temperature hovering around -14C  (7F). A perfect day to get out, do an activation, and get moving into the new year.

I chose the Frontenac Arch Biosphere, CA-0023, to activate. I hadn't activated this location for a while, and thought it would be a great place to start the years activations off. Interestingly, when I got to my spot I was the only car in the parking lot.

I decided to start on 10m as it looked fairly active. First up was Luis EA4TL, followed by IW4EOI, G0BVD, F4GYM, F5NZO, EA1CDH, EA7HW, CT2IWW, IW2MJQ, IW2BNA. Then the big surprise, SV3SFJ in Greece. He was 7728 Km from me, just an outstanding contact for 10w and a Hamstick!! I ended the activation with 29 in the log, and I was pretty pleased with that. It had become very cold, and needed a hot drink and a warm up badly.

The propagation numbers were: SFI=209, SN=191, A Index=32, and the K Index=3. Let's all hope 2025 is a good year for us propagation wise.

Here's the days contact map:

Stay Safe Out There!

2024 Comes to an End...

As 2024 comes to an end I sit here in wonderment at how fast the past 12 months have slid by, and wonder if 2025 will slide past even faster?

I started 2024 suffering from Covid, and it took a long time for me to get over it. It certainly wasn't a walk in the park for me, it was not a good experience, and one I have no wish to repeat at all.

There were some great amateur radio adventures during 2024 including a 30 day, 11,000 km trip to the west coast and back, camping out every night, and activating POTA parks as I travelled province to province across the country. That memory will stay with me for a long time.

I have ended the year with over 3500 new QSO's in my logbook, 213 POTA activations, 34 new POTA parks activated, and 3 island activations, all successfully completed. I survived Winter Field Day, Summer Field Day, and Chillycon, and I had a blast doing it all.

My 2025 plans have not been made yet, it may just be a quiet year....I don't think I could really top 2024 for activities. However, I do have plans for both Winter and Summer Field Days, Chillycon, and a couple of week long road trips are in the planning stages to activate some new (to me) parks a bit further afield. 

One plan I do have so far, is to do Summer Field Day in the Northern Ontario RAC Section, instead of Ontario East. 

A big THANK YOU to all my readers and visitors here, I really appreciate you dropping in.

From My Shack to Yours....May your year be filled with endless joy, new opportunities, and unforgettable memories.

Merry Christmas - 2024...

The snow finally arrived last night, and the last POTA Activation of the year of the year is done and logged. I'm still trying to figure out where the past 12 months has gone so fast; it seems like only last week I was writing Christmas wishes for 2023 while suffering through a bout of Covid. Hopefully 2025 will take a bit longer to get through!

Christmas is the perfect season to be reaching out to others when laughter and good tidings are in the air. Here's hoping that your Christmas will find you amongst friends and family, sharing the spirit of the season.

Stay Safe Out There Everyone!!

Great Weekend on the Bands

The ARRL 10m Contest is in full swing right now, and I have stayed away from that band all weekend. I didn't want to give the contesters any more competition than they all ready have....true story!!  Instead, I spent the weekend activating local parks on 40m and 15m; both of which behaved splendidly.

The propagation numbers have been very good all weekend, and I'm sure the contesters each made a pile of contacts. I was happy with the 64 QRP contacts I made today. My KX3 was in top form as were my hamsticks, it never ceases to amaze me just how well I do during my POTA activations. 

My furthest contact was with OH5TQ in Verla, Finland, he was 6438 km from me. That's a respectable 643.8 km per watt. In second place was IW2BNA at 6414 km away.

While I was out activating the park today I was thinking of my Dad, VE7CVQ (SK), and what he would have thought of POTA and operating portable in a park. My Dad was a Heathkit guy, his "baby" was his SB-101...and I can't imagine him dragging that rig out to a park to play radio. That would have been a foreign concept to him. 

However, as long as I provided the radio, I'm sure he would have loved it.

If the weather holds I'll be back out tomorrow at another park. I know the weather is going to turn for the worse...soon, so I'm trying to get as many activations in the log in the good weather I can.

