Disappointing Day

It was a pretty disappointing day yesterday on Amherst Island, the propagation Gods decided to have the day off !!

The weather was perfect, lots of sun, a nice breeze and the occasional cloud drifting by.  Ron, VE3GO, had arranged with friends of his to use their waterfront property to operate from, and what a beautiful spot to operate from it was.

My antenna of the day was a 31' homebrewed vertical into a 4:1 balun, and four 16' and two 31' radials.  Ron used an Outbacker mounted on a mag-mount on the back of his SUV.

The bands seemed to be working very short, and while we could hear a lot of European stations on 15m, we worked only two of them on CW: IK3VUT, Luca in Oderzo, Italy, and HB9TNW, Celso in St. Gallen, Switzerland.  Our third CW contact was with HI3IFE in the Dominican Republic, but I'm not sure if that is the correct callsign, copy was difficult.

The SSB side of the activation was not very good at all.....two contacts were made, both in Ontario.  First up was Russ, VE3FI, in Haliburton, who was testing out a new 80m vertical, and next up on 20m was Don, VE3MNE, at his cottage on Hay Bay. Both of course had booming signals.

No signals were heard from the Colorado 14er event at all, despite spending quite a bit of time listening for them.

While not the most successful activation we have ever done, it was a fantastic day really.  We wouldn't have asked for better hosts, the location was perfect, and we got to ignore the "Honey Do List" for another day.

I'm not one to make political statements, but having seen the mess these things left Wolfe Island in, I don't want to see this happen on Amherst Island.

Amherst Island ON-21

Short notice.........but a group of us will be activating Amherst Island ON-21 tomorrow, August 4th, from 1500Z to 2000Z.

Ron - VE3GO, and Bill - VA3WOW will be joining me for a fun filled day of DX.  We will have 2 or 3 HF radios on the air, and we will be mainly on 20m, 15m, and 10m, hanging out on the usual island activation frequencies. 

Hopefully the propagation Gods will be smiling on us.  The weather is suppose to be very good, with a high of 21C expected.

Tomorrow is also the 2013 Colorado 14er event, so we are hoping to make a pile of contacts with the guys on the top of the really big hills......the 14,000 foot "hills".

IARU HF World Championships

The last week has been a bit of a blur around here.  I have been attempting to get a LDG S31 vertical antenna in the air ready for the IARU contest.  The main reason for this is that my 80m OCF dipole does not allow me to tune on 15m, even with a manual tuner, and as a lot of the DX action happens on that band.... I needed to be able to operate there to get a good score.

Apparently the Gods were totally against me.  The S31 went up in the air, the radials were laid out, 4:1 balun hooked up, a brand new 100' of RG-213 was connected, and.......the antenna tuned every band but 15m...... !!  Now, it's not like I haven't put up a 31' vertical antenna before, in fact I use a homebrewed version of the S31 when I operate portable, and it works great.

The other interesting fact is when comparing signals between the vertical and the dipole, there was a huge difference.  An S9+20 signal on 40m using the dipole was a measly S1 on the vertical....and it was that way over every band when I compared the antennas to each other.

So, over the course of three days I changed every part of the antenna, the coax, and added many more radials.  Nothing changed, it was a crap antenna.  Several emails went to Bob, VA3QV, who has this type of vertical looking for advice, but Bob couldn't understand what was going on either.

In the end I used my 66' long wire, 9:1 Balun, and two 31' radials and worked a good portion of the world with it.

Band conditions were not that good, we had very deep QSB for most of Saturday afternoon which made things difficult.  My first five contacts were Iceland, Russia, Hawaii, Greenland, and Moldova....after that the DX disappeared and only US stations were heard until very late afternoon.

It was a lot of fun but a tough slog, but in the end I put 122 contacts in the log, including a new one for me, TC3HQ in Turkey.

Oh yeah, the S31 vertical.......apparently the issue was a broken, but brand new, right out of the box, MFJ RF Isolator that I had put in line......I've removed it from the run of coax and ....the antenna works fine now, as advertised, because the contest is over !!

Field Day 2013

It's Monday evening and I'm just recovering from this years field day.......I even took the day off of work !!

I left for the Hay Bay site early Friday morning with the new guy, Mark - VE3EOG in tow.....for his first field day experience.  This was the seventh year we have used the Hay Bay site, thanks to Don - VE3MNE, who owns the outstanding spot.

Friday was spent getting the antennas out of storage, the cobweb's blown off them and getting them back up in the air.  This year we used one 160m OCF Dipole, two 80m OCF Dipoles, two 31' verticals, and a single 44' doublet......as well as a tri-bander on a 20' section of tower, mounted on the back of Tim's station wagon.

This year as in the past, we planned on operating as a 5A operation, four SSB and a digital station, and of course this means setting up operating places for them.  Lucky for us we had enough screen tents for everyone to use.  And every one of them had a million dollar view of the Bay.

By late afternoon we had everyone set up and some of the initial radio checks carried out.  As is our tradition we cleaned up and drove via the Glenora Ferry to the village of Wellington in Prince Edward County for a relaxing dinner and a couple of cold ones.

Saturday dawned dark and overcast, and we knew we would be in for some rain later in the day, so the race was on to get everything finished and the screen tents tarped over for protection.

The morning was spent checking coax connectors, bad patch cords, and sorting radio issues out. 

The SFI for the start of field day was: SFI-136; A Index-17; K Index-2, and the SN-135.  Oh yeah, the rain started at 1430 local but only lasted a few hours before it cleared up.

Field day kicked off at 1400 local to a lot of confusion of the new Ontario Sections. Most of the US stations were logging us as Ontario, not Ontario East.  Even after we explained the situation to them they continued to log us as simply Ontario.  Oh well, at least our logbook is correct.

