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.