Here's todays contact map:

Stay Safe Out There!

An Antenna Experiment...

I'm sure you've all seen pictures of portable Hustler Antennas mounted on a single mount on a mast. Have you ever wondered why Hamsticks have never done the same?

It's getting cold up here in the "Great White North", these days and the less time I have to spend outside changing Hamsticks while operating portable, the better I like it. For a few days I contemplated buying a few Hustler Antennas and testing out their multiple antenna adapter mount....but then I thought "Why waste the money?". I have Hamsticks, all I needed was the mount.

Lucky for me, Don VE3MNE, had the mount, and he didn't need it...Yahoo! The adapter plate was quickly mounted on one of my mag-mounts, and off I went to Lemoine Point, CA-5141, to do a quick POTA activation with the new antenna system....but would it work? Would there be interaction between the three antennas? I was sure there would be, but how bad could it be?

I have to admit it was a bit unwieldy putting the antennas on the mount, you really need three hands to do it, but it got done. You also must remember that everything takes longer in the cold, so don't rush. The lengths of the individual whips were not changed, I just left them as they were when I use them individually, so I did expect some issues with that.

The mount put up on the roof of the truck with a 40m, 20m and a 10m Hamstick on it, I could actually put a fourth antenna on the mount, but I thought that might be pushing my luck a bit. Three contacts were made on both 10m and 40m and another twelve contacts on 20m. 

So what actually happened? Well, there were no issues at all. It worked as I had hoped it would, with no noticeable interactions between the individual whips that I could see or hear. I had no negative comments about my signal, and they tuned as normal with the Elecraft KX3 ATU. Too bad I didn't think of this last winter!

The other telling point is that I saw no difference in what my daily contact map looked like. I still worked the same areas of Canada and the USA as I normally do. 

I think it was a great success and I can see this antenna system being used a lot this winter.

Here's a few pictures of the antenna:

And, here's todays contact map with that antenna:

Stay Safe Out There!

First Snow of the Year...

It had to happen, we've had it far too easy this winter so far. We awoke to a gentle snowfall that is supposed to last until at least noon. I doubt we will get too much of an accumulation, but it is a reminder of things to come!

Lemoine Point was calling my name today, it was time to get another activation done down at CA-5141.

Conditions today were cold and snow. Propagation wise the numbers were: 

SFI=225, SN=137, A Index=5 and the K Index=0. The QSB wasn't too bad, especially compared to yesterday.

Only 20 contacts in the log today during a short 30 minute activation....guess who didn't bring a warm jacket with him? They say that if you don't like the cold you're not a true Canadian. For the first time in a very long time, I was the only person in the parking lot, so I got to choose the best spot to operate from.

Contacts were made on 10m SSB, with the KX3 and a Hamstick on the roof of my truck. It's too cold to fool around with masts and wire antennas. This year my winter philosophy is to get there, get it done, and get home where it's warm. It's true that the older you get the more you feel the cold.

Here's todays contact map:

Stay Safe & Warm Out There!!

VA3KS Memorial Event - Part 2...

It was a great activation today up at Portland Bay, CA-5957, for the actual Memorial Event.  The weather wasn't so good, it was -1C (30F) while I was there, with a stiff icy breeze coming off the lake. To top it off there was a brief snow shower around noon.

Propagation wasn't too bad, unfortunately the QSB was not very good.  The numbers for the day were: SFI=200, SN=148, A Index=8, and the K Index=1.

Due to the breeze I decided not to put up my mast and Rybakov antenna. I stuck with what works well for me, my KX3 set at 10w, and a Hamstick for whatever band I'm on.

The day started off great, I had 14 contacts in my log in the first 11 minutes. First up was 2E0VPF from England, then in very quick succession stations from Poland, France, Norway, Brazil, Belgium, Spain, Venezuela, Austria, and Sweden.

A number of my contacts mentioned that they had worked Kieran in the past, and a few shared some stories, which made the day even more special.