Antenna repairs

For our U.S. friends, there is no longer a Section in Canada called "Ontario".  Instead we have been split into four individual sections, Ontario East, Ontario South, Ontario North, and Greater Toronto Area.  Hopefully next year this issue will have sorted itself out.

Ron-VE3GO came out very early Sunday morning and spent the day operating CW for us.  The CW station filled in some missing gaps in our state and province count.  In the end we only missed having contacts in Wyoming and Manitoba.

The weekend went quickly and before we knew it field day was over.  We ended up with 1156 contacts, including a DX contact to Jamaica on 6m. 

Thanks to Don VE3MNE for hosting the weekend.

The Bike Tour......

What a great weekend we had for the 2013 Rideau Lakes Cycle Tour.  Saturday was cool and cloudy with a little bit of rain late in the day, and Sunday was a glorious sunny day.

Don, VE3MNE, and myself operated two VHF stations from the parking lot of the Perth Road Village General Store.  We arrived on site at 1000 Local, and setup our equipment.  One station acted as Net Control for the Frontenac Section of the tour, and the other is a liaison station with Net Control for the Perth Section located in Westport.

We had issues both days getting into the Christie Lake repeater, VA3TEL.  Normally we can hit it from anywhere in Perth Road Village with a 5/8 mag-mount, but not this weekend.  In the end a 22' mast with a 2m antenna lashed to the top did the job, and even then conditions deteriorated over the course of the day to the point we had to shut down the liaison radio.

On Saturday the first rider came through Perth Road Village at 1123 local, and after that it was a steady stream of riders and support vehicles until we closed things down at 1700 local.  This is an hour and a half earlier than any of the past 7 years we have provided communications support to the tour.

Thanks to Tim, VA3TIC, for paying us a visit and delivering Timmies coffee to us.

We dealt with two accidents on Saturday, both minor. Thanks to the drivers of the support vans things were looked after very quickly.

Sunday started real early at my house.....0400 Local !!  After loading a freshly charged battery into the back of my truck, it was off to pick up Roy, VE3VJF, and then a slow drive back up to the village.  It was a slow drive due to heavy ground fog and lots of deer on the road.

Roy VE3VJF in control
 

After setting up the antennas and radios it was just a matter of sitting around and waiting for the riders to come by heading home to Perth and Ottawa. 

The first rider left Queen's University at 0500 Local, and came screaming by us, without stopping, at 0626 Local.  Many of the riders did not stop at the General Store on the way home this year, those that did enjoyed some cold water, clean toilets, and lots of grass to lay about on in the warm sun.

It was 1100 Local when the last rider left the village and we closed down the net.  We passed Net Control off to Westport and the boys of the Lanark-North Leeds ARES Group.

As usual this was a great weekend and lots of fun to do.  It's really great practice for ARES and Emcomm groups, it allows us to deploy to locations we don't normally operate from, and it gets us to pass real message traffic that actually means something, not just the usual fake exercise traffic. 

After it was all over it was off back down Hwy 10 to the Star Diner in Kingston for a very late breakfast, and around the table the planning for next years operation was begun.

A huge THANK-YOU goes out to the owners, and extended family, of the Perth Road Village General Store for their great support of the Bike Tour.  We look forward every year to see their smiling faces, and the communications team appreciates very much what they do for us over the weekend...........and they have the best coffee !!!!!!

The working space
 

It's all over for this year!!




 

Rideau Lakes Cycle Tour 2013

The 2013 Rideau Lakes Cycle Tour is nearly upon us again.  This year it falls on June 8th and 9th. 

Once again over 2000 riders will scream down the roads from Ottawa to Kingston, spend Saturday night, and then slowly peddle their way back home to Ottawa on Sunday.

My local club will be providing operators to look after six radio check points on both Saturday and Sunday.  The Frontenac Club looks after the Perth Road Village to Queen's University sector. 

This is the 30th straight year that amateur radio has looked after the communications for this event, something of a record I think. 

So far the long range weather forecast isn't looking too good, but we have a week to go yet, and you all know how bad the weather guys are at forecasting.

Washburn Island

VA3ORP arriving

It was a very successful island activation today, and the weather cooperated....somewhat! 

Tim, VA3TIC and I arrived at the Island about 0930L under cloudy sky, but no wind and it was fairly warm.  The bugs weren't too bad either.

Dave, VA3ORP was kayaking down the canal from his QTH in Inverary, and he arrived about 1000L, operating /MM/QRP all the way down the canal.  Dave used a Rockmite for CW and a FT-817D for SSB contacts.  His antenna(s) were a choice of various ham sticks.

Tim and I setup in the parking lot across from the lock station.  Antenna of choice today was a 66' long wire with two 31' radials into a 9:1 balun.  Radio was the FT-857D running off of a 12v 120 amp gel cell.

Thanks must go out to N4DSP for posting the activation of the DX Cluster, and to W4IOW for correcting the call on the cluster.  N4DSP listed us a VE1, not the VE3 we operated as.

Around 1100L it started to rain quite heavily, so with 35 confirmed contacts in the log, 4 Canadian, 2 Spanish, and 29 from the USA, we quickly packed up and high tailed it home. 

The numbers today at 0900L were SFI 133;  SN 146; A Index 21; and K Index 2.  The bands were noisy but workable.

Washburn Island has now been issued its official number - ON-288.

Here are some more photos from today..........

VA3ORP arriving at the lock with his Rockmite
between his legs and the key on his thigh!

