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!