The day ended with 71 contacts in my log, so I was extremely pleased with that. Bands used were 10m, 15m, and 40m. I did try 20m but the noise floor was far too high for me to copy any stations at that location. Thanks to all of you who chased me on 40m. They were difficult QSO's to complete due the bad QSB, but I'm sure I worked all who called me.

Here's todays contact map:

Stay Safe Out There!!

VA3KS Memorial Event...

It will soon be one year since we suddenly lost our good friend Kieran VA3KS. I have missed his wise counsel greatly, as well as his totally warped sense of humour. The thing I have missed the most though, is meeting up with him at different locations and doing POTA activations.

Next Sunday, November 24th, is the one year anniversary of his passing. Here in Kingston, several parks will be activated in his memory, and I will be activating one of his favourite places, Portland Bay Conservation Area, CA-5957.

Eric VE3DN, will have the Pinhey Forest Conservation Area, CA-1581, on the air as well for the event. This was the last park Kieran activated. 

Those stations taking part will put "VA3KS Memorial Event" on the comment line on their spotting page. If you see us on the spotting page, give us a call, and help celebrate the memory of a great ham, and a fantastic friend.

Stay Safe Out There!

FX-4CR...

The new tuner arrived this week, and works perfectly with the radio. I'm very pleased with it. It's taken a bit of time to remember to reduce power to 5w and switch to FM mode in order to tune, but repetition will make it easier to do.

This particular tuner was originally designed for the FT-817/FT-818, and actually comes with a CAT cable for those radios. Thankfully it also works with most QRP radios, and the tuner is actually good for up to 30w.

So far it's worked with my 138' EFHW, and my Hamsticks, so it's definitely a keeper.

The radio itself is pretty intuitive, and it gets easier to use every time I get it out of the case. I actually busted a pile up with it the other day, I heard a station in South Dakota calling CQ POTA, and he was immediately hit with a  pile of stations calling him.....and I was the guy who got through with 20w!!!  It made my day!!

Stay Safe Out There!!

Remembrance Day 2024...

 

In Loving Memory of the

Officers, NCO's, and Men

of

2816 Squadron, RAF Regiment.

December 1941 -  June 1946

Lest We Forget.

It Arrived...

The FX-4CR arrived yesterday, and what a little beauty it is!!! I'm very impressed with the quality and workmanship, it's absolutely top notch!

It's a 20w, all mode transceiver (SSB, CW, AM, FM) that will fit in the palm of your hand. It also has CAT Control via Bluetooth.

The manual is written in perfect English, and is easy to understand. 

I've done a lot of listening on it today on it, trying to get used to its menu system. I don't have a resonant antenna at home so I can't transmit until the MTU-MAT-10 ATU I ordered from DX Engineering arrives; it should be here next week. By then I should have the menu system down pretty good. 

The screen is very much like that on the G90, and it's crystal clear, very easy to read. I'm not sure the waterfall is going to be big enough to be a help, but it will, at least, give you an idea of what is happening on the band of choice.

I'll post more as I start using it in the field.  I think this radio is going to be a game changer!

Right side of radio.

Left side of radio.

Heatsink on the bottom of the radio.

Stay Safe Out There!

Arriving Next Week...

I recently bought a brand new G90 radio. While it's a great radio, and I really do like it, it doesn't fill the niche I thought it would. It's a bit heavy to throw in a backpack and hike to a POTA or SOTA site for my liking........your results may vary.

After using the G90 a couple of times I found it got very hot after operating for a while, so I bought the external cooling fan for it.....adding even more weight and bulk to the radio.

Now, I do have a reputation for packing more gear than I actually need. With that in mind I've decided to get rid of the G90, and replace it with a brand new FX-2CR, which will arrive next week. I'm hoping that with this small 20w radio I'll be able to finally get all my needed radio gear in a single small pack, and travel lightly.

From all I have read, and the Youtube videos I have watched, this radio looks to be just what I'm looking for. It's not a replacement for my KX3, that radio is staying, but the FX-2CR is going to be a fantastic addition to my portable shack equipment.

Stay tuned for some field reports!