 



Picture of Dave's antenna setup

Island Activation

Frontenac Radio Group will be doing a first time activation of Washburn Island, North of Kingston, Ontario, on Sunday, May 19th.

They will be at Lock 45, which is Lower Brewers Lock.  Timing will be 1400 UTC till 1800 UTC.

Frequencies will be 7.250 and 14.250.  Both frequencies will be +/- QRM.  They will have an 80m capability as well if required.  We are hoping the SFI improves a bit as the numbers are not looking good at 2100L on the evening of the 18th May.

Radio will be a FT-857D and the antenna will be a homebrewed 31' vertical.   We will also have a long wire and a 9:1 balun with us to try.  Keep an ear out for us!

This and That

Things have been pretty quiet around the VE3CLQ QTH for the past little while, and as a result the Blog has been quiet as well.

Two weeks ago the 80m OCF Dipole came crashing down in a wind storm after the wire snapped.  The winds that day were a steady 40 KPH with gusts up to 80 KPH, and that brought a lot of branches down as well.  Tim VA3TIC came over a couple of days later and helped me repair the antenna and get it back up in the air.  It was pretty gusty and cold that day as well, but up it went.

Twelve hours after it went back up in the air Tim left for Cuba for a 10 day holiday.....and the antenna came down again in another high wind storm.  This time I took it completely down and scrapped the old wire I had been using.  So it was off to Home Depot to pick up 50m of No. 10 wire and some stainless steel wire clamps.

So then we had the "mini-ice storm" here last Friday that did some major damage to my big trees.  The local arborist was called, and bless them, they were on scene within the hour on what must have been an extremely busy day for them.  Kingston had a lot of trees down that day.

Anyway, on Saturday, with the help of Tim VA3TIC...once again...the antenna is back up at about 50 feet, about 10 feet higher than it originally was, and working like a charm ready for this coming weekends Ontario QSO Party.....of course as I write this we are having another high wind storm here in Kingston, so we will have to see if it survives this time!

There are two new antennas going up shortly.  One is an Arrow Dual Band J-Pole which I used at the old QTH.  This antenna will be used for my new Packet Station.  At the same time my S9v31 31' Mk II multiband vertical antenna will also be going up at the far end of the property, next to the large fir tree.

And that's all the news that's fit to print!

QRP to the Field - 2013

Good news on the 2013 version of QRP to the Field, they have changed the rules to finally include SSB.  Allowing SSB and the twinning of the event with SOTA will certainly bring in more QRP'ers and make for some interesting contacts.

I'm not sure where I'm going to operate from this year, a lot will depend on the weather and what sort of shelter I'll need.  My batteries are already on charge, and I just have to select which antenna I'll use.  I'm really excited to see SSB added to this contest.

Rules and dates for this years QRP to the Field can be found HERE.  Hope to work you on the day!

CQ WPX

Another great contest is now over, perhaps not under the finest of band conditions, but it was a blast.  The 'K' and 'A' index were both through the roof on Friday evening, and really didn't get better until just as the contest was over on Sunday evening.

I managed to put a couple of new ones in the log, HP1/IZ6BRN in Panama was first up, followed by H27A in Cyprus.  Lots of contest regulars on the bands, and it was nice to hear many "Happy Easters" as signal reports and serial numbers were handed out.

Once again I'm very happy to report the absense of LIDS and Band Cops.  I didn't hear a single act of bad behaviour on the bands this weekend, everyone was in such  good spirits......spring must have sprung!

Main workhorses this weekend were 10m and 15m, and considering the SFI numbers that was a huge surprise.

Next major contest for me will be the Ontario QSO Party on 20/21 April, but I haven't decided where I'm going to do it from.

Ground Waves

Interesting morning today, it was the first Emcomm deployment practice and exercise of 2013 for Frontenac Emcomm Group, and it was almost perfect weather for it. 

Homebrewed 80m Coil on 31' vertical

We set up four HF stations, all about 20 to 30 Kms from Net Control, and each other.  The object was to establish contact on 80m and successfully pass traffic using HF ground wave.   We also checked the 2m repeater coverage between us and tried to establish contact using 146.520 simplex. 

I drove to Piccadilly, just north of Verona on Hwy 38 and setup in the parking lot of the North Frontenac Rec Centre.  A busy hockey "hot spot" this morning.  Larissa VE3KGC and myself got more than our fair share of funny  looks from the crowd as we got ready and laid out the cables and wires.

The HF antenna system used today was the homebrewed 31' vertical on a collapsible MFJ mast with four 16' radials and a 4:1 Balun.  Also used today, for the first time, was the 80m homebrewed coil.   The coil is made from 15 turns of No. 10 wire wound around a 3" PVC coupler.  The coil must be removed to work any other band. 

FT-857D in action

I was really pleased and surprised at just how well this worked.  I at least anticipated some issues and had my toolbox standing by...but it wasn't needed.  The antenna tuned up perfectly using the LDG tuner on the FT-857D with no issues at all.

I'm sure there are some good losses using the coil, but for Emcomm work and passing traffic around Frontenac County it works just great. 

The repeater check went well, but the simplex check....not so good.  We could hear Net Control but the others were really too weak to work.  It might be interesting to try this on 2m SSB in the future. 

The topography of Frontenac County is that of rolling hills and valleys.  You're OK if you're on top of the hill, but the valleys are terrible for getting a signal out....which is why we practice HF ground wave comms. 

It was nice to get out and let the winter cobwebs get blown away this morning.......I now feel that spring must really be just around the corner.  A lot was accomlished and a lot of "lessons learned" filed away for future use. 

