Island Activation

Just worked what I believe to be the very first island activation of 2015 here in Ontario....and probably Canada.

John, VE3ISE, from Grimsby was activating Henley Island, ON-007, near St. Catherines this morning.  He was using an FT-897D and a Hustler Mobile antenna mounted on his car, but he was a lovely S9+20 here in Kingston on 40m, but he was having issues with a S9 background noise at his location.

John was also having some issues with the weather, he had snow with freezing rain on the way.  He sounded happy to be on the air non-the-less.

For those of you interested in activating islands, or just chasing them from home.  Check out this WEBSITE, it has all the information you will need to get started.

SkyWhip Portable Telescopic Antenna

Ground mount for the SkyWhip antenna
(Photo belongs to Durham Radio)

Just picked up a new toy.  I picked up a SkyWhip Portable Telescopic Antenna from Durham Radio.

Interesting piece of kit, it's a 16' 8" whip that can be used as a vertical, or two of them can make a portable dipole.  You can adjust them for 20, 17, 15, 12, 10, and 6 metres, and of course if you adjust it properly you won't need a tuner.

The best thing about it for me is that with the adapter I bought with it, it will fit my Buddipole set as well.  This will give me even better options for island and lighthouse activations now as I will have the ability to put up multiple antennas, both vertical and dipoles.

I'm off to read Ground Systems for HF Verticals by Rudy Severns, N6LF, to get the best idea of what the best radial system will be for it.

Once I've had it on the air I'll post a full report on it.

The DX-marathon

It's January 1st, so I have just submitted my score sheet for the 2014 CQ magazine DXmarathon. 

Starting January 1 of each year, the DX Marathon is the perfect answer for the DXer who needs that extra incentive to get on the air every day. Simply work as many countries and CQ Zones as you can in each calendar year, regardless of the band or mode. 

Each country and zone counts only once, so you can concentrate on working new ones rather than working the same ones on multiple bands and modes. 

Last year I managed to work 104 countries and 26 zones.  Hopefully I can do better than that this year.

Bob VA3QV....is BACK !!!!!

BREAKING NEWS !!!!

Yes, after a whole year of being AWOL, the big Bobster, VA3QV himself, is back in the Land of Bloggers !!  

I just knew he couldn't stay away, that he would eventually show up and let us know what trouble he was causing.

He says on his blog that he's working at getting back to normal.....Hmmmm.......I ain't going to touch that comment until after I hear from Liz, Bob's XYL !!

Good to see you back Bob, I'm looking forward to a daily dose of Ottawa Valley Ham Radio QRP News once again.  And for all of you who have forgotten just where Bob hangs out, he's HERE.

Happy New Year

Just a short note to wish you all a very Happy, and a Healthy, New Year for 2015.

2014 is a year I'm glad in many ways to put behind me, especially after being made redundant from a job that I really loved to do.  It was an extremely stressful time.

Of course throughout this trying time I could not have got through it without the support of my wife.  She was a solid rock of support, and still is, and for that I thank her from the bottom of my heart.

Let's hope 2015 is a far better year to us all........Happy New Year everyone.

The Winter Contest - it's over

Not a bad day on the radio.  At time there seemed to be more foreign stations calling "CQ Canada Winter Contest" than Canadian stations....and it was great to see the international participation !!

I managed to work everywhere but Nova Scotia, Nunavut, and the North West Territories.  Not a peep out of those guys at all which really surprised me......well, no Nova Scotia stations surprised me, the other guys I know are laying on a beach in Florida like they were last year when I didn't work them either.  Once again I did not manage to work Bob, VA3QV, but I do know he was on the air as I heard him working a station at 1700 UTC on 10m, we just never managed to meet up.

The new Heil Pro Set Elite headset worked very well, it's a bit tight on the head so I'm hoping it will loosen up with a bit of use and get use to my large head.

Radio of the day was the FT-950 and the antennas were the 80m OCF Dipole and the 15m Hamstick mounted on an 11' high painter pole........worked like a charm.

Band conditions were not too bad.  A bit of QSB here and there.  We started the contest with SFI = 143, SN = 100, "A" Index = 15, and "K" Index = 4.

And so ends the 2014 Contest Year........

Marcel Joseph Benjamin "Benny" Lemarbre

Benny Lemarbre

Benny was my Squadron Warrant Officer when I was posted to 450 Squadron, flying on Chinooks as a Loadmaster.  He was a gentleman I looked up to immensely, and I must confess that Ben hauled my ass out of more crap than I care to remember, but he always laughed about it.  “His Boys” as he called us always came first.

I well remember stealing his pace stick from its place of honour in his office, and replacing it with a hockey stick.  He knew who did it right away, and simply waggled his finger under my nose……I had it back by coffee.

Benny was a man of integrity and showed that to us by his actions, over and over again every day.  He went out of his way to protect us all from a bad Commanding Officer, almost to the detriment of his own career.  But that didn’t matter, we were his boys and we came first, and we can never repay him for what he did for us. 

Anyone who knew Benny knows that they have met loyalty in its true form. He sanctifies the word; he was loyal to his wife Christa, to his family, to his many friends, to 450 Squadron, and his original love, the Royal Canadian Army Service Corps.

Marcel Joseph Benjamin "Benny" Lemarbre... one of a kind. A loyal man with a heart of gold, someone stubborn I am sure, as most of us guys are. But, true to his calling, true to his brothers, and true to his beliefs (which many of us share), and true to his family. It’s a terrible thing to have to say goodbye.

Benny’s funeral is tomorrow, and I will not be able to make it.  But tonight I will raise a glass of good German beer, Warsteiner….his favourite, and say goodbye to one hell of a good man.

 Marcel Joseph Benjamin "Benny" Lemarbre

1940 – 2014

The Winter Contest 2014



The Winter Contest is one of the few things, along with the Canada Day Contest that RAC does correctly......in my opinion.  It's always a very friendly contest, where friends take time to chat for a few minutes and pass along news and season's greetings to each other.

This year the contest runs from 0000 to 2359 UTC on December 27th, and the rules can be found HERE.

A new Heil Pro Set Elite headset found its way under my Christmas Tree this year, so I'm looking forward to trying them out in this contest.  So far I like them, and the few audio reports I've had on them all seem to be on the positive side.

They are extremely comfortable and the ear pieces really do block out 90% of the background noise around the house. 

Maybe VA3QV will magically appear on 40m tonight, or he may be taking Liz out dancing now that the new knee has been successfully installed......you just never know with him.......

Hope to work some of you on the bands during the contest.