Stay Safe Out There!!

A 10m Day - Part 3...

There was not supposed to be a "Part 3" to my 10m adventures, but I had such a great day yesterday I couldn't resist!

It was one of those perfect fall days, it was 19C (66F) outside, under a beautifully deep blue sky.  The local trees are well into their change of colour these days, with brilliant flashes reds and yellows dotting the views all over the city.

A few days a month I get to leave my house, take my time, and not have to worry about things. My Mother-in-Law lives with us; she suffers from Dementia, and can't be left alone at all. Yesterday was our respite care day and a PSW looks after her allowing my wife and I some "us" time. The break is always very welcomed.

I decided to spend my time at Fort Henry National Historic Site and do yet another POTA activation.  It's been a while since I was at Fort Henry, it's normally a very busy place, but as it was a week day, yesterday wasn't busy at all.

The only spot left at Fort Henry to activate from these days is the parking lot - all other roads around it are either closed off or have no parking signs on them.  Seeing that there was the only one choice to operate from, it was the KX3 and a 10m Hamstick kind of day!

Propagation was "interesting".  The SFI=176, SN=94, the A Index=8, and the K Index=3.  There was also some very deep QSB throughout the whole time I was on site.

First in the log was Kurt ON4CCN at 1522 UTC.  The last station, Sean KI5UCO/qrp, went into the log at 1732 UTC.  I ended up with 62 contacts in the log, with 22 DX stations, and 13 Park 2 Parks included.  It was just a fantastic day on the radio.  All my contacts were on 10m, and I really enjoyed the several mini-pileups I had throughout it.

Here's the contact map:

I'm hoping to do this again next Sunday....if the bands stay as good as they have been.

Stay Safe Out There!

 

A 10m Day - Part 2...

It was colder here today than it was yesterday, it was 6C (452F) when I was out in the park, with an icy cold hard wind blowing in across Lake Ontario.  Shades of things to come in the next few months.

As it was yesterday, 10m was filled with signals, so that was my band of choice again.

The propagation today was SFI=195, SN=127, A Index=5 and the K Index=1. My radio set-up was the same as yesterday, my KX3 at 10w, and a 10m hamstick on the roof of my truck. There was some quick deep fading, and I know I lost a few contacts as they disappeared before I could write down their callsigns.

It didn't take long for the DX to start rolling in. First up was Hiram XE1AQY, followed quickly by Ron PE1ISP, and Thiery F4IDN. After a couple of US stations the European DX flowed.  I worked PD4US, SK6QA, F5NZO, EA1DD, F6OYU, YL3BF, and G7SQW.  I also had a German station call me, DC1FLO, but he was portable /W4 in Florida.  

I ended the activation with 18 contacts in the log.  Not too bad I thought!

Here's today's contact map:

Stay Safe Out There!!

A 10m Day...

It was a dark and cloudy day here today, temperature was hovering around 10C (50F), and we had light rain coming through the area.  Over all, not a nice day...but a perfect day for playing portable radio!

Ten meters was today's go-to band, it was filled with signals, and most of them coming in from Europe. I decided to make that the first band I tried, and it ended up being the only band I needed.

Up first was Jerry F4HJO, followed by Danny ON4VT, and Thomas SM3NRY. Then, for some reason, I worked five stations from Texas in a row. As quick as it arrived the pipeline to Texas disappeared and I was once again making contacts into Europe. S57MS, M0TTQ, EA4TL, GW5GDP all went into the log, one after another.

Today's propagation was nothing special, SFI=214, SN=108, A Index=20, and the K Index=1, but it was certainly working for me. Radio was of course my KX3 set for 10w, and I was using my normal antenna, a 10m Hamstick on the roof of my truck.  

The activation of CA-0023 ended with 21 contacts in my log, and I'm quite pleased with that.

Here's todays contact map:

I'm planning on going to a different park tomorrow, so we shall see how that turns out!

Stay Safe Out There!

More Bad Propagation...

This just in......

It looks like Thursday and Friday are going to be very poor radio days!!

Stay Safe Out There!!