The next two monthly exercises will see us checking out the new digital network we are in the process of building up in the County.   So far we have two Nodes - VE3KER-7 in South Kingston and VE3FPN-7 in Sydenham, and a WinLink Gateway on VE3FRG-10 in North Kingston.  Future plans call for at least another two Nodes in the North part of the County. 

The Portable Activators Blog

Once again I must plug the Portable Activators Blog for the upcoming 2013 season of island and lighthouse activations.  This blog fills a much needed gap in that it's announcements are timely, not done after the fact.

The blog can be found at http://ve3.blogspot.ca/.  It's brought up-to-date as the Blogmaster receives the information, and sometimes that isn't until late on a Friday afternoon, but the information is made public as soon as they can, and always before the event.

I make it a habit of checking it on a Friday afternoon to see if there is anything new to look for on the bands for the weekend.

So, all you island, lighthouse and SOTA activators send in your information and let's make 2013 a good year for activators and chasers.

The Gong Show.......

I have been sitting here for a number of weeks now reading emails, letters, and other material on the recent RAC fiasco, getting more and more disgusted as the days have gone by.  I have refrained from posting anything about it on my Blog as I felt it was important that individuals do their own research on the matter and come up with their own conclusion.

However, as Peter VE3HG has now made several outstanding postings on his Blog on this issue, I felt it was time, as a current RAC member, to publically register my complete and total disgust with the RAC board and executive

RAC has ceased to be a real national association.  It did so a couple of years ago when it decided that non-members where not good enough to bother with and shut down their RAC email address without warning, stopped their use of the outgoing QSL Bureau, and stopped sending them what little information it allows to be given out.  Perhaps this is why most RAC elections these days are now unopposed and are by acclamation.  Members are just fed up with the stupid backroom politics going on and do not wish to waste their valuable time, and more importantly, their reputations by running for RAC office.

Many years ago Charles de Gaulle wrote: "Silence is the ultimate weapon of power."  We RAC members see this all the time.  These days we get very little information from RAC except for generalities and "feel good" stories dispensed from on high.  Did the current RAC board and executive really think that the news of this fiasco would be simply swept under the carpet and everyone would keep their mouths shut?

So let me tell you why I believe Bill Gade's side of the story (HERE) vice the "feel good" story put out by RAC (HERE). If what Bill Gade originally wrote on January 15th 2013 was not true, or consisted of a list of inaccurate facts, half-truths, or outright lies, surely RAC would have the grounds to legally go after him and sue him for slander, liable or worse.  Are they?  So far it appears they have not.........which speaks volumes and also tells you something.

If RAC wishes to be a true national association it must fully represent all Canadian hams, members or not. It must be fully transparent. We must have full democracy, that is direct elections of the board, executive, and most importantly, the President. The hands of total power must be removed from the board. Only then will RAC become a real, workable, national association.

William Pitt the Elder, Earl of Chatham and British Prime Minister from 1766 to 1778, said in a speech to the UK House of Lords in 1770: "Unlimited power is apt to corrupt the minds of those who possess it."  Kind of sums things up, doesn't it?

After the contest.....

What an excellent weekend!!  For the most part the bands behaved, even if they were pretty noisy at times.  Saturday at 0930L the SFI was sitting at 109, the SN at 88, the 'A' index at 27, and the 'K' index at 1.  Not the best numbers to start with.

I managed to work a total of 112 DX entities, including a few I had not worked before.  An interesting fact is that 98% of the calls I worked were 4 letter calls, and it's getting very difficult to compete against them and it doesn't seem like its a level playing field anymore.  Has anyone else noticed this?

The big workhorses of the weekend had to be 10m and 15m, both bands went long early and stayed open late.  Both of these bands had a great number of DX stations on them all calling CQ, but they were nicely spread out, not all bunched together.  20m was overcrowded as usual, just wall-to-wall splatter and noise everytime I went  there.  Not sure how anyone made many contacts there.

40m was good at night, as usual, but I never found it too busy, and 80m was not good to me at all, I only made two contacts all weekend down there.

Good points from the weekend?  Very few LIDS were heard, good behaviour abounded, the Police had the weekend off, and I had a great time and my new antennas have performed far beyond what I thought they would do.

Bad points from the weekend?  Too many stations on the air with bad audio...doesn't anyone check this anymore?  Several Italian stations calling "CQ Contest" on 17m, and not stopping when asked to, and in fact got down right ugly over it.  And a final point.....too many radios being overdriven and splattering all over the band.

Overall it was a great weekend.....and I can't wait for the end of the month for the CQ WW WPX SSB Contest on March 30th and 31st....hope to work you all then.

Getting ready......

This weekend is the ARRL International SSB Contest and I've spent the last few days putting the finishing touches on the shack and getting it ready for the first BIG contest of the year.

I've had an issue with the 80m OCF dipole that I have up in the air.  It works extemely well from 6m to 80m, with the exception of 15m which it just refuses to load on using the ATU on the FT-950.  So, obviously 15m will be a big player in this contest I had to do something........

All attempts to get a dedicated 15m dipole in the air this week has been sabotaged by heavy snow and freezing rain.  The only answer I could come up with was to go digging in the garage through some of the still unpacked boxes from the move, and dig out my trusty MFJ-949E manual tuner.  No sooner was it connected and I was having a 15m QSO with Elana-RC5A in Moscow and almost right away with Larry-VP2/KE2VB in Tortola, British Virgin Islands.  Things seem to be working good enough for this weekend.

Speaking of the weekend....have you seen the SFI numbers?  Currently at 2245Z the SFI is 113; the SN is 63; the 'A' Index is 28 (!!!!); and the 'K' Index is 4 (!!).  One can only hope that those numbers will improve as the contest progresses.

