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.