RaDAR-America Contest

Marcus KD0JKM is organising a RaDAR-America Contest - an event aimed at promoting the use of Rapidly Deployable Amateur Radio stations throughout North and South America. This contest is for all licensed radio amateurs.

A choice is made prior to the contest to participate in one of the defined categories. The points system is so structured as to encourage portable operation, especially moveable stations.

This contest will take place at the same time in South Africa (the Nation from which the idea originated), as it will here in the Americas - the first Saturday of April (the 6th) and first Saturday of November (the 2nd) starting at 14:00 UTC and ending at 18:00 UTC (4 hours operating time)

Information on the RaDAR-America Contest, can be found on their website HERE.

For those of you who might be interested in taking part in this contest, but have no experience in this kind of radio activity, Bob VA3QV has put together a superb article on his blog (HERE) that shows you several excellent points on operating QRP portable.

Let's hope the weather is a bit warmer on April 6th than the -17C it was here this morning.

NCQP 2013

Coming up on the February 23th/24th weekend is the North Carolina QSO Party.   This is always a very well supported QSO Party, and it's a good weekend to work that part of the world.  
Of interest to the guys in Kingston is the fact that Ron-VE3GO will be operating aboard the retired US Battleship, USS North Carolina for this QSO Party.  She's berthed in Wilmington, NC.  Ron will be taking part with the local ham club and the call they will use is NI3BK.   So give a listen for Ron.

The rules for the NCQP can be found HERE.

Hopefully the SFI numbers will be fine for it as well.

Warmth....at last!

 The 2013 SPAR Winter Field Day is over for another year, allowing us time to thaw out before the next one arrives.  This year myself, Don VE3MNE, and Bill VA3WOW chose to go to a small uninsulated summer cottage on the shores of Leggat Lake, in Central Frontenac County for the weekend and operate from there.



Don VE3MNE working DX

The first surprise of the weekend was the lack of snow in Central Frontenac at this time of year, normally there is a couple of feet down, this year it barely covered the gravel on the road.  On the positive side this made it a safe drive in to the site......which is always a bonus.

The propagation numbers didn't look too promising as we left on Saturday morning.  They were SFI-101; SN-44; A Index-6; and the K Index 3.  But it actually wasn't that bad for us, most remote operating sites are very quiet, and Leggat Lake was no different.   In fact we had a probable gain of 5 to 6 db compared to our home QTH's, as we had no background noise to fight at all at the lake. 

First item on the agenda upon arrival at the cottage was to get the stove going, the place hadn't been used since last October was absolutely freezing.  It took nearly 5 hours to finally get the place comfortably warm.......but we suffered through it.

We operated two HF stations, both of them FT-857D's, into simple wire antennas.  The antennas of choice this weekend was a 31' foot vertical with nine 16' radials laid out on the snow, and a 66' longwire.

 

The 66' longwire was a bit of a last minute decision.  Don and I had originally planned to use a 44' Doublet, and in fact had it in the truck to use, but we had also recently build some 9:1 Baluns for use with long wire antennas and this was the perfect opportunity to try one out.

The longwire went from the top of a 25' TV tower and was sloped down to lake level where it attached to the 9:1 Balun.  A 31' radial was attached and simply laid out on the ice 90 degrees to the wire. The balun was actually just sitting on top of a 18" log out on the ice.   Both antennas were up and ready by 1130, just in time for the 1200 start of the event. 

Over the weekend we heard, and worked quite a few stations working winter field day.  In the past we have been lucky to work one or two.  Perhaps this is a sign that the event is finally catching on!   We did work DX station after DX station, if we could hear them we could work them.



This shows the 9:1 Balun location for the 66' long
wire out on the ice.

Both antennas work superbly, well beyond any of our expections. In fact the highlight of my weekend was working ZS6DJD in Meyersdal, South Africa on the 66' longwire.....the happy dance went on for quite some time.

The propagation figures for Sunday were SFI-97; SN-55; A Index-18; and K Index 1.  To be very honest we didn't notice any change in the bands or propagation on Sunday.

Besides South Africa we worked: Cuba, Azores, Dominican Republic, Brazil, Mexico, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Latvia, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Puerto Rico, UK, USA, Canada, and Russia......but alas, no VA3QV!!

It was a great weekend, good food, good wine, and a warm fire....just what the doctor ordered.

It's obvious that the Winter Field Day event needs a lot more advertising done to roust out more operators.  It's a good time and has several options that will allow you to take part in it....and no, you don't have to operate from the field outdoors if you don't wish to.   It was born out of the idea that not all emergencies and disasters happen in the middle of summer,and that we must be prepared to operate under all conditions...good and bad.  It deserves to be better supported by the Emcomm community at large.

Thanks to Ross and Vicky for the use of their cottage.

Winter Field Day

After a week of temperatures in the -20C's, and as far down to -34C with the wind chill, it seems quite insane to be going away this weekend to take part in the SPAR Winter Field Day.  We will have to see what weather the weekend brings. 

This will be the fifth year our ham group has taken part in Winter Field Day. But, this is Canada, and they don't call us the crazy Canucks for nothing I guess!!

Myself, Don-VE3MNE and Bill VA3WOW will be going to Leggat Lake in Central Frontenac County Saturday morning to a completely un-winterized summer cottage, that thankfully has electricity and a woodstove.......but no wood we have been told.  We will survive!

We plan to operate two HF rigs, both FT-857D's, one on SSB and the other in digital mode.  Antennas will be a homebrew 33' vertical into a 4:1 Balun, and an 80m OCF Dipole.  This will give us coverage from 80m to 6m, and should cover all bases.

The rules for Winter Field Day can be found HERE.  Hope to work you on the bands.

NAQP

Going great guns on the NAQP Saturday afternoon.  Lots of contacts to be had, especially on 10m.   It looks like the new antennas are really working well, with lots of great signal reports (not your usual 59).

Best signal on the band this afternoon was John - HK3C from Bogota, Columbia.  However,  why do the lids have to tune up right on the frequency?  Then, there was the N4 station who kept calling John over his QSO's, and good for John for not going back to him. 

Overall a good afternoon.  Off for supper and then back at it.

UPDATE........

Yesterday evening the bands seemed to be in pretty good shape with lots of east-west propagation.  Lots of calls from California and Washington states, funny though, I never heard a VE7 or a VE6 all day. 

Ten and twenty meters stayed open for quiet a while, and then pretty rapidly I had to move to 40m and eventually 80m.  I even managed a single 6m contact during the day as well.

Today the bands didn't seem to want to work.  I actually made very few contacts., and those that I did where all in Europe. 

Now that NAQP is over it's time to get the gear ready for this coming weekends Winter Field Day.  More on that later.

 
 

A surprise in the mail......

Normally I don't submit my log sheets after a contest, for me a contest is just a fun thing to do, and I don't collect "paper'.   However, I might have to start collecting now!

Today, a certificate arrived in the mail from the ARRL for the 2011 10m Contest (I don't even remember submitting my log!!), awarding me 4th place in Canada in the QRP category.

 



This was totally unexpected.......and it's going to look nice on my wall!

Contest Coming Up!

It's that time of year...when the weather keeps us closed up indoors, so it's a perfect time to take part in the North American QSO Party. 

The following dates should be in your calendar:

CW: 1800Z January 12 to 0600Z January 13, 2013 (Second full weekend in January)
SSB: 1800Z January 19 to 0600Z January 20, 2013 (Third full weekend in January)

The Contest Rules can be found HERE.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to everyone!! 

Mary and I hope you all have much happiness and a fantastic 2013.

Great RAC Winter Contest!

The RAC Winter Contest is over for another year, and once again it was a real blast.  I managed to work every RAC station, including VE8RAC in Yellowknife.  In fact I got some RAC stations on three bands,

The only spot in Canada I did not make a contact with was Nunavut (their only local ham had gone south for the winter!).

The band conditions were excellent for nearly the whole 24 hour period, and many good contacts were made with VE7's.  I even managed to make a number of VE7 and VE6 contacts on 10m during the afternoon. 

Not many VE9, VY2, or VE2 stations were heard, but I managed to make at least two contacts in each of those provinces, it took a lot of time to do that though.  The other interesting thing was the number of non-Canadian stations taking part.  I heard many Europeans in there looking for points.

It always amazes me what a different type of contest the Winter Contest is.  It's very nice to hear operators taking time out, in the middle of a pile up, to say a few nice words with an old friend, and even new friends.

The highlight of the contest, for me, was having my very first QSO with a station in Yukon.  I've never heard a VY1 station before.  I'm not sure if it was the propagation of the day, or my new antenna doing the work for me.  Whatever it was I'm a happy camper!

RAC Winter Contest - 2012

Coming up on us pretty fast is the RAC Winter Contest.  Contest starts December 29th, 2012, from 0000 UTC to 2359 UTC.

This is always a good contest to enter, it's not as fast paced as others, and everyone seems to stop and have a good QSO instead of just a quick "59 Ontario".  It's also a very good way of collecting all the provinces and territories in a single day.

The contest rules can be found HERE.  Hope to work you all during the contest.

And......the snow came

The view from our front door.

It's -17C here in Kingston this morning with the wind factored in, lots of snow too!  The wind is 30 gusting to 50 KPH.

We had an inpromptu net this morning while everyone "attempted" to get to work.  None of the roads here in Kingston had been plowed, and the commute to work was a nightmare for some.

The prize for the most determined to get to work goes to Don-VE3MNE, who walked four Kms through knee high snow to get there, he was sure blowing into his HT mic by the time he got there.

I can't imagine what Bob VA3QV in Ottawa has got over the last 14 hours, I can't wait to read his Blog report on the storm. I'm sure they got hammered more than we did.

It looks like it's going to be an indoor radio day.....chasing DX.

Light Activations

The weather may be getting bad in some parts of the country, and just to make Bob VA3QV feel better, it's snowing in Kingston today.

However, as bad as the weather may be some hams are still planning island and lighthouse activations, and there are a couple of activations coming up soon.  Please check out: http://ve3.blogspot.ca/  and see who is activating what, and where.

These guys are taking all the risks by being out there in all weather, so let's get on the air and support these guys, it's the least we can do for them.

Box after Box after Box !!

Well the unpacking continues here at the new QTH.....and isn't it amazing what you find in boxes!!  So far I've found a small 4 channel Motorolla 2m radio I didn't know I had, and I found a set of keys that I lost 6 years ago, of course now I can't find the locks they fit!

The new antennas are working very well.  My signal reports from stations I talk to on a regular basis are amazed at the difference from the old antenna to this new one.  I can't wait to give it a really good workout during the RAC winter contest on December 29th.

The weather here in Kingston has been rain, followed by more rain, and believe it or not....there's more rain in the forecast.  Not a drop of snow has fallen.................so far.  We do have snow in the forecast for this Saturday, but it's still too warm, and I don't think that will drop enough by this weekend to give us any snow.

Christmas preparations are underway, the tree is up, and the Christmas baking are making the QTH smell spectacular.

ARRL 10m Contest

The bands are not in the best of shape this weekend, but the ARRL 10m Contest is on so I thought I'd try and catch a few contacts to see how the new HF antenna is working....and it seems to be working well.  I do know that I'm going to have to put up a dedicated 15m dipole as the 80m OCF will not tune 15m at all, it just doesn't like it.

So far I'm working a lot of mid-west and west coast stations as well as many South Americans. BUT.....I did manage to snatch 5T0SP out of thin air last night on 20m, after many days of trying, and got him on the first call...which made my evening.

There does not seem to be very many European stations on the air at the moment, at least if they are I'm not hearing them. 

The next big test will be the RAC Winter Contest on December 29th.  Hopefully all the bugs will be out of the station and antennas by then.

Move Update

The "new" temporary shack

Well, the antennas are up in the air, the VHF rig is in the house and I've already ran some radio checks with it......but the furniture doesn't arrive till early tomorrow morning. 

Thanks to Don VE3MNE, Tim VA3TIC and Derek VE3HRW for coming out and getting the antennas up. 

I have my HF rigs stored at Don VE3MNE's QTH in order to protect them from being thrown around by the movers.  They'll be back home with me by tomorrow evening, and I'll be on the air 10 minutes after I arrive get home with them.

It's been an interesting few days living out of a suitcase while waiting for things to come together, but I will be really glad to get back into my own bed and get life back to normal.

I guess over the next few weeks we'll see how the new antennas perform, stay tuned for the reports.

The New Antenna Farm

Plans are well under way for the new antenna farm at the new QTH, in fact the first antenna will be up in the air before noon next Saturday, and we should be back on the air no later than Monday, December 3rd, at noon.

The new 80m OCF Dipole was cut and made last Thursday evening with help from Don VE3MNE and Tim VA3TIC, and will be up in the air about 50 feet when we finish with it.  The 31 foot vertical is currently in pieces, but ready to go up as well, and the new radials are cut and rolled up waiting for the big day.

The VHF farm will have an Arrow dual band J-pole, a four element Yagi, and a 5/8 wave ground plane. 

So, God willing, we will be back on the air from 440 to 160 in a few short days.......now if only the snow will stay away for a few days longer !!

VE3CLQ's Shack

It's a sad day at the QTH today, after the Remembrance Day parade the HF and VHF/UHF antennas came down, one after another, and VE3CLQ is QRT for about two weeks while the move takes place.

It's very strange to look into the back yard and see no antennas there, after seven years here they have become a fixture.

The new shack is in the planning stages, and the new antenna farm will actually be up and in the air before the first stick of furniture arrives in the house.

The new back yard is 160 feet x 120 feet so there is lots of room to hang them....oh, I should also mention that the back yard has four 60 foot maple trees and a 50 foot fir tree, so lots of options.

Remembrance Day

In Loving Memory of the

Officers, NCO's, and Men

of

2816 Squadron, RAF Regiment

1941 - 1946

LEST WE FORGET

 



Hurricane Sandy

Quite the blustery day here in Kingston as Hurricane Sandy starts to come through the region.  We are expecting the winds to gain in strength over the evening and late into the night. 

It will be an interesting drive into work tomorrow morning, and I'm fully expecting trees to be down on the roads, and the power to be off.

Frontenac Emcomm started a listening watch at 0800 Local this morning (Monday) on both local Kingston repeaters, as well as the US 7.268 Hurricane Watch Net.

The County CEMC emailed at 1030 this morning inquiring what the groups standby status is, so things are starting to get stepped up around here.

For those interested there is a lot of available information on the US Hurricane Watch website at: www.HWN.org.

Simcoe Island - ON-022

It was a great day to be out operating portable today.  The weather here in Kingston was mainly cloudy and windy, but still warm enough not to have to wear a jacket outside.

Right after coffee this morning I took the ferry to Wolfe Island, which surprisingly is already using the alternative winter dock on Wolfe Island due to really low water levels.   After a short 8 Km drive I arrived at the small two car cable ferry to Simcoe Island, which was also having some major issues due to low water.

Simcoe Ferry in smoother water than today!

The ride over to Simcoe Island was really rough and I'm pleased to report that my Ford Ranger received a free car wash on the way over with all the heavy spray coming over the bow.

After a 10 minute drive I was at the very far end of the island, very near the Nine Mile Lighthouse.  I parked right at the end of the road and set up my 31' vertical and more radials than ever before.  Radio of the day was my IC-703 with its 10 "screaming" watts.

The bands were really busy today and the SFI numbers were excellent.  We had the Worked all Germany contest, JOTA, the W / VE Island QSO Party, and the NY QSO Party on the bands all at the same time, so lots of action to be had.

First station in the log was DL0TS, a club station in Lierderbach, Germany, this was at 1500 utc, and after that the contacts just kept coming.  I was impressed with the IC-703, it really gets the signal out, and more often than not I got the DX station on the very first call. 

After two hours in the chair I had this feeling I was being watched, but there is nobody around there at all, the site is extremely quiet and peaceful.  In fact I didn't see another person there all day.  Looking over my shoulder I was greeted by a line of about 20 brown cows all looking at me.......wondering what the hell all the noise was I suppose!

After a quick bite to eat and a drink it was back at it.  By 1830 utc there were 30 QRP contacts in the log and it was time to head home. It was a really good day, and a welcome break from the house buying that's been going on around here lately.

The only downside to the whole day was the number of LIDS who chose to tune up right on top of either a QSO in progress, or a station calling CQ.  Why do people do that???!!!

And lastly, it was nice to hear all the youngsters on the air today with their JOTA stations.  Let's hope more than a few of them catch the ham bug!!

Activations this weekend

This weekend, 20th & 21st October is shaping up to be a pretty busy one for Island and Lighthouse activations here in Eastern Ontario.  It is the W / VE Island QSO Party weekend and many hams will be heading out to take part.

So far we have the following anouncements....

Dave VE3FOI will be activating Tintern Island - ON 254.

Tim VA3TIC and Derek VE3HRW will be activating Howe Island - ON 023.

Doug VE3GJ will be activating Henley Island - ON 007.

Bill VE3FCT will be activating Wolfe Island - ON 009 and Simcoe Island - ON 022.

Jerry N1Qll will be doing a first time activation of Mistake Island, Maine.

Also, John VE3ISE will be activating both of the Port Dalhousie Lights - CAN 540 and CAN 541.

On top of these activations we also the Jamboree On The Air this weekend.  We have two local stations going on the air for this event.  We have VE3SFD operating from Otter Lake Scout Camp, and VE3SIQ operating from Whispering Pines Scout Camp.

So a busy weekend, let's all hope the SFI Gods are in a good mood and cooperate so we can all have a good time!

Jamboree on the Air 2012

Frontenac Radio Group will be hosting Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts from the Perth and Ottawa area on Saturday, October 20 and Sunday, October 21, at Whispering Pines Scout Camp, starting at about 0900L.

Call sign in use for the weekend will be VE3SIQ. 

Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts all over the world will be participating in the Jamboree on the Air.

Look for the Scouts on SSB (phone)
80 m 3.690 & 3.940 MHz
40 m 7.090 & 7.190 MHz
20 m 14.290 MHz
17 m 18.140 MHz
15 m 21.360 MHz
12 m 24.960 MHz
10 m 28.390 MHz
6 m 50.160 MHz

This is a great opportunity to showcase ham radio to our younger generation, so if you hear a station calling "CQ JOTA" give them a shout!

Sunday at the Lighthouse

On a positive note.....it didn't rain!  It was very cool though, the high was only +8C and there was a pretty good breeze down by the water to make it feel real cold.  Shades of winter days to come!  After the summer we have had it is very hard to start thinking of how to dress for the cooler weather. 

Rig of the day was the IC-703 and the antenna was the "Chilicon Special Mk 2".  Once again this setup did a great job.  We made a good number of contacts, from N6O in Santa Barbara, California, to DL/PS3LPG in Weeze, Germany, and a ton of others in between them.

What is amazing is that I was kind if lazy today and I only put out two 33' radials, not the usual small forest of wire that is usually strewn about the ground, and to be honest I didn't notice any difference in antenna performance. 

Today Larissa-VE3KGC came along with us.  Larissa is a fairly new ham, and today we had her on the air with her "new" Ten-Tec Scout.  It's a really nice little rig and it performed very well today.  This was the first time I have seen this rig in action and I was impressed with it. 

The numbers were not very impressive today, we had: SFI-98; A Index-6; K Index-1; and the SN-39.  We certainly seen a lot better over the past few weeks. 

Oh well, hopefully it will get better for next Sunday when I'm going to give George-VE3SIQ a hand attempting to activate, for the second time, Brewer's Mill Island.  Hopefuly this time we will get the required 26 QSO's.  I'm starting to like this moving houses, it gives me another excuse to get out, decompress and play radio.

Nicholson's Point Light

I'm in the process of taking down all the HF and VHF antennas at my current QTH due to the upcoming move to a new and much bigger QTH.  So postings on the Blog have had to take a back seat for a while....and probably will do for a few more weeks. 

However this coming Sunday I, and several others, will be out at the Nicholson's Point Light for a day of portable operating.  This will be the very first activation for this light, CAN-1425 after we had it approved and the ARLHS assigned it an official number last year.

The light is in a small lakeside park, and because of the popularity of this park we can only activate the light in the cooler weather, in order to stay clear of the crowds that normally swarm the place.

Three HF stations will be on the air operating as VE3FRG. Frequencies will be:

7.250
14.250 - 14.260
28.450

There will also be a 2m SSB and 6m SSB station on the air.  They will operate on 50.125, and 144.200.

We are all praying to the weather God for a sunny, dry, but cool day with excellent prop!   Here's hoping!

Sunday Radio

Something broke the local Internet this morning after our ham breakfast, and with no new books loaded in the Kobo I was forced to play radio to fight off the boredom. 

Up to the shack I went, turned on the FT-950, and was nearly blown out of my seat by the signals coming in on 10m, 12m and 15m.  I spent a great couple of hours cruising the bands and managed eight solid QRP SSB contacts.....

10m HA0NAR - Hungary

10m 9A208DX - Croatia

10m 9A4WY - Croatia

10m GW4BLE - Wales

10m IT9PQJ - Italy

10m TU5KG - Ivory Coast

15m EG5INT - Spain

12m SV3AQR - Greece

SFI was at 126; A Index at 4;  K Index at 1; and the SN at 46.  Not the best numbers we have seen but they did the job today.

So, whoever the kind soul was who ran into the telephone pole and cut the internet connection.......thank you for a most enjoyable morning!

A New Blog

A few days ago a new blog made its debut, the Portable Activations Blog.  Most of my readers will know of the problem a lot of activators seem to have getting the details of their upcoming activations posted on certain websites.

Of course a lack of publicity causes a lack of awarness of the activity, and ultimately, a lack of traffic to the activation site.  Hopefully this new blog will be able to generate more traffic to the activators and help make their day a lot more successful than they have had in the past.

The new blog will post any activation, Lighthouse, Island, or SOTA......it's a non-discriminatory blog.  The only goal is to get a bit more awareness to our portable activities out there so other hams can see what we're up to.

The URL for the blog is: http://ve3.blogspot.ca/  Please pass it on to any known activators, it will only work if as many hams as possible know about it, and use it.